What is your favourite plugin for 'analog' style saturation?

[Tracewidth]

Using ancient methods to get a sound is what much of mixing and most of mastering is about.

I want my recordings to sound like full, rich records, even as they're intended to be artistically and sonically groundbreaking. Tools like saturation and compression (and even such options as noise and degradation) are crucial to creating something that doesn't sound flat, dimensionless, hypermodern and dull, like a laserjet printout of clip art.

[_leras]

Plug in alliance have some great saturation options for very good value. Black box is great and easy to dial in and has a nice warm and rich sound and can work on parts of mix bus, phils cascade has a bunch of different flavours but is tricky to blend in, VSM3? the yellow one can work wonders on a mix/master.

Decapitor can be nice, though a bit more grungy, the parallel of this on drums can nice. The other two sound toys radiator and devil loc are perhaps even better.

UAD have a bunch of nice saturators from tape through to some preamps amd compressors that can bring a little magic, especially for individual parts.

Newfangled audio saturate and tone projects kelvin are both worth trying also.

But do not overdo saturation unless you are specifically after that sound for individual parts. On a mix, a touch can be magic, but too much can suck the life out.

[stash98]

Goodhertz Tupe has been very impressive for thickening up a mix and also taming harsh high end.

[apan]

I enjoy Louder Than Liftoff's Silver Bullet mk2 quite a bit on the 2bus. Nice eq, compression and subtle widening, too

[zerocrossing]

We have this article on our site about some of the plugins for getting analog style saturation (some stock, some for 3rd parties) and while we couldn't cover all the plugins, the covered some of the more common ones.

https://streamworksaudio.com/using-satu ... -your-mix/

But I was wondering, what are your favourite plugins for getting 'warm' analog saturation onto your tracks?

None. I hate all that retro sound degrading rubbish. Those halcyon days are are a myth, and there is not a single one of those musicians who would use that tripe if they didn't have to.

If you are relying on ancient methods to get a 'sound', your focus is on the wrong thing.

How is using a plugin an “ancient method?”

You do you, of course. Should go without saying, but humans have been drawn to distortion and the resulting compression since the first time someone electronically amplified sound.

[oobesan]

I created a channel strip that I saved in Logic Pro to add parallel subtle saturation and stereo width to analog style soft synths. There are four processors: 1) EQ to filter out frequencies above 12,000 Hz and below 100 Hz, 2) gentle preamp saturation, 3) transistor saturation, 4) EQ for mid/side filters to dial in stereo width. I adjust the amount the input drive for the saturators and the amount of effect in parallel for individual synth sounds, as I find it’s not a one-size fits all. However, having it as a custom channel strip “template” helps to bring some consistency to the synths while getting that subtle noise floor in there and and sweeten/fatten the sounds up and tiny bit.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

HG-Q is dope ,when use tight Q to accent on some freqs.
For nice analog touch prefer UAD analogizers to do the job.
Sweetest saturator to me is neold v76u73.
Cheers

[joshmakesmusic]

Kazrog True Iron

[pekbro]

Digging the saturation stages in Gyrator X from Okmog lately...

https://okmog.de/

[VariKusBrainZ]

We have this article on our site about some of the plugins for getting analog style saturation (some stock, some for 3rd parties) and while we couldn't cover all the plugins, the covered some of the more common ones.

https://streamworksaudio.com/using-satu ... -your-mix/

But I was wondering, what are your favourite plugins for getting 'warm' analog saturation onto your tracks?

Page is gone

[jamcat]

None. I hate all that retro sound degrading rubbish. Those halcyon days are are a myth, and there is not a single one of those musicians who would use that tripe if they didn't have to.

If you are relying on ancient methods to get a 'sound', your focus is on the wrong thing.

This entire reply is rubbish. Musician have always used guitar amps, particularly tube, at various states of overdrive to “get a sound.” They still do.

Musicians and engineers alike have preferred certain consoles over others, “for their sound.” Neve, API, and Helios are three such consoles. Many (perhaps most?) still prefer recording through analog consoles, and particular ones, at that. Dave Grohl installed a vintage Neve in his studio a few years ago, “for the sound.” It’s still there.

Musicians and engineers commonly preferred to record and/or mixdown at 15ips, rather than the cleaner, more neutral 30ips, “for the sound.” Even back in those halcyon days of the 1980s they could have gone to pristine digital tape with a Sony DASH machine, but they still preferred the decidedly low-fi sound of 15ips analog.

[VariKusBrainZ]

A little saturation on an instrument can help it poke thru a mix, as an example

[bermudagold]

None. I hate all that retro sound degrading rubbish. Those halcyon days are are a myth, and there is not a single one of those musicians who would use that tripe if they didn't have to.

If you are relying on ancient methods to get a 'sound', your focus is on the wrong thing.

Musicians and engineers commonly preferred to record and/or mixdown at 15ips, rather than the cleaner, more neutral 30ips, “for the sound.” Even back in those halcyon days of the 1980s they could have gone to pristine digital tape with a Sony DASH machine, but they still preferred the decidedly low-fi sound of 15ips analog.

but why?...is the deficiency really psychoacoustic or psychosomatic?...
in a previous thread about the appeal of Boards Of Canada

VariKusBrainZ wrote:
The same thing that makes an analog grainy, hue inbalanced, unstaged photograph more engaging than a sharp digital photo

JO512 wrote:
I'd say they are both engaging, but for different reasons. A super sharp photo with accurate color is more transparent in some sense. You are seeing "through" to the objects in the photo as clearly as possible. It's less about the medium of photography than it is about showing you the thing in question with the maximum possible information density, accuracy, and clarity. The medium gets out of the way, so to speak. But with something grainier, with less accurate color, with light bleed, and so on, it is more about the medium, the interpretation, and the mood. It is partly about the gauzy veil that is in the way, which makes it feel like a distant memory or a dream. It is more colored.

I wrote:
sure...this is similar to the impressionist methods in modern art...a contrast to the late renaissance attempts at achieving photorealism...the idea is to make the brain fill in what's missing which creates a 3d ness to a 2d piece and gives the sense of movement temporally...I'm wondering if this is part of the obsession with distortion in audio...It always struck me how counter intuitive and irrational it is when compared to the visual...when it comes to visual there is this constant desire for more resolution and accuracy...it was SD to HD, then 420 to 720 to 1080 to 4k and now people are lusting for 8k...but in the same time period people want less resolution for audio?...everyone is lusting after 8 bit and tube and tape and "lofi"

Why would subjective perception or conversely the brain innately; find more visual information pleasing, but more aural information displeasing...does this really make sense psychologically or biologically?...or is "that sound" just familiarity, nostalgia, and conformity?

[jamcat]

Musicians and engineers commonly preferred to record and/or mixdown at 15ips, rather than the cleaner, more neutral 30ips, “for the sound.” Even back in those halcyon days of the 1980s they could have gone to pristine digital tape with a Sony DASH machine, but they still preferred the decidedly low-fi sound of 15ips analog.

but why?...is the deficiency really psychoacoustic or psychosomatic?...

It's appealing because there is a low frequency head bump at 15ips that makes bass and vocals sound fuller, the 'splatter' from tape compression at 15ips tames sharp transients from drums and guitars, and the high frequency roll off smooths out harsh amps and cymbals.

[sfoster]

I've been quite happy with Saturn.