Limiter – Effects

What the effect is for

A sample-peak limiter misses the peaks that only appear between two samples on playback — exactly the ones MP3 encoders and streaming platforms count as clipping. This limiter measures true peak with 4× oversampling per ITU-R BS.1770 and keeps the ceiling there too.

Five milliseconds of look-ahead let the gain fall softly before the peak arrives: no click, no overshoot. The editor compensates the delay; the position stays sample-accurate.

Benefits

✓Meets podcast-platform and ACX requirements: −1 dBTP or −3 dBTP reliably.
✓Gain before the limiter brings quiet material up to the ceiling — the limiter catches the peaks.
✓Analysis shows limiting activity over time and true-peak columns for input and output.
✓Belongs at the end of the chain — the order can be sorted in the effects list.

Included for free

When it makes sense

Podcast export

Ceiling −1 dBTP, release 100 ms: the default for Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Audiobook for ACX

Ceiling −3 dBTP so the requirement is met with headroom.

Make a quiet recording loud

Gain before +6 dB, the limiter holds the few peaks.

Controls

Ceiling	−6 … 0 dBTP.
Release	20–1000 ms, logarithmic.
Gain before	±12 dB before the limiter.

Tips

💡If the analysis shows the limiter active more than 5 % of the time, the gain before is too high — let leveler and compressor do the work instead.

💡After adjusting, the analysis reruns automatically; the result stays dimmed meanwhile.

Chain order: High-pass → Leveler → Compressor → De-Esser → SoundsBetter → Limiter. The effects list can be reordered with “Reorder”.

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