This is the Holy Grail of limiters - the most transparent limiter I have ever used. This is not a plug- in, but a dedicated piece of hardware that does all its own number crunching at 48 bit. It's very flexible, offering AES/EBU and S/PDIFdigital ins/outs, as well as a word clock in. To my surprise the analog to digital converters included with the unit sound very, very good, and include a variable gain, making them very flexible. Using the L-2 is simple and the manual does a good job explaining the features and appropriate uses of them. The L-2 is the answer for anyone looking to master mixes loud without being forced to make them distorted and harsh. A mastering engineer's wet dream in a time when commercial music is demanding volume over quality. ($2395 list, www.waves.com or www.audiomidi.com)
Dynamics, Mic Preamps | No. 55
P-1, EM-Silver, EM-Red & EM-Blue preamps
by Andy Hong
Wow, am I in preamp heaven or what? For the past few months, I've had a bunch of awesome mic preamps in my studio from Seventh Circle Audio (Tape Op #54), Purple Audio (see review in this issue), and...