In the era of aggressive loudness, the appeal of the L2 is obvious: IT MAKES TRACKS LOUDER. Simple as that. As such, it’s become a go-to weapon in many mastering engineers’ arsenals. Under the covers the L2 works like any other limiter, by effectively reducing the peak signals in a mix so that everything can be amplified in order to increase the average loudness.

But how does it actually sound? Let’s just say you’re not buying the L2 for its character. When pushed hard it’ll happily destroy the dynamics of your track, introduce distortion and eventually create the most horrifically clipped, harsh sound you can imagine. But that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most popular pieces of outboard among mastering engineers looking to squeeze that last fraction of a decibel out of a mix.

If you’ve ever compared your own mix with a chart hit and wondered how they’ve managed to push the mix that loud then you can all but guarantee that a maximizer like the L2 has played a pivotal role somewhere in the mastering chain.