Recording - December 2020 - 58

REVIEW

Bettermaker

Mastering Limiter
Push it to the limit in analog,
take control digitally
REVIEW BY JUSTIN PERKINS

ased in Poland, Bettermaker is known for its
high-end analog mastering processors that are
digitally controlled via large and beautiful 2U
front panel touchscreen interfaces, with the option
of DAW plugin control via USB. We looked at the
Bettermaker Bus Compressor in the July 2020 issue.
Here, we complete the mastering chain with the
Bettermaker Mastering Limiter. As a Bettermaker
Mastering Equalizer and Mastering Compressor
user, I'd been interested in the Bettermaker Mastering
Limiter since it came out, and I was glad to have the
opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.

Digitally controlled analog

The Bettermaker Mastering Limiter is a digitally controlled stereo analog limiter. While you can use the large dials, smaller
encoders, and the customizable LCD touch screen on the unit
itself, you can also use a DAW plugin to control the unit. The
plugin is responsive and stable, not only for the instant recall
of settings in your session but also to automate the settings over
the course of a project. I found myself using the plugin almost
exclusively. If you're a front panel user, the touch screen and
controls are equally nice, and the menu system is akin to a
digital mixer. Plus, you can store presets in 399 cells.

Clip it to the limit

The limiter has a variable attack time and includes manual
and intelligent (automatic) release modes. You can also engage
a Clipper after the VCA limiter and blend between clipping
and limiting to your liking. I find that hitting a limiter alone can
sometimes sound a little too heavy handed, whereas inserting
the Clipper and mixing between the two offers less obvious
and more transparent results with some material. While you
should always use your ears, the Clipper and Limiter have independent dedicated metering to help you get a feel for what's
happening. This limiter is quite fast, and my ears perceived
some gain reduction even before it was displayed.

58 RECORDING December 2020

Saturate before
using

The Bettermaker Mastering Limiter also can add subtle (or
not-so-subtle) harmonic saturation in the form of odd-order
harmonics and/or even-order harmonics that can be independently
activated, blended to taste from 0% to 100%, and EQ'd to
target specific frequency ranges. If a track is feeling a little
anemic and digital, a touch of odd harmonics in the low midrange can thicken and warm it up, and if a track is a bit dull,
some even harmonics in the upper midrange can give it some
bite and energy.

On display

The Bettermaker Mastering Limiter offers comprehensive metering on its LCD screen to display loudness, phase, and frequency response information, including a 31-band FFT analyzer, goniometer, correlation meter and LUFS loudness metering.
Most mastering engineers will probably have a set of similar
tools in their DAW. Still, this onscreen metering can be handy
and eye-opening for mix engineers dabbling in mastering or
mastering engineers who don't want to be tied to a DAW.
You can calibrate the Bettermaker Mastering Limiter to your
A/D converter to match the loudness readings to digital 0 in
your system. I didn't have much luck with this, but I already
have metering in my mastering DAW, so I didn't really feel the
need for a deep dive on this functionality.

Recording - December 2020

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