To saturate or not to saturate

[vitocorleone123]

Especially detrimental in bass instruments.

It does help with harmonics though.

Isn't this exactly why people use it? For me, almost always a bass instrument. If synth, either as an insert or directly in the synth patch. On a real bass, typically in parallel to add harmonics without killing the transients.

I have no problem running a full electronic track with bass through the Elysia Karacter in mid-side mode for some saturation and stereo image control. The mix knob also helps.

I usually use digital tools except when I purposely don’t. That is, I’ll use ProQ4 instead of some analog emulation that adds saturation. And then add saturation where and when I want with a plugin or hardware (or both). I prefer to be intentional even if that means occasionally missing out on some magical lucky saturation distortion chain of events.

[SybilSztorm]

Saturation is a mean to achieve presence without the need of changing dynamics, but it is at the cost of transients and focus/clarity, so it is highly situational. I would say no saturation is mandatory except maybe real tape saturation to glue a mix on an atomic mechanical real world level that is not achievable with anything else.

[electro]

Saturation is a mean to achieve presence without the need of changing dynamics, but it is at the cost of transients and focus/clarity, so it is highly situational. I would say no saturation is mandatory except maybe real tape saturation to glue a mix on an atomic mechanical real world level that is not achievable with anything else.

Using too much saturation is the problem. MDN in the video is using tape the right way to improve a mix, not butcher it.

[chagzuki]

- Cohesion. If done in a full mix, all instruments and voices will share the same character, so they blend a little better...

It will also be harder to pinpoint each instrument in the mix, given the confusion present on the recording.

I think you summed up exactly why I'm ambivalent about using saturation on a mix, and I think I remain so (and I would only use multiband). If you gain something and lose something it has to be clear that the gain outweighs the loss, and in most cases it probably doesn't.

[Kai Enaki]

Especially detrimental in bass instruments.

It does help with harmonics though.

Isn't this exactly why people use it? For me, almost always a bass instrument. If synth, either as an insert or directly in the synth patch. On a real bass, typically in parallel to add harmonics without killing the transients.

I have no problem running a full electronic track with bass through the Elysia Karacter in mid-side mode for some saturation and stereo image control. The mix knob also helps.

I usually use digital tools except when I purposely don’t. That is, I’ll use ProQ4 instead of some analog emulation that adds saturation. And then add saturation where and when I want with a plugin or hardware (or both). I prefer to be intentional even if that means occasionally missing out on some magical lucky saturation distortion chain of events.

Relatable. I've used both brown and pink noise to shape the click, or transients if you will, of EDM kicks. We try to separate and give space for everything else in a mix. So why not be, like you said, intentional with saturation too.

[Ah_Dziz]

I don't really find saturation to be a necessary mixing tool. It can be handy in mastering to add harmonics. It's a fun creative tool for sound design, but if I want something to sound like it was run through a bunch of analog gear, I'll just use a bunch of analog gear rather than stack a bunch of waveshapers.

[kritikon]

Ditto. I tend not to use saturation at all. I have a shitload of analogue gear, so if I want saturation then I'll overdrive that gear. And by the way - this constant myth that analogue gear saturates all the time in everything it does is really quite mistaken. It saturates when you overload it. And we definitely did not routinely overload analogue gear or recording - still don't. You can run a shitload of pure analogue gear and not saturate quite easily.

But it's distortion, which is an effect, and any effect can be used for choice, flavour and colouration where you see fit. I just don't see fit to colour everything I do. I never did back in the day either. If you want to distort your music, go for it. Personally if I want distortion then I want it properly distorted, not with namby pamby saturation (which I generally find quite flat, dull, muddy). If you can't hear it - then WhyTF do it?

[martinjuenke]

Ditto.

Dito would be the correct Latin word.

[dionenoid]

And by the way - this constant myth that analogue gear saturates all the time in everything it does is really quite mistaken. It saturates when you overload it. And we definitely did not routinely overload analogue gear or recording - still don't. You can run a shitload of pure analogue gear and not saturate quite easily.

Analog sound without distortion doesn't exist. Every piece of analog gear has a THD value greater than zero.

So analog gear technically does saturate all the time. It can be at such a low level that you cannot hear it, but that's a different discussion.

[Cuauhtli]

If you want to get metaphysical, anything that alters an original signal is distortion, so...

[pluginnow]

If you want to get metaphysical, anything that alters an original signal is distortion, so...

THD in music is only perceptible if above ~2%. Less with pure tones. Higher on the bass.

[Transfigurationsofbeing]

When there is overlapping of various sounds, I don't <<saturate>>, but it is a sacrifice because doing it well has the advantages you already mentioned.

[TMaudio]

And by the way - this constant myth that analogue gear saturates all the time in everything it does is really quite mistaken. It saturates when you overload it. And we definitely did not routinely overload analogue gear or recording - still don't. You can run a shitload of pure analogue gear and not saturate quite easily.

Analog sound without distortion doesn't exist. Every piece of analog gear has a THD value greater than zero.

So analog gear technically does saturate all the time. It can be at such a low level that you cannot hear it, but that's a different discussion.

Not quite. Historically "saturation" was based on the harmonic distortion/character/sound of pushing signal to tape, hence saturating the magnetic tape to the point of said distortion. It got bandied about for basically all analog gear. THD and inherent distortions are indeed found in virtually all analog gear, but "saturation" is a special case of distortion. It is that pushed point of driving the gear. It isn't always saturating since that is something we do to it, but it always has some inherent nonlinearities even as you said low level content.

[ben_ita]

This is an interesting guide to saturation
https://reverb.com/news/how-to-use-satu ... your-mixes

[dawzone]

Of course, the trade-off is clarity. Too much can blur instruments, mask transients, and sound gritty on high-end systems. The trick is moderation... use it like seasoning in cooking. A little can bring warmth and character, but overdo it and things get messy. So in the end, it’s not “good or bad,” just a tool. Subtle saturation often makes a mix feel finished, while heavy saturation is more of a stylistic choice.