How do I use Adaptive Limiter to make sure bounces are same volume?

Question

Hi,
I've been making ear training exercises for myself - you can understand what here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=490846&tstart=0
Here's what I need to do - and don't know how:
I want all bounced exercises to play at the same volume.
Each exercise has two MIDI regions. The first region (Region #1) plays at the begining of all exercises. When I look at the Output track when Region #1 plays, it is at 0.2 DB - no clipping. However, Region #2 clips in varying degrees depending on what octave an interval is being played at. For instance, a C and E played together around C1 doesn't clip - but transposed to C5 or C6 it clips anywhere from 3.7 to 4.6. I can't just lower the output volume before it clips - because it's important the Region #1 stays the same volume-wise on all of the exercises.
Some people have said just add an adaptive limiter to the Output 1-2 track... but how do I set it?
Any suggestions? Anyone understand this?? It's hard to explain on this end...
Thanks.

Answer 1

you don't use adaptive limiter to make sure bounces are the same volume.
that is not the function of the adaptive limiter.
the limiter puts a ceiling on the signal and optionally raises the gain. You'd use this on certain instruments that are known to produce loud peaks, such as Bass Guitar and Vocal,
It is used as the last plugin in the chain on the master fader when mixing something down, to prevent the mix from peaking.
IMO, the logic limiter doesn't destroy anything unless the mix itself has something wrong with it.
A lot of people reach for limiter when what their ears are really looking for is to multiband compress.
Your solution is to use a COMPRESSOR (not the multiband compressor, just the simple Logic compressor).
Do NOT use the default setting of the logic compressor in your case, because it defaults with its 'auto Gain' turned on which will raise your volume (a lot).
Put a compressor as the first plugin in all of your piano channels, or into a Bus, and set all your piano tracks to output to the bus with the compessor on it.
Settings:
THRESHOLD : -10
ATTACK : 0 (play with it, pianos feel good with a low one,
could try 15ms or less)
DECAY : play with it, I'd use 50ms with a Piano track
AUTO GAIN : off
GAIN : +4
RATIO : try 12.0
This setting will attenuate anything above -10 and will raise the gain up to a healthy level to compensate.
Anything below -10 won't be touched.
Since the compressor will 'squash' your signal slightly,
some frequencies will appear louder to the ear after the piano is compressed. So just AFTER the compressor on the same track, put a Logic Channel EQ and conservatively pull down some of the freq ranges to bring them back to normal.
And that's it.
a tip: When working in logic, no matter what the project, when it's time to mixdown put a COMPRESSOR on every single channel as the first plugin. Then play with plugins, etc.
I do have many issues with Logic's workflow, but the dynamics plugins IMO are very good.