The L2 combines look-ahead brickwall limiting, level maximisation and high-resolution dithering for mastering and the mix bus.

The L2 has long been a mainstay of mastering and mixing chains. Its controls come down to Threshold, Output Ceiling, Release and dither: Ceiling controls the peaks, Threshold raises the level, and ARC adjusts the release time automatically to the dynamics. For delivery, IDR dithering and ninth-order noise shaping with 48-bit double precision in Moderate, Normal and Ultra modes handle conversion to 24, 22, 20 or 16 bits.

Features

• Look-ahead brickwall limiting without overshoot
• ARC automatic release control or manual release
• IDR re-quantisation and dithering
• Noise shaping with 48-bit double precision: Moderate, Normal, Ultra
• Stereo format optimised for bus applications
• Low latency for live sound and tracking

Technical details

• Operating systems: Windows, macOS
• Plug-in formats: VST3, Audio Unit (macOS only), AAX
• Architecture: 64 bit
• Licensing: licence key, machine-bound or USB flash drive (via Waves Central)

System requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia, 26 Tahoe or 27 Golden Gate (Apple silicon or Intel)
• Windows 10 64-bit (version 22H2) or Windows 11 (Intel or AMD, x64)
• 16 GB RAM
• 30 GB free disk space on the system drive

The licence is registered with the manufacturer at https://www.waves.com/downloads/central. You will receive your serial number and the download link by e-mail immediately after purchase.