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Limiters compatible with firepod and GB?

manosaurus

manosaurus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
285
0
Clipped audio is driving me nuts. And I know a many of you endorse recording at low volumes so it's not a problem for you (I'm just not quite ready for it yet) but is there a device I can obtain that will go between my mics and my firepod interface that will NEVER EVER EVER allow a clipped signal from my microphones, no matter how loud, into my computer? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease help me with this if anyone can. It would be infinitely awesome.
 
OK I have to say the obvious -- turn the gain or trim on the Firepod down. Engage the pad on the mic if it has one. Move the mic further away from the source if you have to. But mainly -- the Firepod has ample headroom, and your mics are unlikely to be 10x hotter than everybody elses, so just turn it down.

You can put whatever you want ahead of the Firepod input - like a compressor/ limiter, but --- with bad gain structure, you'll just go ahead and overload the input of THAT device. Yeah, you could set up a brickwall limiter so you can abuse the input, but you'd just be degrading the sound in a different way.

There's no hardware substitute for learning how to do it right.
 
CanadaRAM said:
OK I have to say the obvious -- turn the gain or trim on the Firepod down. Engage the pad on the mic if it has one. Move the mic further away from the source if you have to. But mainly -- the Firepod has ample headroom, and your mics are unlikely to be 10x hotter than everybody elses, so just turn it down.

You can put whatever you want ahead of the Firepod input - like a compressor/ limiter, but --- with bad gain structure, you'll just go ahead and overload the input of THAT device. Yeah, you could set up a brickwall limiter so you can abuse the input, but you'd just be degrading the sound in a different way.

There's no hardware substitute for learning how to do it right.
Click to expand...

Sure, sure, sure. I know.

What I want is a safety net. The stuff that I am doing is extremely dynamic and it is driving me INSANE seriously with the clipping. I understand what you are saying about intelligent level monitoring and I am into that too. All I want is a saftey net. I cannot always have a performer go through a whole piece just to see if there is going to be a clip. It's not always practical. I do not want to trash an amazing performance because of some clipping that happens that I am not prepared for. And please understand that I an not trying to ride the gain this week so that IS NOT what this is about. So, puuuuuuhhhhhhhlllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese can somebody suggest an actual product that I can get that will do this FOR SURE?

Thanks and sorry for the intensity ;)
 
Why not get the performer to play hard/loud for a couple of seconds to set the max level, then back it off a touch?
 
bartelby said:
Why not get the performer to play hard/loud for a couple of seconds to set the max level, then back it off a touch?
Click to expand...

That, or course, is the proper approach and for some pop studio things that I do it is entirely sound. But the unfortunate problem is, however, that the nature of some things that I do make it impossilbe for that particular measure.

And it would also, being that I am a producer more than an engineer, be nice to not have to ever worry about that. I can set slightly above conservative levels and not have to worry about things that get in the way of more important compositional concerns.
 
Well you're looking for a compressor/limiter then, depends how much you want to spend. Are you talking about one single mic, or a stereo pair, or a bunch of them?

There's the Presonus Eureka channel strip / compressor at around $700 Or for $1200 you can get 8 channels worth if you want to stick with the same manufacturer.

FMR Really Nice Compressor (RNC) is $200

DBX is probably the best known name in comp limiters, they have a variety of models.

All of the usual suspects in the project studio biz have entry level products - ART, Samson, Focusrite, Presonus, the German copycat company who shall remain nameless here, Zoom, BBE, Alesis, etc. etc.

Myself I have a Mindprint Envoice Mk. II channel strip, and a DBX 1066, plus some cheap Alesis units which I wouldn't use on voice.

You can easily spend thousands, however, on higher quality kit: Empirical Labs, Avalon, UREI, Universal Audio, SSL etc. Others here will have experience on these and can give more input
 
If you really want to go that route many manufacturers make limiters.
Behringer have 5 devices that have peak limiters.


EDIT: Oops. I named them... :eek:
 
CanadaRAM said:
Well you're looking for a compressor/limiter then, depends how much you want to spend. Are you talking about one single mic, or a stereo pair, or a bunch of them?

There's the Presonus Eureka channel strip / compressor at around $700 Or for $1200 you can get 8 channels worth if you want to stick with the same manufacturer.

FMR Really Nice Compressor (RNC) is $200

DBX is probably the best known name in comp limiters, they have a variety of models.

All of the usual suspects in the project studio biz have entry level products - ART, Samson, Focusrite, Presonus, the German copycat company who shall remain nameless here, Zoom, BBE, Alesis, etc. etc.

Myself I have a Mindprint Envoice Mk. II channel strip, and a DBX 1066, plus some cheap Alesis units which I wouldn't use on voice.

You can easily spend thousands, however, on higher quality kit: Empirical Labs, Avalon, UREI, Universal Audio, SSL etc. Others here will have experience on these and can give more input
Click to expand...

Thanks Canada.

Money is almost not an object here. That's how much I want to not worry about this. I suppose that since the firepod has 8 mic inputs than I would have to have a limiter with 8 separate channels to plug the 8 mics into before it goes into the firepod. I wouldn't mind at all though being able to just use one little box but I don't see how that's really possible since the device must go in between the mics and the firepod.

I wouldn't mind starting off with something that has only one or two inputs to record some voice, piano, guitar etc. and experiment with the limiting so I can get used to the new piece before jumping into 8 channel limiting. Is there something small that would work with the firepod that has only 2 channels?
 
CanadaRAM said:
There's no hardware substitute for learning how to do it right.
Click to expand...

this bears repeating.

over-compressed is only slightly better than clipped. yeah, musicians usually will play it a little louder/harder when it's "for real" than when you say, "play your loudest part." keep conservative levels and it's not an issue.

if i compress when tracking, it's mostly for the tone, not so much for the dynamics. that said, the apogee devices have a built-in limiter, though i'll confess i've never enabled mine.
 
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