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This is an excellent video on understanding how saturation works to modify the quality of a sound. Michael Wynne explains all aspects thoroughly and in a very easy-to-understand way. It is well worth watching this video first. Kenny Gioia, master guru of Reaper, also released a video on saturation a couple of days ago. Since watching this video, I have been playing around with the free GSatPlus plugin that Kenny uses. It's great.
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Noel - I’ve not had any exposure to saturation prior to this, so thanks for sharing. The only saturation I’ve experienced is the weather in Melbourne! 😂😂
I have to admit I got seriously distracted by the super cool song that Kenny was playing - gonna have to research who it is.
Andrew
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Saturation is really useful. It was a function of tubes and tape back in the day. Since it tends to have a pleasing sound to the human ear, it is used in music to augment the tonal quality of a given sound. It can be used anywhere in the mix. If you look at some of the "VX-64 vocal strip in Cakewalk for example, has input saturation as well as output saturation controls.
As the signal level was increased going into the tape, the tape would reach the point where it could no longer accurately reproduce the signal in a linear manner. This results in what was referred to as saturating the tape with the signal level. It's a form of compression and distortion of the signal. The same thing is true with guitar amps that use tubes. Since tubes and tape are analog, this is a natural occurrence. With digital, not so much. As the signal is increased it simple can't go and the result is an unpleasant sounding distortion. So it was necessary to attempt to recreate the natural smooth compression and distortion found in the analog world and translate that to the digital world.
The distortion from saturation tends to have a "warming" effect on the instruments and vocals it's used on. The key to using it is to avoid overuse just like any other effect. A little bit is perfect but when you put too much in the mix, it can cause other issues. My rule of thumb for using compression and saturation especially, is that if you can "hear it" in the mix, you are using too much.
Even or odd order harmonics. In a nutshell, even order harmonics tend to sound good and odd order harmonics tend to have a hollow or nasal sound that some people don't like. As a guitar player, I have always liked tube amps because they naturally produce even order harmonics in the output stage. Transistor amps generally are the opposite and produce the odd order harmonics. Solid state amps are great if you are playing clean and don't push the amp into the distortion area of it's operational parameters, and, or, you like to use effects pedals. It's a matter of taste and preference. Some of the new digital, solid state modeling amps are really blurring the boundaries between these two worlds. The tone from modeling amps is certainly a force to be reckoned with for guitar tone.
If you don't have it.... A copy of The Studio Engineer's Handbook, latest edition, by Bobby Owsinski is a great investment for your library. He covers everything that you will use in your recording and mixing and explains it in easy to understand ways. There's also an interview section at the back with some rather in-depth insights into 30 or so other top engineers in the recording world that dig into how they do things and why.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Thanks Noel … interesting. I’ve used mild vintage sat sims for years primarily on bass and vocals. For us it adds a nice slight edge of richness.
Please don’t ask me to define richness. 😀
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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So it sounds to me, from what you all have said, that you’d use saturation (sparingly) on individual tracks, and specifically those tracks that historically would have used analog gear, like vocals, guitars, to bring some warmth to the track sound?
Andrew
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Noel - I’ve not had any exposure to saturation prior to this, so thanks for sharing. The only saturation I’ve experienced is the weather in Melbourne! 😂😂
Andrew Hi Andrew. As a Melbournite, I can attest to those Melbourne days when all four seasons come and go in a matter of hours. Some days, Melbourne weather is indeed an event-filled thing. --Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Herb... thanks for the added info. I'll have a hunt for that reference you mention. Bud... While I have been using small amounts of saturation on vocals and guitars for a long time, I have never really understood what was happening other than adding some 'warmth'. I have only just recently developed a more comprehensive understanding of what 'warmth' means and how it works. I have also just recently discovered the value of using a small amount of distortion/saturation on bass and drums. My journey began when I watched the 6-minute video (below) on using Reaper's wave-shaping distortion. This video is excellent because it is very easy to hear how distortion/saturation enhance bass and drums; it's almost as if these instruments gain a kind of 3-D quality when well-judged amounts of distortion is added.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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This Reaper video is also eye-opening. Kenny Gioia uses layered distortion and saturation across all tracks to create a lo-fi mix.
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So it sounds to me, from what you all have said, that you’d use saturation (sparingly) on individual tracks, and specifically those tracks that historically would have used analog gear, like vocals, guitars, to bring some warmth to the track sound?
Andrew No. I recommend finding another word. "Warmth" actually has a meaning in audio and implies a larger bottom end or added bass response (but not reduced treble), qualities noticeably lacking on early CDs which is where the term, "analog warmth" came from. What saturation can bring to the table is enhanced harmonic content — the right added harmonics can be quite pleasing. Be careful because too much sounds like distortion—because that's what it is.
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MOTU has just listed this Exciter and Saturation Plug-ins Video on their Facebook page. You can Sign up to view them live but I have no idea how you access them afterward without going to their Facebook page. Anyway, I have paid little attention to exciters and saturators since my analog tape days (still have a BBE box somewhere). Aside from sweetening bass and drum tracks with a little distortion er... saturation, it just hasn't been important to me. Well, this presentation has changed my mind in a number of ways. Interestingly, thanks to various bundles, I own every plug-in mentioned except for Waves (never again!) so it's not going to cost me anything to play around with this.
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...... I have paid little attention to exciters and saturators since my analog tape days (still have a BBE box somewhere). ..... I remember the first time I heard about that BBE Maximizer. It was in a review on the Outlaw's new album release. I thought it was on one of the album covers and may be, but I couldn't find it on any of mine so it might have been in a magazine. At the time, I was in a band that was covering a lot of country rock and we were doing several Outlaws tunes as well. I recall that we really wanted to add one of those but in a band that couldn't afford to eat on a regular basis, buying new gear that wasn't essential was kinda off the table at the time.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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MOTU has just listed this Exciter and Saturation Plug-ins Video on their Facebook page. You can Sign up to view them live but I have no idea how you access them afterward without going to their Facebook page. Anyway, I have paid little attention to exciters and saturators since my analog tape days (still have a BBE box somewhere). Aside from sweetening bass and drum tracks with a little distortion er... saturation, it just hasn't been important to me. Well, this presentation has changed my mind in a number of ways.Interestingly, thanks to various bundles, I own every plug-in mentioned except for Waves (never again!) so it's not going to cost me anything to play around with this. I'd be interested in hearing about the how/why of the bolded part to make sure I haven't missed something.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Saturation ...well harmonic enrichment anyway...can be fantastic .
Quite a few BIAB RealTrack guitars are WAY too oversaturated - sounding fat & squishy but in a bad way.
Kenny G is amazing and so is Reaper.
I used the PSP Vintage Warmer 2, (combo eq, compressor & saturation), quite a lot until about a year ago. It & Melodyne in the one project caused crashes so I reduced usage and slowly weaned myself off. It works really well and the presets are great starting places. I use the 4K button on my SSL interface when I KNOW I want some subtle saturation & upper EQ enhancement now.
The Reaper Wavedistortion VST is very useful but is also easy to overdo - as are all of them, really.
Gain matching is an issue with "harmonics" too: add more required reduction in level to compensate. Most don't do that automatically.
The BBE Sonic Maximiser was a very seductive thing when I 1st came across the VST. Naturally I overused it. These days it might get called upon in for a single track in one out of ten projects - more often than not it's clean guitars or my own VERY dark vocal.
I do have the BBE stomp box version which works VERY nicely with clean six & 12 string electrics.
Cheers
rayc
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Wow, I forgot I still had the Sonic Maximizer plugin. Thanks for rattling my brain with that one. Went through an old folder I found and reloaded 4 or 5 paid VSTs I had forgot about. 
Last edited by rharv; 08/31/25 06:39 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
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@Guitarhacker .... You mentioned: "A copy of The Studio Engineer's Handbook, latest edition, by Bobby Owsinski is a great investment for your library." Checking on Amazon which has many books by Bobby Owsinski, but none labeled Studio Engineer's Handbook.
There is this one from back in 2011 named " The Studio Builder's Handbook: How to Improve the Sound of Your Studio on Any Budget, Book & Online Video/PDFs Paperback – February 1, 2011 ".
Would that be the one you are referencing? Bobby Owsinski has seperate recent Handbooks on Mixing, Recording, Mastering but I can't find a more general Studio Engineer's Handhook.
Cz...
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@Guitarhacker .... You mentioned: "A copy of The Studio Engineer's Handbook, latest edition, by Bobby Owsinski is a great investment for your library." Checking on Amazon which has many books by Bobby Owsinski, but none labeled Studio Engineer's Handbook.
There is this one from back in 2011 named " The Studio Builder's Handbook: How to Improve the Sound of Your Studio on Any Budget, Book & Online Video/PDFs Paperback – February 1, 2011 ".
Would that be the one you are referencing? Bobby Owsinski has seperate recent Handbooks on Mixing, Recording, Mastering but I can't find a more general Studio Engineer's Handhook. There are two books, one on recording and one on mixing, the latter being more relevant to the context of this thread: Both are highly recommened ![[Linked Image - Only viewable when logged in]](https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/images/icons/default/thumbs_up.gif)
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@Guitarhacker .... You mentioned: "A copy of The Studio Engineer's Handbook, latest edition, by Bobby Owsinski is a great investment for your library." Checking on Amazon which has many books by Bobby Owsinski, but none labeled Studio Engineer's Handbook.
There is this one from back in 2011 named " The Studio Builder's Handbook: How to Improve the Sound of Your Studio on Any Budget, Book & Online Video/PDFs Paperback – February 1, 2011 ".
Would that be the one you are referencing? Bobby Owsinski has seperate recent Handbooks on Mixing, Recording, Mastering but I can't find a more general Studio Engineer's Handhook. I probably got the title crossed up..... as I can often do when not looking at it directly. My apologies.... "The Recording Engineer's Handbook 5th Edition" copied from the actual Amazon listing for the book. try this link: https://www.amazon.com/Recording-En...fix=the+recording%2Caps%2C395&sr=8-1It is there
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Thank you! Appreciate the response and guidance.
Cz...
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Thanks for the clarification. Both books are on my list to order!
Cz...
BIAB,Bandlab Cakewalk,Kontakt, Cantabile, SampleTank4,IK BX-3, VB3, iZotope Suite, IK TRacks, Melodyne Studio
Kurzweil PC4SE, AXIOM-61key & IKiRigPro-32key boards, Roland SD-50 MIDI, Behringer 404HD, Maschine MK3,TC Helicon Voiceworks
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Thanks for the clarification. Both books are on my list to order! NOLAGuy, I just purchased ‘The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook’ 5th edition - it seemed to be the best fit for what I needed. Bobby Owsinski was recommended by Herb Hartley (Guitar Hacker). From what I have read so far, there have been a few eye-openers, some reinforcement of my own experiences, and a good dose of theory AND practical underpinnings. I am feeling this has been a very worthwhile purchase for me as a developing DAW user. Andrew
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Appreciate the discussion. I think saturation is that 'special something' I hear in professional productions, but I've not really tried to understand it or use it until recently. And so I've been watching tutorials also, like this one: Sara Carter's Unlock Saturation
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