Q: I’m not finished mixing my song, but my mix is overloading my meters. Should I add a limiter plug-in to the output fader?
A: Often, professional mixing engineers — and almost always professional mastering engineers — use a limiter at the final stage of mixing or mastering as a way of controlling and shaping the final output level of the mix, and often to maximize loudness.
But as a rule, adding a limiter on your output bus during the mixing process is rarely done. The mixing process is where you want to hear how everything sits and adjust individual tracks against one other. Brickwall dynamics processing — limiting — can affect the perception of your mix at this stage of the game.
At the mix stage, you’re generally better served by correcting gain staging, lowering individual faders, and mixing at a lower output bus level than letting “fader creep” inch your volume up so high you feel you need to use a limiter. Then, when the mix is done if you feel the need to limit peaks or increase levels, or to simulate the effects of mastering, consider dropping a limiter on your output bus.