Saturation

[Benedict]

…reduce the level nominal level of a track and making it even louder at the same time, making the perceived level louder.

How?

I think what that poster is trying to allude to is the bit of compression that can come with Saturation as some peaky peaks are absorbed - essentially clipping. This means that you may get another dB or so before it moves from Saturation to Splaturation.

The perceived level, or more accurately Presence, can also rise as the added distortion overtones brighten the signal. In effect, this moves the perception of the signal up as the signal now has more energy in a higher register, which is where us nasty little humanses hear best.

What a good Mix Engineer knows (either technically or by instinct) is that to work widely, music should be mixed to the middle (ie not the sub bass and supersonic hi hatz). Saturation is one tool in that process.

[ramseysounds]

I don’t think he knows what he means to be honest. Be interesting to see his response. You can’t say use a saturator, turn the track down and it will sound louder. It’s this total nonsense advice that needs calling out

[VladK]

I don’t think he knows what he means to be honest. Be interesting to see his response. You can’t say use a saturator, turn the track down and it will sound louder. It’s this total nonsense advice that needs calling out

May be, what he meant is saturated mids or basses with slightly reduced gain subjectively will sound (feel) louder for a human ear even when objective measurements show otherwise. But I have not read the thread, may misunderstand the matter of the discussion.

[ramseysounds]

I'd just like some clarity on his comment

[Zeisner]

I think that user meant "Putting overtones created from saturation into the frequency region the human ear is the most sensitive to" (See equal loudness contours). The thing with nominal level makes no sense because that's just the maximum volume the system can handle (The upper limit of the signal-to-noise ratio).

[Almondo]

Thank you, very helpful!

[Josevval]

I heard it some time ago, that there are some frequencies we perceive as higher volume than others, even if they have same DB level. Might be something that he would add saturation related to these frequencies to increase sound perception.

[Zeisner]

I heard it some time ago, that there are some frequencies we perceive as higher volume than others, even if they have same DB level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

The lower the point on the Y-axis, the more sensitive our ears react to that frequency, with the maximum being around 3 kHz.

[Josevval]

Nice! Should be it then!!