What is a Limiter I MIDWEEK SERVICE

What is a limiter?
Living in the same dynamics processors family as multi-band compressors, gates, expanders, de-essers, and their closest cousin compressors is where you'll find limiters. Similarly to compressors, limiters are designed specifically to prevent audio signal levels from going higher than a set point. What separates them from compressors in practice is the ratio used in reducing gain, which is much higher than that of a regular compressor.

Technically, a limiter's ratio is 10:1 or greater and is usually set to be as close to infinity:1 as possible, so that no matter how much the input signal changes, the output level remains the same. By establishing a maximum gain setting, the limiter actually prevents the audio signal from going over it (rather than smoothing out and reducing the gain when it does, like a compressor would). This raises the overall level in the most transparent way, without clipping or adding any sort of distortion or noise. Limiters are often used in the final mastering stages of record production to ensure that levels are consistent throughout the mix.