drkfuture1 wrote: actually the compressor works on the peak, limiter seems to work on the low level, I tried the limiter (didnt work that much), maybe I m missing something. My knowledge is limited in sound.
A compressor and a limiter are essentially more or less the same type of device but with different settings. A limiter has much faster attack/release times (generally) than a compressor.
Both work by taking a signal that is
above a given threshold and reducing the signal by a ratio.
What gives you the impression of a
louder signal is the ability to then increase the level
after the dynamic range has been reduced. In dynamics that's "makeup gain", i.e. you apply gain to makeup for the loss of loud levels (the reduced loudest parts of the signal). That can be done several ways, and one of the ways is to use the compressor/limiter's built-in makeup gain if it is included.
So neither of the two "work on the low level" - they work on "the high levels"
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If you want to narrow the dynamic range then a limiter to shave off transients/peaks is useful, as is a compressor to compress the slightly longer periods of levels above a threshold. After that's done you may need to increase level again to make up for it. As you do this you narrow the dynamic range. As was pointed out you can use different types of automation to manage this, or an automated plugin for riding levels.
I basically agree with the others in general.