Limiters and clippers are sometimes useful for mixing but are especially essential for mastering.
Indeed, it is thanks to them that we can increase the perceived volume of a track to match, at will, that of commercial songs you can hear everywhere.
They indeed reduce the dynamic range of your tracks, allowing you to raise the overall level in return.
But do you know the difference between the two?
A more precise question: do you know the difference between soft clipping and hard clipping?
If not – no problem, this article will answer (and I hope as clearly as possible) these questions :)!
The Hard Clipper
Of the three effects mentioned above, hard clipping is probably the easiest to understand.
Indeed, to reduce the level of peaks, the clipper will simply cut them at a predefined level.
A bit like cutting a sheet of paper, in summary. The proof in the image:
Of course, this type of processing causes very strong signal distortion, aggressive, inharmonic.
As a result, it is especially effective on percussion, as their sound is mainly composed of noise and has no real pitch.
Hard clipping will therefore be less detectable when applied to a snare drum than when used for an acoustic guitar.
The Soft Clipper
The soft clipping effect, as its name suggests, works somewhat similarly to hard clipping.
Indeed, it will also abruptly cut any audio signal that exceeds a given level. However, in order to make the effect a little less audible, the signal will be smoothed a bit before and a bit after the clipping (the cut), in the same idea as the
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Clipper or Limiter: which one to use?
As we saw at the beginning of the article, the functioning of these effects is very different.
Which one should be used for mastering?
Objectively, there is no absolute rule. We can define a few guidelines:
- Clipper — They generate a strong distortion, and are therefore mainly used in electronic/hip-hop music or to cut the peaks related to percussion, which will be less sensitive to sound denaturation. They allow for adding a bit of aggressiveness or bite to the sound.
- Limiter — Much more natural, they are preferred for pop/rock or acoustic music, for which sound fidelity is much more important to listeners.
For example, an acoustic guitar whose peaks are softened with a limiter will be much more pleasant than one, full of distortion, treated with a clipper. 🙂
On my side, by the way, I tend to prefer limiters for their natural aspect…
However, as often in the studio, it is useful to test both to see which sounds best. Over time and with practice, you will find your bearings and develop your preferences.
Sometimes even, you will find that a limiter followed by a clipper is an even more effective solution for reducing the dynamic range of your tracks!
And you, which one do you prefer? What clipping or limiting plugins do you use? Leave a comment below.