Set Compressor as a Limiter

[garyhParticipant]

I’m having some trouble dialing in a good volume level for our church service live stream on our Qu-24. We use mix 9/10, set pre-fader for the live-stream. This feeds a Scarlett 2i2 connected to a Mevo camera. If I set the level of the electronic drums in the mix so there is no clipping in the Mevo app meters, and then set the bass, piano, guitars and vocals to a good balance with the drums, the whole mix is really low in the stream. I do have some compression on the drums but if I try compressing more, they start sounding fake. What I’d really like is a brick wall limiter that I can put on the mix’s output. Can the Qu compressor be set up as a limiter to basically lower any peaks before they clip? I tried with the attack at it’s minimum and a really fast release time and infinite ratio with the threshold around -9db and +9db makeup gain. The compressor type was set as Manual Peak with a hard knee. This didn’t sound like a limiter. What are the best settings for use as a limiter? Thanks.

[volounteerParticipant]

@garyh

welcome to the club.
if you find a good solution let us know.
I would really like to take 50-60+dB DR and squash it to 10-15dB max.

could you limit it in obs? I understand there is a ‘filter’ to limit with OBS.
Else there must some VST plugins that would limit.

Not sure what you expect from a limiter. To me it is just a compressor set >10:1 but YMMV

Try manual peak and hard knee in the compressor.

The manual says (page 33 on the qu32 version)
Qu Mixer Reference Guide 33 AP9372 iss.10

The Compressor is a powerful tool for controlling the dynamics of the sound, for example to smooth out a bass guitar or to narrow the dynamic range of a vocal to make it more intelligible in a busy mix. At its extreme setting the compressor can be used as a limiter to prevent the signal exceeding a preset maximum level.

A compressor works by dynamically reducing the amount of gain when the signal increases above a certain threshold. This pulls back loud moments. Applying ‘make-up’ gain restores the average volume and also has the effect of bringing up quiet moments. The result is a reduced dynamic range.

While listening to the signal adjust Thres (threshold) to set the point at which compression starts. The GR indicator and red screen meter will start to show that compression is active. Set Ratio for how much compression you want from none (1:1) to full limiting (Inf). A ratio of 3:1 is a good starting point.

[SteffenRParticipant]

set the ratio to the all right setting and use the peak compressor
attack should be very fast around 0.1…5ms
release not longer than 120ms

this should give you a good starting point

on the other hand you can send all your band content to a sub group and compress the sub group first
with the auto opto setting (I don’t remember the exact name)

[Mfk0815Participant]

@garyh a limiter alone on the master would not do the job alone, in my opinion. You should also use standard compression, no limiter on the input channels, especially on the most relevant one. So, first double check the channel source of your mix bus. It should be set to „post all“. Only this tap point will include the channel compressor for the mixbus send signal.
Then do a appropriate compression on vocals, drums and the rest of the instruments until you get an acceptable result on both, FOH and Video Stream. Then you can use the limiter to prevent the videostram from clipping.
That would be my approach.

[garyhParticipant]

Thanks everyone. I’ll make some adjustments and report back after Wednesday rehearsal.

[garyhParticipant]

Okay, hopefully I’ve got it dialed in. On the e-drums I added a manual peak compressor with soft knee. Fast attack, moderate release, fairly low threshold, 1:4 ratio, and makeup gain. This sounded natural but loud, fast transients, like the ride cymbal, still might be getting through.

[Author]

Posts