Reaper: Mastering And Rendering

1. Add 'ReaLimit' FX to master track.
2. Add JS: Loudness Meter Peak/RMS/LUFS FX to master track.
3. Adjust the threshold in the limiter, until LUFS-I in meter is what you want. Note that LUFS-I only works properly if the whole song is played.
4. To hear the effect of the limiter threshold without the change in volume, check the Link option.
5. These two plugins use quite a bit of CPU, so should be disabled until rendering is required.

Video.

1. Add these FX to the master track:
   1. JS: Soft Clipper/Limiter
      1. Boost: 0.0 - 1.0 db. (to taste)
      2. Output Brickwall: -1.0 db
   2. VST: ReaLimit
      1. Threshold: -2.0 db
      2. Brickwall Ceiling: -1.0
   3. JS: Loudness Meter Peak/RMS/LUFS
   4. VST: ReaXcomp
      1. Top Freq 1: 254 Hz
      2. Top Freq 2: 3500 Hz
      3. Top Freq 2: 24000 Hz
      4. Threshold: -12.0 db
      5. Ratio: 2 :1
      6. Knee: 0.0 db
      7. Attack: 100 ms
      8. Release: 100 ms
      9. RMS size: 3 ms
2. We don't want the limiter working too hard - it should just be knocking down a few peaks here and there.

1. JS: Mid/Side Encoder
2. VST: ReaEQ
   1. Pin connector: Switch off input 1 & output 1. Should be 2 ⇒ Input R, and Output R ⇒ 2.
   2. Low Shelf: -6 db, 200Hz, 0.80 oct
3. JS: Mid/Side Decoder

Generally speaking, it is recommended to aim for a range between -14 and -16 dB LUFS.

• Preview (dry run) render. Ideally:
  • Peak -0.1
  • Clip: 0
  • LUFS-I: Refer to table
• To prevent clipping:
  • Add JS: Event Horizon Limiter/Clipper to master track.
  • Threshold: 0.0 (no change in LUFS-I) or decrease to make louder
  • Ceiling: -0.1
  • Release: 0.0
• 2nd pass render: checked
• Resample mode: r8brain free
• Normalize ON, LUFS-I, -10 LU Make sure the track is mastered correctly as above.
• Format: MP3 (encoder by LAME project)
• Mode: Target quality (VBR), Maximum q=0 (slow)
• Quality: 70

This trick will enable you to hear the effect of the limiter without changing the volume.

1. Add JS: Event Horizon Limiter/Clipper to master track.
2. Threshold: 0.0
3. Ceiling: -0.0
4. Release: 0.0
5. Select Edit button.
6. Scroll down to @slider.
7. Add slider2=slider1; afterwards.
8. Threshold & Ceiling are now linked. Decrease the Threshold to hear the artifacts of the limiter.