7.2.3 Ceiling

7.2.3.1 What it is

Ceiling is a mastering-grade limiter that does two jobs at once: it pushes perceived loudness up while guaranteeing the output never exceeds a true-peak ceiling you set. "True-peak" (dBTP) means it accounts for the peaks that appear between samples when a converter reconstructs the waveform — the peaks a normal sample-peak meter misses and that cause clipping on playback devices and lossy encoders.

It also measures loudness to the broadcast standard (BS.1770 / EBU R128 — LUFS), so you can master straight to a streaming target, and it tells you in plain words whether your master is safe for streaming or will be turned down by the platform.

7.2.3.2 Getting started

1. Add Ceiling as the last insert on your master bus.
2. Leave the Ceiling at -1.0 dBTP (a safe default for streaming and lossy codecs).
3. Play the loudest section. Turn LOUD up until you hear the gain reduction start to work and the loudness reads where you want it.
4. Pick a TARGET chip (e.g. STREAM −14). The verdict on the right tells you if you're over or under; in the Simple skin, choosing a target also gently rides your level toward it.
5. Trust your ears first, the meters second. If it sounds squashed, back LOUD off.

7.2.3.3 The interface

Ceiling has two skins, toggled top-right:

• SIMPLE — four controls (LOUD, CEILING, CHARACTER, TARGET) plus the verdict panel. Everything you need for a fast, safe master.
• ADVANCED — the full surface: Input & Character, a centre meter with GR/LUFS/TP scopes and IN/OUT true-peak bars, a loudness read-out column, and the Limiter Core, Clipper and Target & Output sections.

The window is a borderless, draggable panel with its own header (brand, skin toggle, minimise, close) and an OS drop shadow. Drag the header to move it; switching skins resizes it.

7.2.3.4 Input & Character

LOUD / Input Input · −24…+24 dB · 0

The "push". This is gain into the limiter — the harder you push, the more limiting (and loudness) you get. In the Simple skin the big LOUD knob drives the same parameter over a gentler 0…+12 dB range, with a halo showing how much limiting your push is causing. Watch the GR read-out: a few dB of reduction is musical; 6 dB+ on a full mix is aggressive.

CHARACTER Clean · Punchy · Aggressive

A one-click voicing that configures the dynamics for you. Your choice is saved with the project and can be automated.

• Clean — transparent. Your manual Limiter Core / Clipper settings apply as set. Use this when you want full manual control (Advanced skin).
• Punchy — auto-release on, more punch, gentle clipper (drive 2). A louder, livelier master with preserved transients.
• Aggressive — fast release, maximum punch, harder clipper (drive 5). The loudest, most forward voicing for dense, competitive masters.

STEREO / M-S Stereo · M-S

How the stereo pair is limited.

• Stereo — left and right are limited together (image-stable, the safe default).
• M-S — the mid and side are limited as a pair, with Link blending between them. This is a density mode: it can make a wide mix louder without collapsing the centre. The final true-peak safety always works on decoded L/R, so the ceiling holds either way (see §7.2.3.15).

7.2.3.5 Ceiling & the true-peak guarantee

CEILING −10…0 dBTP · −1.0

The absolute true-peak ceiling. The output's inter-sample peaks will not exceed this value. −1.0 dBTP is the recommended default: it leaves headroom for lossy encoders (MP3/AAC add small overshoots) and cheap DACs. For strict delivery specs, −1.0 to −2.0 dBTP is typical; for a hot club master you might sit at −0.3.

7.2.3.6 Limiter Core

The heart of the limiter. Most of these are overridden by Punchy / Aggressive; on Clean they're yours.

LOOKAHEAD 0.1…10 ms · 2.0

How far ahead the limiter "sees" a peak so it can bring the gain down smoothly before the peak arrives. More lookahead = cleaner, more transparent catches; less = more aggressive, more distortion on transients. 2 ms is a good all-round default. Lookahead is reported to the host as latency and compensated automatically.

PUNCH 0…100% · 25

Lets the very start of a transient punch through for a moment before the limiter fully clamps it, preserving perceived attack and impact. Higher = more punch and a livelier master; 0 = maximally transparent. The ceiling is still guaranteed — punch only affects how the peak is handled, not whether it's capped.

STEREO LINK 0…100% · 100

How tightly the two processing channels share their gain reduction. 100% = fully linked (rock-solid image, the safe default). Lower values let each channel move more independently, which can be louder but can also shift the stereo image on hard peaks. In M-S mode this blends how much mid and side share reduction.

RELEASE — Fast / Slow / Fast-Slow blend / Auto 5…50 · 100…1000 ms · 0…100% · off/on

Ceiling uses a dual-stage release. Rel Fast recovers transients quickly; Rel Slow handles sustained material smoothly to avoid pumping. Fast/Slow blends between them (0 = all fast, 100 = all slow). Auto Release (on by default) programs that blend from the material's crest factor — fast on punchy content, slow on dense — so you rarely need to touch the manual blend.

7.2.3.7 Clipper

An optional oversampled soft-knee clipper placed before the limiter. Clipping a few dB off the sharpest transients before limiting lets the limiter work less and the master sound louder and denser. It's off by default (Clean); Punchy and Aggressive turn it on for you.

ENGAGE off/on

Turns the pre-clipper in or out. When off, the signal passes to the limiter untouched.

DRIVE 0…12 dB · 3

How hard the signal is pushed into the clip threshold. More drive = more transients caught by the clipper (and more density / harmonic colour). Use sparingly — a little goes a long way on a full mix.

KNEE 0…100% · 50

Morphs the clip curve from hard (0%, cleaner, more transient control) to soft (100%, warmer, more saturation-like). 50% is a balanced default.

7.2.3.8 Target & Output

TARGET Off · Stream −14 · Club −7.5 · Custom

Sets the loudness target the verdict compares against, in LUFS-Integrated. Stream (−14) matches the common streaming normalisation level; Club (−7.5) is a hot, loud target; Custom uses the Custom Target knob. Off disables targeting.

RIDE TO TARGET off/on

When on, Ceiling slowly rides the input gain so your integrated loudness glides to the chosen target — hands-free loudness matching. The ride is deliberately slow so it never pumps.

CUSTOM TARGET −24…−6 LUFS · −14

The target used when TARGET is set to Custom.

CEILING (Output) −10…0 dBTP · −1.0

Same parameter as the main Ceiling — surfaced here in the output section of the Advanced skin.

DITHER Off · 16-bit · 24-bit

Adds dither for a clean reduction to the target bit depth on the final master. Use 16 when rendering a 16-bit master (CD / most lossy uploads), 24 for 24-bit delivery, Off when the limiter is not the last stage before bit-depth reduction.

7.2.3.9 Meters & verdict

The verdict

The headline read-out (Simple skin, and driven by the same data in Advanced) compares your integrated loudness (LUFS-I) to the chosen target:

• ✓ Safe for streaming — you're at or below the target; platforms won't turn you down.
• ! Loud — will be turned down — you're louder than the target, so a streaming platform's normalisation will lower your master. Reduce LOUD, or enable Ride, to bring it to target.

Scopes — GR / LUFS / TP

The centre display (Advanced) shows an 8-second history, switchable with the three tabs:

• GR — gain reduction over time (how hard the limiter is working).
• LUFS — short-term loudness, with the target drawn as a reference line.
• TP — output true-peak history in dBTP.

Loudness read-outs

The vertical IN L/R and OUT L/R LED bars show input and output true-peak levels. Integrated LUFS, LRA, TP-max and Overs accumulate over the programme; re-start playback from the top for an accurate integrated reading.

7.2.3.10 Controls & gestures

• Knobs — click-drag vertically to change; hold Ctrl for fine adjustment.
• Switches / chips — click a segment to select.
• Scope tabs (GR/LUFS/TP) — click to switch the centre history view.
• Skin toggle (SIMPLE / ADVANCED) — top-right; resizes the window.
• Window — drag the top bar to move; minimise / close at the top-right.

7.2.3.11 Recipes

7.2.3.12 Tips & best practice

• Last in the chain. Ceiling caps peaks and (with dither) reduces bit depth — nothing should follow it on the master.
• Push with LOUD, not the ceiling. Loudness is the input push; the ceiling is just the peak cap.
• Mind LUFS-I, not momentary. Platforms normalise to integrated loudness — play the whole track to read it correctly.
• Less is more on the clipper. A dB or two of drive adds density; too much dulls transients.
• Auto-release is your friend — leave it on unless you want a deliberate static character.
• −1.0 dBTP is the safe default for anything that will be encoded to a lossy format.

7.2.3.13 Parameter reference

Every control, with its range and default. All settings are saved with your project and can be automated.

7.2.3.14 Troubleshooting

It still says "Loud — will be turned down"

Your integrated loudness (LUFS-I) is louder than the selected TARGET, so streaming platforms would normalise it down. Either reduce LOUD until LUFS-I reaches the target, or enable Ride to Target (in the Simple skin, choosing STREAM/CLUB does this automatically). Give the slow ride a couple of seconds to settle.

I hear a click / timing shift when I move Lookahead

Expected. Lookahead is the plugin's latency, so changing it re-aligns delay compensation once — a brief one-time shift, not a fault. Don't automate lookahead during playback.

The plugin makes no sound / passes nothing

Check it isn't muted upstream and that a signal is actually reaching it. Below the ceiling with the clipper off and no push, Ceiling is transparent by design (it only acts on peaks over the ceiling).

CHARACTER buttons don't seem to change anything

On Clean the voicing is transparent (your knobs rule). Switch to Punchy or Aggressive to hear the voicing — they change punch, release and the clipper.

My true-peak meter (elsewhere) shows a tiny overshoot on a test tone

On extreme synthetic material (hard anti-phase square in M-S, Link 0, pushed hard) the guarantee can be off by a few tenths of a dB — see §5. Set the ceiling ~0.5 dB lower for an absolute cap on such signals. Real program material holds the ceiling.

7.2.3.15 Technical notes

• True peak — Ceiling measures the peaks between samples as well as the samples themselves, so the ceiling holds after conversion and lossy encoding. The final safety works on left and right, so the ceiling holds in M-S mode too.
• Loudness — measured to the broadcast standard (BS.1770 / EBU R128), so its LUFS and LRA readings match other standard meters.
• Clipper — oversampled, so its harmonics stay clean, with no added latency.
• Latency — equal to the lookahead plus a very short safety window, and reported for automatic delay compensation, so parallel and dry paths stay aligned.
• Dither — applied at the output, at the bit depth you choose.