Newfangled Audio Elevate Review: Honest Mastering Test

What Is the Newfangled Audio Elevate?

The Newfangled Audio Elevate is a spectral multi-band limiter that takes a completely different approach from most mastering limiters on the market. Instead of processing your master as a single stereo signal, it splits the audio into up to 26 frequency bands and limits each one independently. That is a massive jump compared to something like DMG Audio Limitless, which tops out at 6 bands. The higher band count is why Elevate can achieve loudness and detail at the same time on material that would normally force you to choose between the two.

On top of the spectral limiter, Elevate gives you four sub-modules that work together: a Filter Bank, a Limiter/EQ section, a Transient module, and a Spectral Clipper. You can control each one independently or let the adaptive parameters handle it for you. The idea is simple: give you as much control as possible over the final stage of your mastering sessions.

Interface and Key Features

From the first glance, Elevate makes a few smart decisions that experienced engineers will appreciate.

The plugin is fully resizable, which is a feature I always look for these days. You can manage presets directly from the top of the window. Load and save custom presets. A/B test between them to find the one that fits your audio material best. If you want your gain to stay locked when you load different presets, there is a button for that too.

The info button opens the Elevate manual inside the plugin. This is genuinely useful when you are working with parameters that do not exist on other limiters. Under Settings, you get rendering and visualization options plus three different skins: Newfangled, Modern, and Twin Turbo. Twin Turbo looks slick but it was too demanding on my eyes during long sessions. I stuck with the default Mother skin for this test.

One feature I want to highlight is Match Level. When you activate Match Level and then bypass the plugin, you hear the unprocessed signal at matched loudness. That removes the “louder always sounds better” bias from your ears and lets you actually hear what the limiter is doing. Every serious mastering limiter should have this. Not all of them do.

On the metering side, Elevate gives you input and output meters with both peak and RMS values. You also get dedicated analyzers for input and output levels, gain reduction, and the filter bank itself. The one thing that surprised me is that LUFS metering is not on by default. For a modern mastering limiter in 2024, that is an odd omission.

The Output Section: Read This Before You Use Elevate

There is one feature that deserves its own section because if you miss it, you will ruin your masters.

Elevate has an Auto Output Level button that automatically compensates the output level for any gain and drive you add to the signal. This is a great feature for comparing the processed and unprocessed signal at matched volume while you are tweaking. But according to the Elevate manual, you must turn Auto off before bouncing your final track. Otherwise the plugin will reduce the peak gain rather than increase the RMS gain, and your master will come out quieter than intended.

You can also control the output level manually if you prefer. Either way, this is a detail you want to lock into your mastering workflow.

Main Parameters of Newfangled Audio Elevate

If you are just starting out with mastering and the interface feels overwhelming, do not worry. You do not have to use every tool Elevate offers. Most of the time, the main parameters alone will do the job. Here they are.

Limiter Gain

Limiter Gain is where you inject gain to reach your target loudness. On most other limiters this parameter is called Threshold. The concept is the same: push this up to get more limiting and more loudness.

Adaptive Gain

Adaptive Gain lets the gain reduction vary in each band independently for a potentially louder output. The tradeoff, according to the manual, is that it may affect the tonal balance of your master. On most material this is a net positive, but it is worth listening carefully when you toggle it on and off.

Speed

Speed is Elevate’s combined Attack and Release control. You can go slower for a smoother, more transparent response, or faster for more aggressive limiting and slightly more perceived loudness.

Adaptive Speed

Adaptive Speed is where Elevate really earns its keep. According to the manual, it adapts the attack, release, and lookahead parameters for each filter band individually. This greatly reduces pumping, breathing artifacts, and perceived distortion. I activated this for my test, and it is one of the reasons the limiter sounds so clean even when pushed hard.

Ceiling

Ceiling controls the maximum level peaks are allowed to reach. As in every other limiter I use, I set the Ceiling to -1 dBFS, which leaves 1 dB of headroom for streaming platform conversion. If you need strict True Peak compliance, see the True Peak section below because Elevate has a small quirk here.

Transient Module

The Transient sub-module gives you control over transient emphasis. FabFilter Pro-L2 has a transient control too, but Elevate takes it further by letting you shape transient behaviour per band. On this particular test mix, transient emphasis worked against the material, so I left it off. On percussive or electronic tracks it could be a real advantage.

Spectral Clipper

The Spectral Clipper has two main parameters: Drive and Shape. Drive sets how hard the clipper works. Shape lets you choose between a softer or harder clipping curve. Again, for this particular master I did not feel the need for clipping, so I left it out.

Advanced Customization and the Mel Scale

If you want more control than the main parameters offer, Elevate opens up four detailed sub-modules.

The Filter Bank section uses bands that, according to Newfangled Audio, resemble the critical bands of the human ear. They are based on the Mel scale, which is an auditory scale based on the perceptual distance between pitches rather than raw Hertz values. The practical result is that band splits land at frequencies where your ear actually hears them as separate. This is different from the equal-ratio splits you get on most multi-band processors.

From there you can customize gain per band in the Limiter/EQ section. You can shape transient emphasis per band in the Transient module. And you can visualize the clipper curve in the Spectral Clipper section. It is an enormous amount of control. The good news is you do not have to use it unless you need it.

Testing Newfangled Audio Elevate on a Real Mix

For this test I used a song produced and mixed by my brother Vlad. That is the same reference material I use across all my limiter reviews. Consistency in test material matters. If I compared every plugin on a different track, I would never really know what I was hearing.

My reference limiter was the TC Electronic Brickwall Limiter (PowerCore version), which is still my favourite after years of use. I also ran a direct comparison against the FabFilter Pro-L2. Pro-L2 is one of the best limiters on the market and a fair benchmark for any new contender.

Here is the setup I used on Elevate:

• Matched loudness with the Brickwall reference
• Added Limiter Gain only (no Filter Bank EQ, Transient, or Clipper customization)
• Adaptive Gain on
• Adaptive Speed on, 3 ms relative speed
• Ceiling at -1 dBFS
• True Peak option activated

No transient emphasis, no clipping. On this mix, those tools pushed the result in directions I did not want. That is not a knock on Elevate. It just means they are not always needed.

How Does Newfangled Audio Elevate Sound?

Let me break down what I heard across different sections of the song.

Overall Impression

My first impression was that Elevate, like the Brickwall PowerCore, keeps the 3D space and depth of the mix almost untouched. The overall sound is clean. The separation between elements of the mix is preserved. That is the first thing I listen for in any limiter.

The Busy Section

In the louder, busier section of the song, Elevate opened up the top end a bit more than the Brickwall PowerCore. More presence in the high-mids and highs. What I liked is that it did not make those frequencies harsh. The top end quality stayed intact. Elevate also kept the space between the mix elements where it was intended at the mixing stage. That is rare when you are pushing a busy section hard.

Elevate vs FabFilter Pro-L2

When I compared Elevate directly with FabFilter Pro-L2 on the same busy section, the only noticeable difference was the top end. Elevate opens the master slightly more. Not better or worse. Just a different character. If you want a detailed test of Pro-L2 against other limiters, I covered it in my Sonnox Oxford Limiter review.

Transient Response and Distortion

The top-end opening aside, Elevate kept the punch of the master. There was no noticeable distortion. The lows and mids stayed in their place. On a limiter pushing this hard, that is exactly what you want to hear.

The Softer Sections

This is where a lot of limiters fall apart. Some of them push softer parts up louder than they should be, destroying the dynamic contrast of the song. In the softer section of this track, Brickwall PowerCore measured around -13.8 LUFS. Elevate measured roughly the same. That tells me Elevate behaves as a very well-mannered limiter on softer material. It does not artificially inflate the quiet parts.

The True Peak Test

In my mastering sessions I use a ceiling of -1 dBFS because I want True Peaks to stay below that level for streaming delivery. So I tested Elevate with its True Peak option enabled and the ceiling set to -1 dBFS.

According to the TC Electronic loudness meter I use for verification, Elevate let some True Peaks slip slightly above the -1 dBFS threshold. They were very close, but close is not the same as safe.

From my previous tests I know this is actually how most native limiters behave. The Brickwall Limiter PowerCore version is an exception, and it is one of the reasons I still rate it so highly. If your master absolutely needs to stay below -1 dBTP, the workaround with Elevate is simple: set the Ceiling to -1.2 dBFS or slightly lower. Problem solved.

Final Verdict: Is Newfangled Audio Elevate Worth It?

I am going to be direct here. In my honest opinion, the Newfangled Audio Elevate is one of the best limiters on the audio market right now. Alongside the Brickwall Limiter PowerCore version and FabFilter Pro-L2, it belongs in the top tier of mastering limiters you can get today.

What I like most about it:

• It keeps the stereo image, 3D space, and depth of the mix almost completely untouched.
• The adaptive gain and adaptive speed parameters do a lot of heavy lifting without forcing you to dial in every band manually.
• The additional tools (transient emphasis, spectral clipper, per-band filter bank control) are there when you need them. They do not get in your way when you do not.
• The spectral approach across 26 bands is genuinely different from what most other limiters do. On the right material it produces results that are hard to match.

What to watch out for:

• Turn Auto Output Level off before bouncing your final master. Otherwise your peak gain will be reduced instead of your RMS gain increased.
• If you need strict True Peak compliance, set the ceiling to -1.2 dBFS rather than -1 dBFS.
• LUFS metering is not enabled by default, which is surprising on a modern mastering limiter.

The honest bottom line: Elevate can absolutely help you achieve very good results in your mastering sessions. But as always, a limiter is only as good as what you feed into it. If your mastering chain and your mix are not in order before the signal hits Elevate, no limiter on the planet will save you. This is where proper mastering training pays off.

Key Takeaways

• The Newfangled Audio Elevate is a 26-band spectral multi-band limiter. It includes adaptive gain, a transient module, and a spectral clipper, all based on the Mel scale filter bank.
• In my test it kept the 3D space and stereo image of the mix almost untouched. It opened the top end slightly more than Brickwall PowerCore without sounding harsh. Softer sections came through cleanly at matched LUFS.
• With a -1 dBFS ceiling, a few True Peaks slipped slightly above. Set the ceiling to -1.2 dBFS if you need strict True Peak delivery.
• Always turn Auto Output Level off before bouncing your final master.
• Alongside the TC Electronic Brickwall PowerCore and FabFilter Pro-L2, Elevate belongs in the top tier of mastering limiters on the market today.

Related Articles

• How to Use a Limiter in Mastering. The full guide to limiter parameters, True Peak vs Peak limiting, the link trick for finding the sweet spot, and common mistakes to avoid.
• Sonnox Oxford Limiter Review: Honest Mastering Test. An honest test of the Sonnox Oxford Limiter against FabFilter Pro-L2 and the TC Electronic Brickwall.
• iZotope Ozone 9 Maximizer Review. A deep dive into the Ozone Maximizer, its IRC algorithms, and how it stacks up against FabFilter Pro-L2.
• The Mixing & Mastering Cheat Sheet. A free one-page reference of the checks and moves I use on every session, including final limiter settings.

Ready to Go Deeper?

A limiter like Newfangled Audio Elevate is a powerful tool, but it is only one piece of the mastering puzzle. The real results come from understanding the full workflow. That starts with the decisions you make before the signal ever hits the limiter. It continues through the order of your mastering chain, the monitoring that tells you the truth, and the business side that turns your skills into a career. I built three programs to cover the whole journey, depending on where you are right now.

About the Author

Adrian Milea is a mixing and mastering engineer, music producer, and educator with over 25 years in the industry. His work has been released on Armada Music and featured in DJ Mag. Through adrianmilea.com and his online courses, he teaches the technical and business sides of making records that compete at a professional level.

Until next time, Stay Cool and Make Great Music!
-Adrian Milea