Turn the entire mix down so it doesn't clip anymore. 
What's the right way to use a limiter?
At least, I think a limiter is what I need. I'm having issues with my snare, and it's clipping my drum bus. Most of the time, it's fine:
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But on heavier bits, it ends up doing this:
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I like where it sits in the mix, so I don't want to turn it down - I just want to cut it at about -3db. I have a limiter on there, but it squashes the sound and (to my ear anyway) seems like it's just turning it down.
What's the right way to go about this?
But on heavier bits, it ends up doing this:
I like where it sits in the mix, so I don't want to turn it down - I just want to cut it at about -3db. I have a limiter on there, but it squashes the sound and (to my ear anyway) seems like it's just turning it down.
What's the right way to go about this?
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Using the limiter will stop the snare track clipping, but on the drum bus you've got the whole kit going as well so it'll still clip the bus (as you've found out). Simplest option would be to select all the tracks inside the folder/bus and pull one of the faders down (which with them all selected pulls them all down by the same amount), this'll keep the balance between all the volumes of the drum tracks the same. Then just push up the drum bus fader to compensate for the decrease in volume (and it shouldn't clip). So it will end up sounding the same as before, just with no clipping hopefully.
If it's still clipping (or as I may have missed, you don't want to do the former :lol at this point then you could look into other things like a clipping plugin. They clip the signal at a certain level intentionally, but when used on things like snare/kick/toms tracks they effectively cut the level of the signal without changing the perceived volume in the mix (and because the transients are so quick with drum hits, unless you clip it reeeeeeeeeeally hard it won't be audible).
You can sort of achieve that same effect with a limiter, but I find it tends to change the character of the snare (it messes with the transients). GVST - GClip is my goto plugin for this. You'll also find that if you clip the drum hits, they consequently won't be hitting your mastering chain quite as hard compared to other elements in the mix so you can push the volume more comfortably (if that's what you're into).
Sorry for the wall of text! I'm pretty terrible at explaining myself, but I hope this helps! :yesway:
If it's still clipping (or as I may have missed, you don't want to do the former :lol
at this point then you could look into other things like a clipping plugin. They clip the signal at a certain level intentionally, but when used on things like snare/kick/toms tracks they effectively cut the level of the signal without changing the perceived volume in the mix (and because the transients are so quick with drum hits, unless you clip it reeeeeeeeeeally hard it won't be audible).You can sort of achieve that same effect with a limiter, but I find it tends to change the character of the snare (it messes with the transients). GVST - GClip is my goto plugin for this. You'll also find that if you clip the drum hits, they consequently won't be hitting your mastering chain quite as hard compared to other elements in the mix so you can push the volume more comfortably (if that's what you're into).
Sorry for the wall of text! I'm pretty terrible at explaining myself, but I hope this helps! :yesway:
I've tried this, and have found it to be a bad idea. It will take the punch from the snare, making it sound soft and unnatural. Instead, I'd suggest using a compressor with a very fast attack and a medium-slow release (about 300ms) to shave a couple of dB off your drum bus or your snare bus. The slow release will make it retain the punch.
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