Blackmagic Forum

I've just started looking at using the limiter feature. I produce gameplay walkthroughs, so it's mostly to reduce the level of gunfire, explosions and zombie shrieks!

I'm just checking if I'm likely to get any distortion using the limiter to reduce the level on the audio 1 slider from about -5 at it's loudest to around -10?

I currently have the limiter set around 14.5 threshold, but not sure if that would be correct.

I tried it once and I wasn't 100% certain it wasn't distorting at it's loudest, though it doesn't sound distorted without the limiter, but spent ages yesterday, reducing each gunfire shot one buy one, which was a tedious nightmare.

I can't set my recording levels any lower, as there's a lot of quiet dialogue, so I'd have trouble at the other end.

Are you enabling the Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor on the Mixer channel or using the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin as in insert?

The Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor is not a Brickwall Limiter but rather a Downward Compressor with a fixed ratio of 20:1, so its behaviour will be very different to that of a Brickwall Limiter (such as the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin), which typically employs much higher ratios, and much faster attack times.

I'll get back to with that one, as in a completely unrelated issue Resolve keeps on crashing, so can't open it currently!

Reynaud Venter wrote:Are you enabling the Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor on the Mixer channel or using the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin as in insert?

The Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor is not a Brickwall Limiter but rather a Downward Compressor with a fixed ratio of 20:1, so its behaviour will be very different to that of a Brickwall Limiter (such as the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin), which typically employs much higher ratios, and much faster attack times.

It's the dynamic one I'm using.

Anyone confirm if it would distort the gunfire sound "squashing it down" ?

Reynaud Venter wrote:Are you enabling the Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor on the Mixer channel or using the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin as in insert?

The Limiter module in the Fairlight Dynamics Processor is not a Brickwall Limiter but rather a Downward Compressor with a fixed ratio of 20:1, so its behaviour will be very different to that of a Brickwall Limiter (such as the Fairlight Limiter AFX plugin), which typically employs much higher ratios, and much faster attack times.

Hey Lorne,
no it doesn't if the sound you are limiting is clean.
There are a lot a variables - the source recording may have distortion on the gunshots that you don't really notice until you apply limiting. By limiting the sound then turning up the relative level overall, you are going to hear stuff that is lurking down in the lower levels of the sound more readily.

What does the output meter of the dynamics section show...is it in the red? Are you applying any makeup gain after the limiting? Like I say there are a lot of variables but if I apply it to a machine gun burst out of my SFX library that is cleanly recorded it doesn't add or create any distortion, even knocking 10 dB off the sound, which is a lot to do with a single limiter.

Thanks for the reply.
The outputs are in the red without the limiter, but very, very rarely hit red with it.

After I had reinstall my OS and Resolve yesterday (possibly due to one of those HD clean up programs cleaning up something its shouldn't) I edited another video, and it seems to be okay.

My issue is there's a lot of quiet dialogue moments in the game too, so it's hard to get the right balance when recording with OBS originally.

I'll keep an eye on it, but I think I'm happy with the results this time round, especially as it would save me a lot of time editing.

Andy Evans wrote:Hey Lorne,
no it doesn't if the sound you are limiting is clean.
There are a lot a variables - the source recording may have distortion on the gunshots that you don't really notice until you apply limiting. By limiting the sound then turning up the relative level overall, you are going to hear stuff that is lurking down in the lower levels of the sound more readily.

What does the output meter of the dynamics section show...is it in the red? Are you applying any makeup gain after the limiting? Like I say there are a lot of variables but if I apply it to a machine gun burst out of my SFX library that is cleanly recorded it doesn't add or create any distortion, even knocking 10 dB off the sound, which is a lot to do with a single limiter.