Scheps points out that a limiter is just a compressor with a 100:1 ratio, which means it’s essentially a “brickwall compressor.” Why does he use the term “brickwall”? He points out that at a 100:1 ratio, you’d need to increase the input level by 100dB just to get a 1dB boost in gain. After playing it with and without the limiter, he comments that the L2 is doing its job by evening out the level of the notes in the track.
He sets the Threshold at -3.2dB, the Output Ceiling at -0.2dB and chooses the Auto-Release option on for the release time. He explains that he is using a Waves L2 limiter as the last insert in the effects chain on the bass part in question.
He does so in the context of discussing why he chose a limiter over a compressor for the fuzzed-out bass in the song he’s mixing in the video. In this excerpt from the video “Andrew Scheps: Mixing The Heavy,” Scheps offers a concise and easy-to-understand explanation of the differences between insert compression, limiting and parallel compression.
