Saturation, again and again

[Lawrence]

I’m about to download the 30 day demo of Saturn (a very generous policy in my view) in my endless quest for a saturation plugin that pleases me. Waves BB Tubes didn’t do it, U-he’s Satin is good but doesn’t quite get me there nor anything from my version of Ozone. Magneto from Steinberg isn’t bad, but. Etc etc.

I’m mostly looking for a plugin to reside on my stereo outs for finalizing. May I ask if many of you have Saturn, use it in that way, or use an alternate for the same purpose?

[Guy Rowland]

I can't comment on Saturn myself, but your thread did prompt me to dive again again to this related one - viewtopic.php?t=6199 (and discover to my shame I never responded to the examples Tanuj posted (and Saturn is in there).

[RobS]

forgive my complete ignorance Larry, but can you explain to an 8 year old man what exactly saturation is about? More importantly, what it can do to the whole mix... all I think it does is introducing distortion, mostly in the higher frequencies. But on a perceptual level, what is it doing to the mix. I might need to apply some in my mixes, thank you!

[Lawrence]

forgive my complete ignorance Larry, but can you explain to an 8 year old man what exactly saturation is about? More importantly, what it can do to the whole mix... all I think it does is introducing distortion, mostly in the higher frequencies. But on a perceptual level, what is it doing to the mix. I might need to apply some in my mixes, thank you!

That’s pretty much how I think of it, Rob-pleasing distortion at higher frequencies.

When the digital revolution happened and studios transitioned away from tape, I noticed that a lot of them still had a two track tape machine that they mixed down to.

Oh, and as soon as I understand it like a 8 year old would I’ll explain it to you that way

About ten years ago I did a gig with a great engineer (who had won 9 Latin Grammys) and though the whole session was done on ProTools, the final mix went to (I think) quarter inch tape-and I could actually hear the difference.
That sound is what I’m looking for.

[Guy Rowland]

About ten years ago I did a gig with a great engineer (who had won 9 Latin Grammys) and though the whole session was done on ProTools, the final mix went to (I think) quarter inch tape-and I could actually hear the difference.
That sound is what I’m looking for.

Have you tried any of the analogue tape emulators? I don't know if they are technically overall classed as a specific type of saturator. UAD and IK do several, plenty of other developers too besides of course.

[Luke]

I’m mostly looking for a plugin to reside on my stereo outs for finalizing. May I ask if many of you have Saturn, use it in that way, or use an alternate for the same purpose?

For this specific task my two favorite tools are Aroma by Ploytec (will never stop thanking Piet for that one) and NFuse by Kiive Audio.

Aroma has just enough control to dial in a great sound on the master - rarely fails, and if it does I'm sure it's my fault. I'm not in love with the terminology used, but once you get used to this description, it's smooth sailing (or you can use the attached cheatsheet). My main use for Aroma is to subtly but effectively widen and saturate the image a bit. After a lengthy experiment with widening as a general task, my chain includes more than just Aroma, but that is how it all starts - and importantly, always sounds good.

NFuse I initially purchased because I had always wanted a Hardware SSL Fusion, but when presented with a choice, I purchased a Tegeler Crème RC instead (big thanks to Bill for helping me set it up back then), so I looked for a software alternative on the SSL Fusion.

The "gimmick" on NFuse is that it emulates the SSL but also the well-liked Neve Masterbus Transformer, of which I knew nothing at the time. Turns out I rarely use the SSL side, but the Neve's Saturation and imaging facilities really speak to me. Anyway, while you can mix and match modules from each unit freely, I tend to use the Neve to introduce low frequency saturation (which can be dialed in nicely with the given controls), and brighten the top end a bit. I quite like these flavors and combining this with Aroma earlier in the chain is often just want I want.

Finally, a newer outlier: Acoustica's Taupe Studio has a great sound... even if it isn't quite as surgical or delicate as others (Softube's Tape for instance, or the IKM stuff) it colors the sound convincingly with plenty of flexibility. I'm yet to try it on the Masterbus. Right now I use it more on groups to impart that typical, slightly "rough" Tape sound.

Edit - added the cheatsheet:

Aroma Cheatsheet

But, at the end of the day, if Saturn was all I had, I'm reasonably sure it would suffice and then some - it's incredibly versatile and powerful. Almost too much so, actually. If I'm looking for a quick tool that gets me there without too much fuss, I never reach for it. If I'm in the mood to experiment however, it comes out and always delivers. Again, user-subjective disclaimer.

[progger]

I do love a good saturation thread! I've been a bit of a junkie for years.

Lawrence, I have Saturn and yes, it's very, very good, as with all FabFilter plugins. It's actually not the one I reach for most often, but I also only got it recently (even though it's an established and respected veteran) and I doubt I'd be sad if it were my only option. It's very classy and powerful, with great UI as you'd expect, and lean on resources.

My go-to saturation tools are "Big Al" from Neold and "Kelvin" from ToneProjects. Both are excellent, also very classy like Saturn, go from subtle to screaming (but I'm nearly always on the "subtle" side). They all have something very important to me, which is the ability to effectively shape tone in addition to the distortion function, and I find that crucial. Saturation is a coloration tool, and tweaking the highs and lows to taste along with experimenting with various stages of transformer and/or tube and/or tape distortion is how you get the most out of it. Saturn, Big Al, and Kelvin are all capable in this regard and I'd be happy with any of them, but I think Kelvin is my favorite at the moment. The options for tubes and transformers, along with the EQ options, are awesome, and it seems to always sound great. ToneProjects and Neold are neck-and-neck for analog emulation awesomeness.

Rob, saturation is essentially subtle distortion – but not like the DOD American Metal pedal your neighbor blasts in the garage, more like the very subtle signal alteration that comes from running an electrical audio signal through certain kinds of circuitry. We associate this with "sounding like a record." It can come from any part of the recording chain, starting mainly with the microphone capsule, then going through various stages of amplification, and eventually (maybe) tape. Each of those steps introduces little bits of distortion to the original signal that we don't perceive as Megadeth guitar distortion, but as a pleasing tone-shaping effect.

Saturation plugins aren't essential for a good recording but I find them very useful for tone-shaping, and I love that software is non-destructive, so you can experiment all you want and just undo/redo ad infinitum without worry.

[wst3]

I don't use saturation per-se, although I will use tape emulation plugins to make me smile...

When I need saturation I turn to one of two old hardware devices the SPL Vitalizer and the SPL Charisma, both from the 1990s. I find it quite remarkable that both are still working pretty much as they did on day one!

[Lawrence]

I don't use saturation per-se, although I will use tape emulation plugins to make me smile...

When I need saturation I turn to one of two old hardware devices the SPL Vitalizer and the SPL Charisma, both from the 1990s. I find it quite remarkable that both are still working pretty much as they did on day one!

Retro-it’s the new old thing

[Lawrence]

Thanks for all the excellent replies. It seems I have some listening to do.

There seems to be some crossover between tape emulation and saturation. I’ll listen and ponder.

[wst3]

I think that tape emulation uses saturation as one part of the magic, subtle wow and flutter would be another, as would mild compression, and if you can manage it, crosstalk also plays a part.

Of the bunch I think saturation is the most pleasing of the effects, but that's me.

And just for the record, my old gear is not so much retro as it is cheap, as in it paid for itself decades ago and I am too cheap to do anything about it<G>.

[RobS]

Larry, Brian, thank you so much for clarifying, seems like I have some listening to do as well

[progger]

So, it occurs to me, something that I think is very helpful is to actually get your hands dirty with these toys and experiment with them for yourself... and, aside from trials, there are some excellent FREE saturation tools out there. Not nearly as full-featured as the likes of Saturn or Kelvin, of course (both of which are well worth the price of admission IMO) but still very capable and good-sounding, classy tools. Here they are.

Klahnghelm IVGI

Fuse Audio Labs V72

Try these out and crank them to extreme settings, then dial them back. These are phenomenal emulations of what actual saturation of an electrical audio signal does. It's similar to why tube guitar amps "sound so good," even though they're definitely not high-fidelity representations of a guitar string vibrating over a magnetic pickup (which, as we know, ain't great on its own). The process of amplification alters the signal in a way that doesn't sound bad – it's distortion, but it's good-sounding distortion. It's why we'd rather plug a Strat or Tele into a Fender Twin than directly into the input on an SSL console. (Most of the time, anyway.)

In the end, it's just coloration, tone shaping. For software, it's a simulation of what happens when audio information is transformed into electrical signal and then passed through circuits... and more circuits... and eventually sent back out into the air we hear via speakers.

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) In the end, it's just coloration, tone shaping. (...)

In most of the cases, yes, I suppose, but saturation can also be used very effectively as a mixing tool, without anyone ever hearing that saturation is what was used.

Some examples (all of them using saturation in a way that is not audibly overdriving or distorting the signal): if your bass sounds too heavy and lacks definition and also comes through noticeably weaker on smaller speakers than it does on big ones, there’s a good chance that the problem might be solved entirely with a bit of clever saturation. Because one of the things that saturation does, is generate harmonics — depending on the type of saturation, different series of harmonics will be generated — and it’s those harmonics that will strengthen the definition of the bass and also prevent that the bass all but disappears on smaller speakers.

Saturation works also great as an image widener. Apply a well-judged amount to the sides of a mix, leaving the mid untouched, and the signal that’s being processed instantly gains width. It can be quite a spectacular difference, but never exaggerate with mid-side processing however, because too much of it will cause correlation problems.

Saturation also works great as a sort of EQ of course, with the great advantage that it can increase the density of the targeted area in a way that a typical digital EQ won't do. (For that, you obviously need a multiband saturator, like Saturn2, that can limit its processing to a specific frequency area.) Me, I rarely like what most high shelves/bells of most EQ plugins do, because they often tend to bring out the thinness/harshness of sample-based DAW-sound, and that's a sound which depresses me like few things do . (That’s not necessarily the EQ’s fault, it’s often in the source audio, the samples and all the virtual nonsense it comes wrapped in, where the root of the problem nests.) Wisely set up and well-applied saturation doesn’t do that. Which is why I will always try, whenever things sound like it might be needed, to add some clarity with saturation instead of an EQ. Doesn’t always work of course, and sometimes a bit of both is what’s actually required. All I’m saying is: it’s worth knowing about this technique. And once you’re familiar with it, you’ll find it can also work equally well in other frequency ranges: not only shape the tone, but also add density and a bit of 'oomph'.
Saturation can also work fabulously, by the way, to increase the brassyness of brass instruments, especially horns and trombones. Trumpets too, but those are more difficult to get just right, I find. And the degree of success also depends on the quality of the samples of course. But try achieving the same thing (= increased brassyness) with an EQ, and there’s a good chance you end up with a rather unpleasant sound that hurts your ears.

Anyway, all of this mainly to say that saturation is, or can be, an endlessly powerful, incredibly versatile, potentially beautiful-sounding tool. What you really do NOT want to do, is to think of it solely in terms of overdrive and distortion. There’s much, much, much, much more to it than that. But it does require plenty of experimentation, exercises and practice to become familiar and comfortable with it. I've been at it for years, and I still discover new things every week. So, try it on everything — absolutely everything — but always start with very gentle settings (and then slowly increase, to find out what the possibilities are). Is what I would recommend.

I use a lot of saturation, both as a colorization tool and as a mixing tool (when it is near inaudible and pretty much unrecognizable as saturation). I'll try and do a few audio examples over the coming days.

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[RobS]

If I may Piet what saturation plugin would you recommend that doesn’t make me broke?

[RobS]

So, it occurs to me, something that I think is very helpful is to actually get your hands dirty with these toys and experiment with them for yourself... and, aside from trials, there are some excellent FREE saturation tools out there. Not nearly as full-featured as the likes of Saturn or Kelvin, of course (both of which are well worth the price of admission IMO) but still very capable and good-sounding, classy tools. Here they are.

[url=https://klanghelm.com/contents/products/IVGI]

Just noticed this, I’m gonna try this one thank you Brian

[Piet De Ridder]

If I may Piet what saturation plugin would you recommend that doesn’t make me broke?

Fabfilter’s Saturn 2 is undoubtedly the queen of her species, Rob — it allows you to explore everything that (many different flavours of) saturation can be used and abused for — but it’s €127 at the moment and I don’t know how you feel about such a price. It’s got a generous 30-day trial though, which should help in making up your mind.
It’s also worth remembering that Saturn 2 is more than just a saturator. It includes dynamic processing, EQ’ing and has a modulation system that can be as basic or advanced as you can imagine it to be. It’s the combination of all these features that make Saturn such an outstanding tool.

Roughly half that price (€58) is ApulSoft’s ApShaper which, in my opinion, is also very, very, very good — sonically every bit Saturn’s equal, and it also has EQ’ing, dynamic processing and very powerful modulation options in place — but it’s a bit more difficult to get to grips with, its GUI might be something of a turn-off — me, I don’t much like Fabfilter’s GUI’s, purely aesthetically speaking, but not to the extent that I can’t work with their software —, and there aren’t any good tutorials for it on YouTube, like there are for Saturn 2.
And I should also add that I have a strange weakness for all things ApulSoft — as I have for all things Goodhertz — and if you don’t share that, ApShaper might instantly loose a lot of ApPeal. (Sorry about that silly spelling.)

Other plugins I like and I’m familiar with (one doesn’t always need the depth of possibilities that Saturn or ApShaper offer):
- Ploytec Aroma; old, but in no way dated. Has built-in MidSide options too. Great plugin.
- Tone Project’s Kelvin; Brian already mentioned this one. 2-stage saturation, plus three-band tone shaping, and the familiar Tone Projects quality of course.
- Goodhertz Tupe(Wow); probably the plugin I use most of all (though never to create the illusion of having printed something to tape).
- Soundtoys has a few good ones as well. (Rarely use any of them though, and I can’t really explain why.)
- Kush Audio (of Clariphonic fame) also does grrrrreat saturation. Their set of pre-amp/transistor simulators — the Omega series — is really, really good. As is their brilliant Pusher plugin.
(All Kush plugin demonstrations on YouTube sound great, but the Pusher video is, for my taste, something truly special. (I’m not talking about the technical quality of the sound of course — that would be ridiculous given that it’s a YouTube video — but about the character and the sonic flavour. Give it a listen, on a decent system obviously, and make sure to raise the volume of the playback a bit. Timbrally, the sound of this video is my Holy Grail: warm, full and round, yet never congested and with all its elements well defined, dynamic yet perfectly contained, energetic and punchy but without being smacky or aggressively processed, …)

However, the reason I would rather save up for Saturn (instead of one or more of the ones listed in the previous section) is that Saturn offers pretty much everything that is possible with saturation. Saturn (and Apshaper as well), after having become thoroughly familiar with it, instantly makes at least a dozen of other plugins you might have, completely redundant. It’s also the best way, in my experience, to get a good understanding of how various types and degrees of saturation affect sound. As with all processors: the better you understand how they work, the better you’re able to work with them and get the result you’re after. I don’t want to influence your decision of course, but to me, that’s worth something.

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[Thomas Mavian]

On separate channels I use Saturn a lot. On the mixbus on the other hand I tend to use Vertigo VSM-3 the most. Almost always very subtle and almost always in a M/S setup with 2nd order harmonics in the mid and 3rd in the sides. On sale right now (as almost always )for 39.99 USD.

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... vsm-3.html

And, what Piet said about Saturn, it's a beast of a plugin.

[progger]

Piet's point about saturation as a mixing tool on bass, in particular, is very good. I've been really surprised about just how much drive a bass instrument can take before it's apparent in a mix. Something that sounds like a nice clean round J-bass tone in a production might, if you isolate it, sounds like a totally overdriven fuzz-fest. Not sure why that is but it's pretty remarkable! I think it's true to a degree on all instruments, but the effect seems particularly noticeable on bass to me.

[Lawrence]

I just watched Kush’s “the Pusher” walkthrough. Pretty interesting and impressive. You can see and hear how small gradations can make a big difference.