Limiters?

[AudFellow]

I recently recorder something a bit hot, and it was the first time I've seen the limiter on my microtrack II kick in. The limiter on the microtrack appears to be active pretty close to 0 dB. I've done a litel work on recordings from other people where the limiter on their system appeared to hit around -6 dB (one didn't think he had his limiter on, but it sure looked like it). Having the lmiter running at -6dB may fool the taper, I'm not sure. It seems an odd level to have the limiter running. Fisrt, am I correct in this analysis, and second, any insight into why some recorders do that? Do they meter red at -6 dB so you know the limiter is active?

Just curious

[rspencer]

Not sure why, but -6dB is a common default setting for limiters in lots of software as well. Possibly to allow some headroom, as there may be transients that the limiter can't react quickly enough to catch. :dunno:

[AAR.oner]

i'm not sure why they picked -6dB either, probly a throw back to analogue days...i know the limiter on my recorder still hits to just shy of 0dB when enabled [PMD671], altho i usually just set my levels manually

no matter, the levels on the meter should correspond with the levels on the recording...if not there's an issue with the recorder