#L2 ULTRAMAXIMIZER 4SHARED HOW TO#
#L2 ULTRAMAXIMIZER 4SHARED FULL#

Not only can you set the release time for each band individually, but thereвЂ™s also the option of setting the Master Release control to ARC (if you want the computer to do the work) or several other styles, including my favourite: вЂњWarm.вЂќ That, indeed it is. The Waves е…ѓ Multimaximizer essentially has three components: the look-ahead peak limiting juiciness of the L2, it gives you five individually manipulable bands of limiting with adjustable crossover points and a five-band graphic EQ вЂ“ all in a really intuitive interface. Therefore, it stands to reason that we might want to apply different amounts of limiting or compression to different bands of frequencies. But as we know from Equal-loudness contours, we perceive loudness differently depending on frequency. ThatвЂ™s fine for when youвЂ™re dealing with audio thatвЂ™s already been properly mixed and just needs a boost in perceived volume. The biggest difference between the best on-air processors and the L2 is that the L2 treats the entire frequency spectrum equally. The great news for the bigger stations (with their bigger wallets) is that their high-end processors are specifically designed to handle highly-compressed audio (read: pop music), so this extra boost will automatically be accounted for. And since most smaller radio stations donвЂ™t have the budget for the really high-end stuff, I like to throw about 3 dB of L2 across the master bus of our radio shows each week to normalize everything and make the music and our host (AJ) really punch through. The L2 isnвЂ™t as full-featured or as flexible as, say, an $18,000 Omnia or a $12,000 Optimod (two hardware-based on-air processors widely used in big market radio), but it does a lot of the same work and does it well. The best-sounding radio stations, however, send all of their audio through several more stages of carefully set (and expensive) processing to get that big radio sound. Chances are, it may already have been mastered with some L2 (the plugin has been around for some time and is now an industry standard in recording studios). In theory, professionally-mastered music is good to go right out of the box вЂ“ itвЂ™s already been given all the processing and fine-tuning it needs to sound great on almost any playback device. Waves calls this particular sound вЂњhot and pumpy.вЂќ I call it вЂњawesome.вЂќ

I tend to prefer a longer release time (somewhere in the vicinity of 100 ms), as that smooths out the sound and accentuates bass hits and other rhythm components вЂ“ crucial elements in pop music. By tweaking the release settings of the L2 manually, you can subtly change your overall sound, depending on the style of music. Couple that with the ARC (automatic release control вЂ“ this determines the best time to вЂњreleaseвЂќ the limiter function after it has caught a peak) and youвЂ™ve got the L2 вЂ“ essentially a smart limiter (ah, the wonders of digital technology).

#L2 ULTRAMAXIMIZER 4SHARED HOW TO#

Look-ahead peak limiting is what it sounds like: an algorithm continuously searches ahead on the incoming signal to determine how to maximize the average sound level without creating noticeable distortion. What the L2 does that fixes this problem is whatвЂ™s called вЂњlook-ahead.вЂќ If it a limiter is being overused, youвЂ™ll hear it pretty quickly and chances are, the result wonвЂ™t sound great. TheyвЂ™re either вЂњonвЂќ or вЂњoff.вЂќ Limiters are great for catching stray peaks, but should only be used sparingly. an instantaneous attack time) rather than reducing the amplitude of the signal that passes above the set threshold, they flatten everything above that threshold completely. Traditional limiters (also known as brickwalls) are basically compressors set to an infinite compression ratio and a hard knee (ie. But in reality, itвЂ™s much more than that. The L2 is, in its simplest form, a limiter.

#L2 ULTRAMAXIMIZER 4SHARED FULL#

ItвЂ™s full name is the Waves L2 Ultramaximizer, but since IвЂ™m pretty confident that that isnвЂ™t a real word, IвЂ™ll try to explain it a bit better. One of my favourite digital processors is the Waves L2.

L2 ultramaximizer 4shared