Peak Limiter Attack Time

Q: While recording some foley FX with sharp transients, even with the limiter engaged I was still hitting getting close to 0 dBFS. I was under the impression that the limiter threshold was -6 dBFS (according to the manual). What am I seeing?

A: The limiters on the 7-Series are implemented in analog. Their attack time has been tuned so that some of these really fast peaks can get through so the perception of loudness remains. A limiter with no attack time can often sound unnatural. The threshold of -6 dBFS allows for these fast peaks to get through, but program remains without distorting.