Limiter for Guitar Track that won't kill the tone.

H3O2

H3O2

Experienced
I have a Blankenship preset(thanks MisterE) that is really great and I recorded it in my DAW and it sounds perfect. I just want to limit some of the spikes w/o killing the tone. I have Waves Gold and tried all the limiters and compressors and it does the job but the track just isn't as nice and raw. I'll keep experimenting as I'm not well versed in this area. But if anyone has a general tip I could apply it would be great. Could it be the plugin or my inexperience or both? :? I've got the drums tamed and sounding good with some plugins, just my guitar track only needs a little help. The AXE should shine!

Thanks!
 
Best advice is to limit your limiting so you don't kill your dynamics. Ideally you want something multiband so you can apply limiting to only the frequencies that need it. I use Ozone for this when it's needed.
 
How about lowering all track levels. When you say spikes, do you mean clipping? If you've recorded audio clipping, no limiter will fix it. Hows the output level on the front of the axe when you palm mute and play heavily on low strings? Does the light ever go red on the Axe? What about in the daw, can you inspect for clipping there? If its not clipping but just louder dynamic notes then im afraid you may need to play a multiband compressor.
 
Thanks guys. Both of your comments have good info. I didn't know about the multi-band I'll look into that. As far as clipping. I made sure the Axe wasn't and in Samplitude pro x the track is not clipping. Maybe lowering over all. I should have mentioned it's a lead track that would help, sorry. But it's not so much of a clip just a few notes are a louder not making it a smooth listen.
 
I have SSD4 and was looking at some of these plugins. Hmm... thanks for the mentioning.
 
Don't use multiband. That can be good for special purposes and some polish, but definitely not for everything. To me marketing multiband processing as a general tool is NOT good (and AFAIR most pros who care for their sound will tell you the same).
If you REALLY have to kill those peaks or transients use a good broadband limiter or tape simulator to control them.
 
Appreciate all of the input. I will consider the suggestions so far. Hope to crack at it this weekend. Work gets in the way too often! But it DOES pay for my gear. ;)
 
merlin17 said:
Don't use multiband. That can be good for special purposes and some polish, but definitely not for everything. To me marketing multiband processing as a general tool is NOT good (and AFAIR most pros who care for their sound will tell you the same).
If you REALLY have to kill those peaks or transients use a good broadband limiter or tape simulator to control them.
Click to expand...

This.

Avoid a multi-band on guitar. The frequency ranges for the guitar are narrow enough as it is and any good broadband compressor will smooth out the transients much more musically. I am very partial to UAD plugins for guitar (A 1176/Pultec Pro combo) There is more to stimulating/polishing recorded guitar tracks than just EQ/Compression but that is a fundamental treatment. The rest is a deeper application specific topic. Cheers.
 
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