Specifications

Audio Plug-Ins Guide94
Limiting has two main uses in the audio produc-
tion cycle:
• Adjusting the dynamic range of an entire final
mixdown for premastering purposes
• Adjusting the dynamic range of individual in-
struments for creative purposes
Limiting a Mixdown
The purpose of applying limiting during final
mixdown is to flatten any large peaks remaining
in the audio material to have a higher average
signal level in the final mix. By flattening peaks
that would otherwise clip, it is possible to in-
crease the overall level of the rest of the mix.
This results in higher average audio levels, po-
tentially better signal to noise ratio, and a
smoother mix.
Limiting Individual Instruments
The primary purpose of applying limiting to in-
dividual instruments is to alter their dynamic
range in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. A com-
mon application of this type of limiting is to
modify the character of drums. Many engineers
do this by applying heavy limiting to flatten the
snap of the attack portion of a drum hit. By ad-
justing the release time of the limiter it is possi-
ble to bring up room tone contained in the decay
portion of the drum sound.
In some cases, this type of limiting can actually
change a drum’s character from a very dry
sound to a relatively wet sound if there is
enough room tone present. This method is not
without its drawbacks, however, since it can also
bring noise levels up in the source audio if pres-
ent.
How Maxim Differs From Conventional Limiters
Maxim is superior to conventional limiters in
several ways. Unlike traditional limiters, Maxim
has the ability to anticipate signal peaks and re-
spond instantaneously with a true zero attack
time.
Maxim does this by buffering audio with a 1024-
sample delay while looking ahead and analyzing
audio material on disk before applying limiting.
Maxim can then instantly apply limiting before
a peak builds up. The result is extremely trans-
parent limiting that faithfully preserves the at-
tack transients and retains the overall character
of the original unprocessed signal.
In addition, Maxim provides a histogram, that
displays the distribution of waveform peaks in
the audio signal. This provides a convenient vi-
sual reference for comparing the density of
waveform peaks at different decibel levels and
choosing how much limiting to apply to the ma-
terial.
The TDM version of Maxim introduces 1028
samples of delay at 48 kHz into any pro-
cessed signal. The RTAS version of Maxim
introduces 1024 samples of delay. These de-
lays will increase proportionally at higher
sample rates. To preserve phase synchronic-
ity between multiple audio sources when
Maxim is only applied to one of these
sources, use Delay Compensation, or the
Time Adjuster plug-in to compensate.