For most home studio owners including myself, ‘in the box’ mixing is how we get things done and even though most of us don’t have access to large SSL or Neve consoles and analog tape machines, there’s absolutely no reason why outstanding mixes can’t be achieved entirely in the digital realm.
That being said, there are certain elements that are great to add to your mix to create richer harmonic content, much like the character that is added by mixing through analog equipment. The element is saturation. If you’re a guitar player, this is something you’ve more than likely experienced when playing through valve amplifiers when they are cranked up. In the recording world, saturation is most commonly known as the break up of a signal when being recorded to analog tape and the result is a light distortion and compression. Despite it technically being an issue when recording, the results are very pleasant to the ear and the technique has been used in the recording industry for decades. The warmth and body that saturation adds to the tone of an instrument is something hard to describe in technical terms, but it is a type of sound which is very appealing and sweet on the ear.
The first place i like to begin with adding harmonic content to an audio track is by inserting a console emulation plugin. There are many different brands out there, but i have been using Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection since it was released and i have it on every single channel as standard. I do this because i like to treat my audio as if it had been recorded through an analog console and with this plugin i have multiple choice over the type of console.
At this point, I’d like to mention that i don’t rely on console emulation to make my mixes sound good because it’s a very subtle effect that is most audible when applied across a group of tracks. To my ears, console emulation glues all my audio tracks together and gives them a greater warmth and colour which all contribute to making a more organic sounding mix.
As well as console emulation, i like to use saturation on certain instruments to add even more character to a sound.
Saturation can be used as a subtle effect to add a little bit of character and vibe, but it can also be used to inject energy and bite that was perhaps lacking before.
Saturation on a snare drum is a great place to start if you haven’t tried it before. Insert a saturation plugin in the chain (mine usually goes immediately after the console emulation plugin) and have a play around with the settings, you can’t do anything wrong with a saturation plugin, but keep in mind that the effect is much better when it is used sparingly. I use saturation on a snare drum with the intention of making the loudest transients less brash, creating a smoother sound for the compressor to work with.
If you’re goal is to enhance your audio track then be gentle with the amount of saturation you apply, a little goes a long way. However, if your goal is to shape your audio source into something different, then use saturation without limits and be creative. I really like to use saturation in combination with distortion on bass guitar – I use the saturation mainly on the low to low mids and the distortion on the mids to high mids. This gives me the warmth, punch and bite that allow the bass guitar to site perfectly with the drums and cut through the heavy distorted guitars.
Remember, if you’re wanting to retain the sound of the instrument that you have achieved without saturation but you want to add something more to enhance it – try adding the effect in parallel and blend in against the original track to taste.
It’s important to consider that the benefits of saturation and distortion are very subjective and you will find a lot of content on audio forums and YouTube videos discussing whether it’s important to use in digital mixing or not. There is no denying that it’s a very interesting topic particularly because digital mixing has made everything so convenient and accessible to everyone, and yet we all strive to achieve the ‘analog warmth’ that we hear in older records and it is something that we can’t truly describe.
I use saturation and distortion on certain instruments and sometimes on my mix buss because i was looking for that extra bit of something to add character to my work. Since i found it, i’ve always liked what i’ve heard and for that reason, i will continue to use it in my mixes.
Give saturation and distortion a try on some of your mixes and let me know what you think, you might be surprised!
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