Brickwall HD
by TC Electronic · Limiter · Mastering brickwall limiter
Not rated yet
Brickwall HD is a mastering brickwall limiter from TC Electronic, for both professional and home studios.
It offers classic transparent limiting and a loudness-oriented workflow for predictable results; the developer lists it at $149.
Best for: Mastering, Mix Bus. Genres: all genres.
Keywords: mastering, transparent, metering, broadcast, classic, true-peak, full mix, bus processing, clean, corrective, film & game audio, mix bus, modern, perpetual licence, single-band.
What it does
Brickwall HD is TC Electronic's final-stage limiter for mastering in professional and home studios. TC pitches it as combining "classic transparent limiting and modern loudness oriented workflow."
- Transparent limiting: a clean limiter type for general mastering, aimed at controlling peaks without obvious colour.
- Intersample peak limiting: a limiter type that catches inter-sample peaks, so the output doesn't clip in digital-to-analog converters.
- Loudness limiting: a type aimed at the loudness targets of streaming services.
- Limiter profiles: custom profiles for adjusting how tonally transparent the limiting is.
- Metering: real-time metering with a statistical overview and LUFS monitoring for checking loudness.
- Optional controller: a small desktop unit with two encoders, eight buttons and an LCD is sold separately as Brickwall HD-DT for hands-on control.
The current version is 1.1.0. It is sold as a perpetual license. TC Electronic's own product pages currently return a 404 error, so these details come from KVR and Thomann; no demo is mentioned.
Source: TC Electronic product page
When to use it
Brickwall HD is a straightforward final limiter for engineers who want a few clear limiter types, inter-sample peak safety and LUFS metering without a long list of settings. Unlike FabFilter Pro-L 2, it offers a handful of limiter types rather than eight styles, and less detailed metering, but it is quicker to set up. Compared with TDR Limiter 6 GE, which builds its result from several separate limiting and clipping stages, Brickwall HD works from ready-made limiter types. Its one real extra over the Sonnox Oxford Limiter and other rated limiters is the optional HD-DT hardware controller. It has far less published review coverage than any of them, so it is harder to judge before buying.
- Best for: final limiting on masters and mix buses, and hitting loudness targets for streaming or broadcast.
- Genres: general-purpose, for any style; Thomann buyers mention TV and broadcast ad work.
- Look elsewhere if: you want many limiting styles or deep loudness metering; Pro-L 2 or TDR Limiter 6 GE fit better.
What producers say
The few user reports are positive about the sound and loudness control, with some doubts about pumping and the optional hardware.
- Thomann buyers rate the Brickwall HD-DT bundle (plug-in plus controller) 4.4 out of 5 from 25 reviews; one called it a "Great Limiter with 3 types of Clipper" and others use it for broadcast and TV ads.
- Criticisms: some users heard pumping even at modest gain reduction, reported faulty controller displays, and felt the controller is "too much like a toy".
Where to buy
- Best Service: $74.50
- KVR Audio: $149 (Developer's listed price on KVR; TC Electronic's own product page was unreachable (404))
Tutorials and reviews
- Best LIMITER Plugin for Mastering ??? - TC Electronic: Brickwall HD Native vs Brickwall PowerCore
- TC Electronics Brickwall HD Review
- MASTER X HD-DT & BRICKWALL HD-DT Overview & Audio Demos
- How To Use tc electronic Master X HD and Brickwall HD with Protoculture
- Master X HD & Brickwall HD - Official Product Video
Similar plugins
- Precision Limiter by Universal Audio · Mastering limiter · $99
- Oxford Limiter by Sonnox · Mastering / broadcast limiter · $264
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- Invisible Limiter G2 by A.O.M. · Transparent mastering limiter · $199
- The Wall 2 by Boz Digital Labs · Mastering limiter · $79
- BUTE Limiter 2 by Signum Audio · True peak brickwall limiter · $69
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- NoLimits2 by DDMF · Mastering limiter · $59
- EBusLim by Voxengo · Brickwall peak limiter · $39.87
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