Satin beginner: please recommend some settings!

[Sleepwalker]

Hello! I got Satin on release but havent had time to try it before this week.
For starters there are a couple of uses of it id like to explore.

1. To make a "vinyl" sound when DJing digitaly (Traktor)
Plan: Send the two stereo channels from Traktor into Ableton Live. Put Satin on each track. Maybe add some vinyl dust from the Ableton plug Vinyl Distortion. Send the master in Live to the P.A.

Maybe now we can fake that so called vinyl sound! What settings would you recommend? And shold they be different on channel A and B so that the beat mixing part doesnt double up some enhanced peaks in volume?

2. Group channels in production. What are recomended settings for group tape fx and why? I have my groups usually like: 1 kick&bass, 2 drums, 3 leads, 4 pads/backing etc..

[Sleepwalker]

It would be great atleast if someone could point me in the direction on where to read about the tape mashines that are modulated. Ive never worked with tape before. Im 40 but when I was a young producer in the 90ties it was already mostly gone digital aka Dat tape.

[JustusHall]

It would be great atleast if someone could point me in the direction on where to read about the tape mashines that are modulated. Ive never worked with tape before. Im 40 but when I was a young producer in the 90ties it was already mostly gone digital aka Dat tape.

Hey SleepWalker,

I would recommend reading the user-guide team u-he wrote.
It's a great read and you will be on your satin way in no-time.
There is a lot more than tape going on, but reading the manual will clarify all that good stuff.

Hiss and asperity (in the service section) can really add some dust to your audio signal.
Start breaking down some presets, always a good start i guess

LINK:

http://www.u-he.com/downloads/manuals/S ... -guide.pdf

[Sleepwalker]

Thanks! I just skipped through it quickly at first, I shall read it more properly now. I guess what I was asking was what type of tape machines and settings were for example typically used for drum groups, bass, vocals and so forth back in the day.

[JustusHall]

I think there were a lot of tape-machine brands back in that era but i'm not an expert by any means.
The most popular and well known were/are the Studer and Ampex i think.

From what i've read, Studer on single tracks and Ampex on master but that's by no means a set thing.
As far as settings go, doubt there were any golden settings.
Satin has a couple Studer/Ampex presets next to a bunch of other great presets.

I advice you not to skip through the user-guide, but read it whole
I'll bet while reading you will find new information worthy of investigating.

Cheers

[Sleepwalker]

Thanks again!

Yeah I actually love reading/studying manuals but its nice to here I might not need to read up on the history and usage of tape machines first. Though its interesting, id also like to get working asap.

[JustusHall]

The presets will definitely help you get going, it's a good start.
But although presets are helpful i think reading and doing some research about the topic will help you more in the long-run.

I think there is a lot to read about tape on the internet. And although the user-guide is a manual there is a lot of information about tape and how it works.


Justus

[Hardock]

With Satin, my final mixdown is tighter, with less sub-bass in the kick than my premaster - still not sure whether I like it more or less - I get the feeling my pre-master sounds better in headphones and the master run through Satin will sound better on a big system.

The bass response on Satin is highly customizable.

First, it depends on the tape type, where 'vintage' is a bit more on the 'round' side.

Second, the pre-eq plays a big role. The 'fattest' bass response is probably with the NAB setting, as NAB adds a low-shelf boost upon record which gets subtracted back upon repro, but as a result the bass gets distorted ealier than with the IEC or flat setting, thus sounding a bit thicker (unless you drive the input too hard).

Third, there's the head-bump control in the service panel which - when turned fully down - compensates for the resonance build-up in the bass region, stimulated by the increased induction (due to the pole pieces picking as well, not only the head gap). In the central position, there's already a bit of head-bump (location & amplitude depending on the gap width), and turning it further up creates some massive low-end thump because the resonance is sort of unleashed (also known as 'contour effect').

Fourth, the general studio-recorder rule applies here, too: 15 ips is usually the better choice for rock & pop (or anything related that needs good low-end response). 30 ips - apart from preserving treble much better - tends to produce a lighter bass response, but this is natural and also occurs on real machines. [People unfamiliar with real tape might turn the speed to fully high intuitively but then might wonder why things starts sounding thin.]

If interested, check out these plots:
http://www.endino.com/graphs/

[nilhartman]

I think the default Studio setting is a great starting point, and you can make it sound as a beautiful yet natural enhancer on the 2buss within a very few clicks :

- some Hiss and Asperity can go a long way to add life to your audio
- a little bit more Pre-Emphasis
- Speed, Tape and Input to taste
- and full headroom in the Service Panel.

It may sound quite subtle (depending on how you drive Satin, of course !)... until you bypass Satin to A/B what it does : then Satin's magic is obvious !

Oh and remember, you'll get way better results if you mix from scratch within Satin (same goes for any kind of dynamic/saturation processor) than if you slap an instance on an almost finished mix.

I hope it helps.

[Sleepwalker]

Awesome, thanks guys!
Im going to create a new minimal composition (less cpu hungry) from scratch to learn properly what fits where and whats cool where. Cant wait to get going!