Brickwall limiter for hearing protection (boothmate audio)

[Cyril Flerov]

[Important: currently the InterStar ICP limiter limits only audio played in InterStar ICP, that is boothmate audio. If you run your RSI event in parallel with InterStar ICP, that audio is not passing through the ICP limiter, so you should keep that audio of the RSI event at a comfortable level by using the built in mixer in your computer. See this topic for more information: http://interstaricp.com/forums/topic/my-rsi-platformvolume-is-significantly-higher-than-icp-volume/ ]

Best practice: refresh your console [“refresh” button] after you have changed modifying the settings for the limited.

The interpreter console has a built in limiter for hearing protection. it does not allow the audio level in dB to rise above a certain level that is preset by the system.

For example, loud noises, signals, input from your boothmate microphone will be brought to the same level by the system. You will still here bangs or loud noises if any, but they will not be significantly louder in your headset compared to the rest of the audio.

The limiter is turned on by default. You can turn the limiter on and off by toggling the button to the left of “Brickwall Audio Limiter ON/OFF” under the booth name in the central panel.

Important: we recommend to have the limiter on at all times and turn it off only for comparison of audio without hearing protection. However that before you do that reduce the headset volume to the minimum not to accidentally expose yourself to loud audio.

The limiter has a preconfigured default setting. You can view it or change it if you click “Configure” button.

Important: we recommend you to change the settings only if you know how brickwall limiters work.

The parameters are:

-threshold: level of dBFS when the limiter starts working, in dB
-attack: how much time it takes the limiter to kick in and start protecting your hearing. The default is 1 ms.
-Release: how quickly the limiter returns to the previous level. It is deliberately configured very long so that the limiter protector hearing all the time.
-pre-gain: how much the audio signal is boosted before it enters the limiter. This setting is not important in our configuration. Do not change it.
-Postgain: by how much the signal is boosted after it leaves the limiter that previously reduced it. If your audio headset level is consistently low with its volume being on maximum, increase the postgain in small steps until you reach a comfortable level. Remember that this setting will be applicable only to that particular headset and volume controls. If you change your headset to a different one the setting may be too high and you will need to reset the system to default or reduce it.

If you change these settings you can save them as your custom default. You can also reset the limiter to our system default.

Disclaimer: we used conservative settings of the limiter for the best hearing protection. However always exercise caution and listen at the lowest comfortable volume level. if you increase your headset volume you may still expose yourself to louder audio. For best results use an acoustic noise meter to measure the output of your headset speakers at maximum volume to make sure that you don’t consistently exceed 94 dBA.

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