Limiting your options
Whether you’re producing something for radio, internet or just having a speaker at a conference and not recording it at all, some form of what’s known as limiting is useful.
A peak limiter essentially controls the volume of the audio signal so it never goes above a certain volume. Typically limiters are set just below maximum because their method of controlling volume levels can be quite agressive and may actually work to make the sound worse.
In our signal chain, a limiter could be placed either between the main output of the mixer and the speakers (black path below) or between the record output of the mixer and your recording device (dark green path below). Either method will help to eliminate distortion (crackling, noise, etc) from your final destination. Some mixers will incorperate a limiter before the final output stage.
