01) High Frequency Control for the Modern Age
HiFAL (High Frequency Acceleration Limiter, pronounced “High Fall”) brings a classic vinyl mastering technique into the modern era with the flexibility and precision only digital can offer. Designed for modern workflows, HiFAL lets you shape brightness, transient detail, and stereo image as subtly or aggressively as your mix needs.
Acceleration limiting was originally developed to manage high frequencies during vinyl cutting, keeping the stylus from overheating while preserving clarity and energy in the record.
At the time, it wasn’t just about shaping tone, it was about protecting the sound of vinyl. High-frequency transients could overwhelm the vinyl cutting process, leading to distortion or groove damage. Acceleration limiters controlled high-frequency energy while maintaining transients, helping engineers cut louder vinyl records with a cleaner top end. And either by necessity or by design, acceleration limiters also helped define the lush and beautiful sound people still associate with vinyl today.
HiFAL builds on that legacy. Not as a vintage emulation, but as a new way to control the top end of modern music. Tight pop vocals, bright shimmering synths, crispy drums, or balanced airy masters. Modern brightness and stereo image control is now yours with HiFAL. This is high-frequency control for the modern age. The kind today’s music demands.
HiFAL features a unique high-frequency limiter that performs sample-by-sample acceleration calculations, along with dual-mono thresholds, mid/side processing, parallel limiting, momentary solo, process band trim, and our linked-average stereo image control. It’s powered by our custom linear phase filterbank, tuned for clean tone-shaping without phase smear or loss of fidelity.
At its core, HiFAL is about rethinking how we manage brightness. Acceleration limiters were once used to tame harsh top end for vinyl. Today, HiFAL takes on the same role for modern digital music—where brightness is often pushed over the edge.
HiFAL is now your tool for controlling high-end before it goes too far. This series of emails and blog posts will walk you through how it works, why it matters, and where it can help you most in your mixes.
Be well,
Ryan Schwabe
Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum mixing & mastering engineer
Founder of Schwabe Digital
