FabFilter Pro-L 2 Brickwall Limiter Plug-in Reviews

It would be a dream if my Volt476P had a way to confirm gain settings on a digital scale (in case anyone is listening). So, I tried FabFilter Pro Q3 which gives peak information identical to Ableton's. Yawn... so I reached for FabFilter Pro L2 bare bones on my vocal and guitar tracks. It tells me LUFS, Peaks DBFS/PL, greatest limiting beyond my -6DBFS target so I can dial to an objective target. I can accept +/- 1DBFS limiting for a song. Then I turn it off and enable my track chains and dial my Oxide tape gain to one notch below the OL LED of my Century Tube Channel strip input (2nd plugin of the chain) at which point all other plugin levels are referenced. Each new song requires only an adjustment of the Oxide Tape plugin input. I then taylor the final track output level using the Pro Q3 and it's exciting now. How simple is that? 'Analog identified digitally.'

I've taken the tough route to DAW production for studio recording and live sound and I have paid my dues. I own the equivalent to the Pro L2 in both Waves and HorNet. FabFilter is the choice that intuitively teaches you to use the product. Same goes for the Pro Q3. I've arrived at my modestly expansive collection of software through stubborn trial and error. If you begin with FabFilter, you will commit less error, realize success sooner and save money in the long run over needless subscriptions and ambiguous learning curves. Take it from someone who emerged from these trials through the eye of the hurricane... FabFilter almost seems like cheating. You're welcome.

FabFilter Pro L2 is awesome. After working with it, my initial review said Ableton was running around 60%, bit upon returning to the project the host CPU usage spiked, due to other plugin load and possibly CPU cooling (lack of). Pro L2 wasn't the problem, but I wanted to share the fix I settled on.

I was using UAD Century Tube channel strip, 1176LN and LA-2A. I found that Century Tube could do well without the additional compressors (technically my UA Volt476/P has 1176 on board).

My sound was easier to dial in and final CPU load dropped back to 50-60%.

Back to FabFilter Pro L2... I dropped oversampling bach from 8x to 4x, left all TP enabled and dialed the track chains up so no more than 1db gain was needed by the Pro L2. Aforementioned changes helped that as well. Sometimes, as I discovered, less is more. More is compelling, but better is better.

I'm very happy with my sound now.

FabFilter Pro L2 glues my mix together. I'm using Ableton to record and it stresses under my load, so I use the L1 models to conserve CPU resources. My master bus is UA Fairchild 670 followed by FabFilter Pro L2. I'm setup for -14 LUFS, -1 DBTP and 8x oversampling. I increased Ableton to 512 samples which has more latency, but I'm used to it and the metronome now. Out of the Oxide Tape, Century Tube, 1176LN, LA-2A, Fairchild 660 on tracks, only the Century and Fairchild 660 are altered from 'default' presets and then only slightly. I set the track output levels with the 660 (vocal & guitar), then a slight threshold increase on the 670. Then I record to compare the sound. FFPL2 algorithms are my first stop, after returning the compression/s to mostly default. Then it's a subtle touch on the Studio D Chorus, Nembrini Shimmer, Nembrini Doubler and bypass parallel (using the BlueCat PatchWork rack), Pure Plate Reverb and Lexicon 224 in the send channel. FabFilter Pro L2 gives me the final touch as a standard to compare the result. It's a lot for a 2.9mhz 16Gb RAM I7 8 core Win11 Laptop to handle under Ableton Live 11 Lite, but it's working at around 65% CPU average.

This limiter works real great,friendly and very clear and smooth,it is a must have plugin.

Definitely a well-worth-it purchase. I have a personal rule to always master my own tracks, no matter how lackluster the end result. There's just a hard day's work kind of feeling you get from doing it yourself. I've been through a great deal of other limiters in the last decade, but this is my constant go-to.

There are so many features included that work well across multiple genres and I'm no Richard Devine, but I've been consistently producing my best work with this limiter. You should get this for your life. I feel as though it belongs in any serious producer's musical toolbox.

First, I have to give credit to Joe Gilder (former Sweetwater rep) for turning me on to this plug-in. I've only been home recording for a few months, but I learned right away that a common problem is a "quiet mix". Sure enough, my first export was "quiet", but I immediately re-watched Joe's video on the subject, downloaded the plug-in, and picked up 6db on my next export. The plug-in is super easy to use . . . I just ran my mix through it, and moved the slider on the left-hand side of the screen up until I saw some clipping. I'll read the directions before my next export.

First, I have to give credit to Joe Gilder (former Sweetwater rep) for turning me on to this plug-in. I've only been home recording for a few months, but I learned right away that a common problem is a "quiet mix". Sure enough, my first export was "quiet", but I immediately re-watched Joe's video on the subject, downloaded the plug-in, and picked up 6db on my next export. The plug-in is super easy to use . . . I just ran my mix through it, and moved the slider on the left-hand side of the screen up until I saw some clipping. I'll read the directions before my next export.

I went from using the brickwall limiter in Cubase 9 to this and there is very noticable difference. Parts don't just jump out at you, they smoothly transition from one to the next. It's like taking a pillow off parts of your mix. This is the best investment i've made for my music since i bought a guitar. Another piece of the puzzle.

I have Ozone, Sonnox, and several combinations of hardware/software limiters with different dithering algorithms by Waves, which all offer a variety of colorations, which may not be what you want if your mixes and stereo image are spot on...this one is transparent like the TC Brickwall Limiter with oversampling up to 32X...so you can go from a low oversampling setting to completely loading up your 12 core cpu...variable...

Great Plugin ...does the job!!!.... Extra nice ...re

Great limiter. I wish I would of bought when I first started working with Cakewalk. It sounds and works great. Simple to use.

FabFilter Pro-L is a wonderful Limiter, coming from many years of audio software and owning many, the ease of use and great control of your mix, Perfect for Mastering. I can very cleanly keep an albums worth of songs sounds consistent with detail, using the "K-Factor" as reference, love FabFilter Pro-L so much I also purchased the Pro-R (Reverb) amazingly beautiful. Also you can try out any FabFilter products for 30 days in FULL Version, great company.

The FabFilter Pro-L is absolutely wonderful! After using a number of high level "Limiters" for Mastering the Pro-L out shines many to most. The controls are simple but the Software can get extreme, which gives you options. I apply the Pro-L to the Master Bus and adjust the device to the song, it can also do mono application but for me the Mastering is an art on it's own. The Pro-L is worth the cost for what it can do to the mix, awesome transparent tones, great output control and as always the "Sales Engineers" at Sweetwater are professionals and they know their products!

This is/should be the new standard for digital limiting. Tested against Ozone, L2, Ableton Limiter, Maxim, ML4000. Transparent, loud without getting sludgy, low distortion, and for mastering has extra features like ISP and transient control.

This plugin is really the best I ever had. Love it!

Great plug-in. Makes things loud in a good way.
Ty at Sweetwater is a great salesperson - good attitude and very knowledgeable.

I tried many software limiters, and the Pro-L has the cleanest sound of all I tried. Many of the limiters out there add a harsh midrange to the music, which in some cases is not so bad. However I was doing a project with just piano and strings, and this midrange harshness was killing it. Once I got Pro-L, I went back and remixed the ones I had done already. It saved my butt!
I must add that Slate FG-X is not available for Pro Tools 11 at this time, so that was not part of the comparison.