A Mastering Limiter With Color
The Problem
I loved the sound I was getting from the Neve RND542 Tape Emulators, a pair of which I had strapped across the outboard mastering chain. But the units had to have the silk unit reset each time they were turned on- not a big deal, but what was a big deal is that there was no way to truly recall the settings flawlessly, as they were pure analog knob-controlled.
What I Did
Tried out the harmonics section of the Bettermaker Mastering Limiter, and matched each of them them as closely as I could to the RNDs’ Silk Red and Blue. Virtually the same. This was amazing! But I could also change the exact frequency at which the 2ndor 3rd-order distortion appeared, unlike the 542s. But most importantly, of course, recall the settings perfectly on a per-session basis. I could also use the “Red” and “Blue” simultaneously and place them wherever I wanted. I generally prefer the Red to be around the vocal area and the Blue to warm up the bass. I got that out of this limiter.
More About The Bettermaker Mastering Limiter
Mid-Side - The unit can operate in mid-side mode. I don’t default to this for mastering, because often I’m also the mixing engineer and have carefully balanced the mid-side signals. But I do occasionally receive mixes that are out of the box here, unintentionally, and require mid-side rebalancing. If the compressor isn’t quite finishing without artifacts, then I may use mid-side here too.
Mastering Grade Metering - it has every monitoring type you could want for mastering: VU/PPM styles, K-system, spectrum/FFT, LUFS and phase correlation. While I use a dedicated Loudness Meter (from TC-Electronics), having a K-Meter or Spectrum without using up my computer’s screen real estate is nice.
True Bypass - bypass mode here is relay-controlled and removes the limiter’s processing completely from the signal. You’re getting wire to wire. I can’t stress how important it is to be able to A/B your changes fully and swiftly.
Total Recall - The single most important part about the Bettermaker Mastering Limiter, after its audio fidelity, is that is has total digital recall. The unit’s signal path is entirely analog, but all settings can be saved- either directly on the touch screen panel’s presets, or in the session of the DAW you’re using. The Bettermaker connects via USB, and when you set up the plugin in your DAW, it provides instant control over the entire signal path on the unit.
This unit sounds stellar. It can be utterly transparent if your track is fully cooked, or can do some sizzling for you.
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About Dume41
Dume has been producing, recording, and mixing hip hop records since 1996, and mastering them since 2005. He is the founder of the record label Fresh Chopped Beats, where he has worked on music featuring artists such as Abstract Rude, Afu-Ra, Gabriel Teodros, Geologic/Prometheus Brown, Jeru The Damaja, Khingz, King Khazm, Macklemore, Percee P, Sean Price, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Sizzla, Specs Wizard, Vitamin D, and many, many others. His mastering chain is built around a high-end analog hardware setup designed to add depth, warmth, and polish while keeping the artist’s intent intact.