John,
It just may be that your experience with a limiter is one with the
threshold level set too low, thereby compressing the full range of
the input.
My experience has been mostly with studio limiter/compressors that
have a great deal of parametric control: threshold, input gain,
output level, compression ratio, attack, release and mode (rms,
peak, soft, hard, etc). In a controlled environment you would use
sound checks to create the right mix of settings so that only the
peak levels are compressed in order to help prevent clipping. I
have engineered the sound for concerts and sports announcing along
with recording thunderstorms and finds that it takes a bit of
creative control, and trial and error to get the
limiting/compression to work just right for the environment.
For sports announcing I would set the threshold so that the
announcers voice was always in a mild state of compression,
providing a fairly constant output level. One the other hand, while
recording the thunderstorms I just wanted the loud thunderclaps from
producing sever clipping (producing harmonic distortion) so I used
the limiter with the threshold level set very high and the
compression ratio also set fairly high to prevent the lower level
rumbles and rain from "pumping" (which sounds like what you
described).
Outdoor recording of natural and unpredictable sounds creates a
challenge for limiter setting since we cannot always adjust input
gain and limiter settings before we are faced with a surprising
sound. I find it nice to have it available so that I don't ruin an
otherwise interesting clip. However, one must always be aware that
limiting/compressing does add a degree of distortion and
unnaturalness to the recording during the compression and must be
used sparingly in order not to produce unwanted sound modification.
I am just getting familiar with my new HHB Portadisc. It has a
switchable limiter, but with preset settings only. I can only
switch input mics pads to essentially raise the limiter threshold
value (while lowering the overall input gain, unfortunately). I
have yet to find the specs on the Portadisc internal limiter, but it
appears to work well with what I am recording.
I am most sure that those on this forum that have experience with
limiter/compressors can amplify or clarify these comments.
Best wishes,
Bill Mueller
http://www.wcmsolutions.com
http://www.experimotion.com
--- In wrote:
> In a message dated 6/30/2003 10:47:48 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> writes:
>
>
> > But, it's probably time to revisit the subject as there
> > has been so much new equipment brought out since then. My
feeling is
> > some of the newer limiters are not that bad.
> >
>
> But don't all limiters raise and lower the "volume" as you are
recording so
> that constant background noise will be going up and down as
the "volume" is
> increased or decreased. I used limiters a lot several years ago
and regret it!
> The recordings are not good as the volume is constantly going up
and down as the
> bird sings...this being noticeable with the constant background
noise
> sounding like a wave!
>
> My best,
>
> John
> John V. Moore Nature Recordings
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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