Reply To: Saturation - When/Why/How?

[Jason DavenportParticipant]

Hey James, I agree with Guido on it being different for different people. For me it is something that you really don't notice until the end when you spread it sparingly across several tracks/and or Busses. It seems to have a glueing effect when used lightly. Also, the way I understand it, it grabs the peaks of the transients and distorts those first, folding them back into the audio and thereby taming harshness on the highs. Used heavily, it can add grit to guitars, bass, and any thing else you want to have grit. Try doing an A/B on a mix with several tracks/busses with saturation and you should be able to hear the difference. Hope that helps some! Also Headcrusher Free is a cool free plugin. Similar to Decapitator. I personally use it to some extent on every mix, but how much depends on the sound you are looking for...