When and why would I use a saturation plug in?

[Unaspected]

I downloaded a freebie plug in called IVGI2 by Klangheim. It's one of these. I'm sure it's useful but when I apply it I can't really hear any difference unless it's too much at which point it's too distorted. I can't really tell what the parameters do. Why would I use this (not being snide)? What should I do with such an effect and do I need it?

I wouldn't suggest that you specifically need anything but it would definitely help to understand the tools available to you.

The first thing to do would be to read the manual but Klanghelm's website does provide a description of what it is emulating:

IVGI's base sound is comparable to the DESK mode in the big brother SDRR.

So it's emulating a channel from a mixing desk, which I would expect to sound pretty clean, even well into clipping. We might presume that this can be used for limiting transients, adding harmonics and increasing perceived loudness. The trade-off (as with compression) will always be an increased noisefloor as the signal reaches saturation - so the cleaner the input signal, the harder you can push it.

IVGI is internally calibrated to 0VU = -18dBFS.

This is also important to note: You will want to provide the plugin with a signal metering around 0VU and then boost into it using controls provided by the plugin. This is always good practice in general; bringing signal levels up whilst listening - rather than turning them down - as it will be easier to hear how the signal changes.

As the signal is driven further into saturation, more harmonics will be added which can help a sound stand out in the mix but it will also boost and saturate resonant frequencies. Therefore, it can be useful to reduce resonant frequencies using an EQ both before and after saturation.

If you're struggling to hear a difference from any audio processor at more subtle settings then A/Bing with a bypass switch might help you to hear what is going on. If you still can't hear a difference, as whyterabbyt suggests, just don't use it.

From my personal use, I like what it does to tom drums.

[fcamp]

Saturation often times provides compression that sounds natural, also adds harmonics at certain frequencies that allow you hearing the instrument better in a mix. It is better heard on acoustic drums or acoustic guitar. If you have headphones, try visualizing how much space an acoustic guitar occupies in vertical direction, how the sound jumps. If you apply saturation, you will hear how that vertical space becomes narrower, you are controlling the signal and progressively fitting it in one position that can be useful in the mix. Too much saturation may sound bad, there is a middle point, and don't forget that you may add more compression later via a track compressor or a mix bus compressor. IVGI is useful for this, as some tape machine plugins, or True Iron, Elysia Karacter. They are subtle. Also, there are a lot of saturators that are used for this and also for colour, like the Kush omegas, Fuse Audio preamps, etc. but those are easily heard.

[foosnark]

Yeah, I empathise, often I'll only hear a difference when I push something to extremes. I'll demo 'character' compressors or tape emulations and really struggle to hear the effect until maxed out...

So... I don't have golden ears, much more interested in creative effects

I generally feel this way. Things like Kazrog True Iron, I've seen so many people raving about how great they are and... big meh as far as I'm concerned.

But a lot of this comes down to source material. I am not micing vocals or acoustic guitars, or trying for the exact right balance of drums in a techno mix. I'm doing purely synthetic, dark, doomy, noisy, weird shit with a mix of VERY digital-sounding stuff and already-saturated analog. Screw subtlety, when I use saturation I lean on it.

So for me "when to use saturation?" is when I want something to sound heavier, bigger, more driven (especially if there is already too much sub-bass content and I need to cut some). Or when I just feel like trying it because something is missing. Or to pave over a less pleasing distorted sound with a more pleasant distortion. Or to take a sine and make it not a sine anymore, or a clean sound and make it less clean but not too crazy.

I don't ever just stick it onto a track or a mix unless I feel like it needs something (unlike TEOTE and MagicDeathEye, which go into my mastering chain with "safe" default settings that rarely need much adjustment).

[ghostwhistler]

You could look up YT for some ideas. What are YT people using it for? Read a review. What does the reviewer recommend it for? Etc.

One example. May not be the best. It was the first one that showed up in my search.

I mean, it's not complex - there are only a few dials. My problem is I don't hear them doing anything until it's excessive. Now maybe that's my tinnitus speaking, or that I don't have good quality cans.

[Aloysius]

Could be. Sometimes when you come back to a plugin after a while it all suddenly makes sense.

[ghostwhistler]

I downloaded a freebie plug in called IVGI2 by Klangheim. It's one of these. I'm sure it's useful but when I apply it I can't really hear any difference unless it's too much at which point it's too distorted.

Yeah, I empathise, often I'll only hear a difference when I push something to extremes. I'll demo 'character' compressors or tape emulations and really struggle to hear the effect until maxed out. I tried that bx-masterdesk freebie last week, all I know is it made things suck when I finally could hear a difference...

So... I don't have golden ears, much more interested in creative effects (delays, granulators etc), I have a small collection of saturator and compressor plugs that I can appreciate (IVGI2s big brother SSDR is my goto for sat/distortion funnily enough) and am just happy with that.

As to when to use, fattening up thin things generally with some comp too. Drums, DIed guitar etc.

I've been going on what I hear and what sounds good. But that isn't always a reliable guide. Besides there's lots of effects taht probably get used in mastering and mixing that I've barely heard about and never used. Saturation is one of them.

[ghostwhistler]

I downloaded a freebie plug in called IVGI2 by Klangheim. It's one of these. I'm sure it's useful but when I apply it I can't really hear any difference unless it's too much at which point it's too distorted. I can't really tell what the parameters do. Why would I use this (not being snide)? What should I do with such an effect and do I need it?

I wouldn't suggest that you specifically need anything but it would definitely help to understand the tools available to you.

The first thing to do would be to read the manual but Klanghelm's website does provide a description of what it is emulating:

IVGI's base sound is comparable to the DESK mode in the big brother SDRR.

So it's emulating a channel from a mixing desk, which I would expect to sound pretty clean, even well into clipping. We might presume that this can be used for limiting transients, adding harmonics and increasing perceived loudness. The trade-off (as with compression) will always be an increased noisefloor as the signal reaches saturation - so the cleaner the input signal, the harder you can push it.

IVGI is internally calibrated to 0VU = -18dBFS.

This is also important to note: You will want to provide the plugin with a signal metering around 0VU and then boost into it using controls provided by the plugin. This is always good practice in general; bringing signal levels up whilst listening - rather than turning them down - as it will be easier to hear how the signal changes.

As the signal is driven further into saturation, more harmonics will be added which can help a sound stand out in the mix but it will also boost and saturate resonant frequencies. Therefore, it can be useful to reduce resonant frequencies using an EQ both before and after saturation.

If you're struggling to hear a difference from any audio processor at more subtle settings then A/Bing with a bypass switch might help you to hear what is going on. If you still can't hear a difference, as whyterabbyt suggests, just don't use it.

From my personal use, I like what it does to tom drums.

Thanks

[Ploki]

well obvious is when you want something to sound like its distorting.
for subtle, when you want something to poke out of a mix a little but don't want to resort to EQ.

[Agreed]

I like saturators a lot. Little goes a long way, make sure you're A/B with level matching or you'll fool yourself. But in the right spots, the right amounts are magic.

[NinjaToon]

You could look up YT for some ideas. What are YT people using it for? Read a review. What does the reviewer recommend it for? Etc.

One example. May not be the best. It was the first one that showed up in my search.

I mean, it's not complex - there are only a few dials. My problem is I don't hear them doing anything until it's excessive. Now maybe that's my tinnitus speaking, or that I don't have good quality cans.

I mean you're telling us you have tinnitus and bad cans now?

Ok so you should be able to pick up details like saturation instantly even on mediocre headphones, how bad is your tinnitus exactly?

Getting better headphones would be a good start.

Remember if you are new to production it will take some time to train your ears/brain. Everybody struggles to hear compression for example in the beginning. If you have been doing this for a while I dunno what to tell you. Get a hearing test?

[cryophonik]

I mostly use it to mellow out harsh sounds and add a little color to otherwise sterile sounds.

[jamcat]

Saturation plugins, and particularly saturation as just one part of analog modeled plugins, has a cumulative effect that contributes realism to the mix.

Real audio equipment is high quality. It has harmonic distortion, but it tends to be minimal. But with many different components contributing several different types of harmonic distortion, it adds up.

If you want to sound like you mixed with real gear on a real console to real tape, then you’re going to want plugins that add accurately modeled harmonic distortion. But maybe you don’t want that, and that’s ok too.

I would recommend avoiding plugins that do nothing else but add “saturation.” If it’s not emulating a particular piece of kit that you would use for a real-world particular purpose, then why would you use it in a real-world mix setting? No engineer in the analog days ever said “let’s throw some hiss and noise on it just for the hell of it.”

The problem with using “saturation” plugins just for the sake of saturation is they sound overdone, fake, and lead to ear fatigue. They ruin otherwise good albums once the novelty wears off. Saturation should be something incorporated in almost imperceptible amounts in many layers across your individual audio tracks. Not shoved in your master bus like a fuzz box.

[subterfuge]

Two videos from Dan Worrall which demonstrate clearly how saturation and distortion can enhance the music, when applied properly. While shown with FabFilter products, the basic principles apply to all similar plugins.

[Agreed]

I like gain staging saturators with particular EQ capabilities or that do certain little things to some elements of the sound. Right now I've got a poppy, energetic drum track I am working on, drums from samples, and running through Black Rooster Omnitec-67A lets me do a combination of harmonics + EQ that works really great into NEOLD's Big Al, which does harmonics + EQ but different and with a bit of a dynamics element to it as well. One of those tools where you might realize after bypassing, oh, wow, that's doing a lot for the sound - in this case it's a real difference in the liveliness of the drums and it helps its overall balance sit better in my mix too.

If you've ever mixed into compression chains and appreciated the cumulative effect of multiple stages of lower gain reduction per stage, you might have a sense of what I like about this, as there's something kind of similar in the "building up" with each one applied more subtly. Speaking of, I am also quite fond of analog-style compressors with nonlinearities and harmonics, and the cumulative effect of lightly driving them over a mix can be very sweet if you're careful not to overdo it.

That is not to say that I don't like the sound of overtly driven saturators sometimes, depending on the setting and what I'm doing with it in the mix sometimes a really hot preamp sim is just the ticket in a certain spot (thinking of how nice some simpler synth sounds can sound when you start to fry them a little more, for example) but in general I like cumulative effect of many stages as jamcat referred to above. Pretty smart cat honestly.

[resynthesis]

If you think your ears or monitoring are letting you down maybe look at before and after spectra. This might give you an idea of what the plugin is doing and maybe let you focus your listening. Ear training is good