What Is a Limiter? What It Does, and the Settings That Keep Punch

The short answer: a limiter is a compressor with an extremely high (effectively infinite) ratio and a very fast attack. It sets a ceiling the audio is never allowed to cross, then lets you raise the overall level up to that ceiling. It's the last processor in almost every master, and it's how records get loud without digital clipping. A "brickwall" limiter is one that guarantees nothing passes the ceiling, even for a single sample. Set the ceiling around -1 dBTP for streaming, and aim for about 1 to 3 dB of gain reduction on the loudest parts. More than that and you start trading punch for level.

The limiter is the stage I spend the least time on in my own masters (Sony, Universal, Ultra, Dim Mak releases), because the stages before it do the real work of loudness.

The settings that matter

Limiter vs compressor

A compressor reduces the level by a ratio (4:1 means 4 dB over becomes 1 dB over). It shapes dynamics and adds character. A limiter says: nothing over this line, ever. Compressors control how a sound moves; limiters guard the ceiling. On a master, compression and saturation do the density, and the limiter catches what's left.

How to tell you've pushed it too far

• The kick turns into a click. Transients get flattened, and the low end loses weight on every hit.
• The mix breathes in and out. Heavy gain reduction pumping with the drums.
• Distortion on the bass. Release too fast, or just too much gain reduction.
• The drop hits softer than the verse. The limiter is crushing the loudest section hardest, which is backwards.

The fix is almost never a better limiter. It's doing the loudness earlier: saturation, careful compression, and a mix with controlled low end. A master at -9 LUFS built that way sounds louder than a crushed -7. The real loudness targets by genre are here.

Why -1 dBTP

Streaming platforms convert your WAV to lossy formats (Ogg, AAC). That conversion can create peaks slightly above the original, so a master that peaks at 0.0 can clip after encoding. A true peak ceiling of -1 dB gives the encoder room. Very loud masters sometimes need -1.5 or -2. It's a small change that prevents audible distortion on every streaming service.

The tools

Every DAW ships a usable limiter (Ableton's Limiter, Logic's Adaptive Limiter, FL's Fruity Limiter). The one place paid tools clearly earn their money is here: FabFilter Pro-L 2 and Ozone's Maximizer handle heavy limiting more transparently than stock options, as covered in the best mastering plugins list. Where the limiter sits (last, before dither) is in what a mastering chain is.

Quick answers

What does a limiter do? It stops audio from crossing a set ceiling and lets you raise the overall level up to that ceiling. It's what makes a master loud without clipping.

What is a brickwall limiter? A limiter that guarantees no sample exceeds the ceiling. Most mastering limiters are brickwall limiters.

How much should a limiter reduce? On a master, roughly 1 to 3 dB of gain reduction on the loudest moments. Consistently more than that usually costs punch.

What ceiling should I use for streaming? -1.0 dBTP with true peak detection on. Go to -1.5 or -2 on very loud masters to leave room for lossy encoding.