--- title: '"A Little Off the Top" - Using Limiters for Voiceover' url: 'https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/a-little-off-the-top-using-limiters-for-voiceover' markdown: 'https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/a-little-off-the-top-using-limiters-for-voiceover.md' date: '2015-07-08' description: 'Sometimes, the best audio engineering job, like the best haircut, it the one that passes unnoticed. The result seems so well-suited and natural that you’re not quite sure if anything has been done at all. In the case of a haircut, this is often the result of asking the hairdresser to simply “take a…' taxonomy: category: - Journal tag: - audio - software - voiceover --- # "A Little Off the Top" - Using Limiters for Voiceover ## ["A Little Off the Top" - Using Limiters for Voiceover](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/a-little-off-the-top-using-limiters-for-voiceover) 8th Jul 2015 [audio](https://stevenjaycohen.com/tag:audio#body-wrapper) [software](https://stevenjaycohen.com/tag:software#body-wrapper) [voiceover](https://stevenjaycohen.com/tag:voiceover#body-wrapper) Sometimes, the best audio engineering job, like the best haircut, it the one that passes unnoticed. The result seems so well-suited and natural that you’re not quite sure if anything has been done at all. In the case of a haircut, this is often the result of asking the hairdresser to simply “take a little off the top (or sides, or back).” For the [Audio Engineer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_engineer "Audio engineering"), often, this means setting the [Compressor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression "Dynamic range compression") aside and reaching for the Limiter instead. If the volume on your audio is generally within an acceptable range, but your peaks jump a bit higher than you would like, a Limiter (specifically a [Hard Limiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limiter "Limiting") or a Brick Wall Limiter) may be a more appropriate tool than a more generic Compressor. In our fictitious example, lets assume that during some more exciting parts of your recording, your volume jumped up to about -1.0dB but didn’t actually peak (go above 0). You were asked to deliver a file with peaks no higher than -3.0dB. You could try to fix this by Normalizing the entire file down to -3.0dB. If you did the entire file would get quieter by 2 decibels, and that is not the goal. The volume in most of the file feels perfect, you just need to control those peaks — “take a little bit off the top” — as it were. This is why you might want to use a Limiter. By configuring a Limiter with both the Threshold and the Output set to -3.0dB, only the parts of your audio that exceed -3 will be affected at all. Since this leaves the bulk of your audio untouched, the result can be a lot more transparent and natural than other types of compression. ![loudmax](https://stevenjaycohen.com/user/pages/files/2015/07/loudmax.png)If your audio needs to be made slightly louder and have very specific peaks, you would move the Threshold down until it affects a bit more of your audio, maybe as low as -12.0dB. All of your audio below that line will remain unaffected while the parts above will be “teased up” a bit. Depending upon how aggressive the Threshold you could go from adding a bit of body to a flat hairstyle to something that seems more like glam-rock or punk. So, be careful! ![eventhorizon](https://stevenjaycohen.com/user/pages/files/2015/07/eventhorizon.jpg) Two of my favorite Limiters are [Event Horizon by Stillwell Audio](https://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/event-horizon/) and [LoudMax by Thomas Mundt](https://loudmax.blogspot.com/). Both are intuitive and can be incredibly transparent. Try them both out and see which one works better for you. Is there another Limiter that you think I should try, let me know? #### Cup of Coffee A ridiculous amount of caffeine was consumed while researching. Add some fuel if you would like to help keep me going! [ Click here to give whatever amount works for you](https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/6NMZ3LXKADZ88) and thank you 🙂 [ Previous Post](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/strictly-analog-listen2abook) [Next Post ](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/get-a-2nd-opinion-before-sending-off-that-audiobook) --- ## Navigation - Parent: [My Journal](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal.md) - Previous: [Get a 2nd Opinion before sending off that audiobook!](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/get-a-2nd-opinion-before-sending-off-that-audiobook.md) - Next: [Strictly Analog #Listen2aBook](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/strictly-analog-listen2abook.md)