Everything you need to know about Saturation - Audio Engineering

Introduction to saturation covering identification, listening techniques, examples, and myth-busting about this audio effect.

Saturation is both deliberate and obvious effects like overdriven guitar or heavily distorted bass, and subtle side effects from any circuit, tube, tape, transistor, or plugin.

Analog records from past eras sounded warm, full, punchy and thick partly due to subtle saturation on every track naturally induced by recording and mixing devices.

The video addresses analog-style saturation and marketing terms like warm, thick, silky, creamy, and smooth used by audio engineers and companies.

Saturation adds extra sound or notes to the original signal, creating two main types of harmonic saturation: even and odd harmonics.

• Even multiples of the fundamental frequency (200 Hz, 400 Hz, etc. from a 100 Hz base) • Provide support, clarity, and fullness • Create feeling of doubling the original sound due to added octaves

• Odd multiples of the fundamental frequency (300 Hz, 500 Hz, 700 Hz, etc.) • Add richness, edge, bite, and buzziness • Introduce more high frequencies to the sound

Different amounts of input signal or drive produce dramatically different distributions of even and odd harmonics, meaning devices respond completely differently to transients and varying signal levels.

• Tubes do not inherently have only even harmonics • Tape does not have only odd harmonics • Certain devices favor certain harmonics, but this is more complex than component type alone

The type of saturation depends on circuit topology including every wire, capacitor, and especially transformers, not just whether a tube or tape is present.

Different devices have different combinations and distributions of even and odd harmonics depending on many factors, and saturation type varies with drive level.

The perceived warmth and thickness often attributed to tubes actually comes from the entire circuit design, mainly the transformer, not the tube component alone.

• Use headphones, especially mixing and mastering headphones with extended high frequency response • Reference monitors in a well-treated room can work but may make subtle saturation differences harder to detect

• Experiment with many different saturation options including free plugins and stock plugins • No single right or wrong plugin exists; particular tools fit particular jobs • Use a SPAN analyzer plugin to visualize what saturation type is being induced

Send good amounts of signal into saturation plugins; some require at least minus 20 to minus 10 dB of gain to trigger saturation and respond properly.

Solo tracks initially to tune into saturation, then blend in the effect with everything else playing to determine the correct amount and fit within the mix.

• Tube saturation: reinforces low mids, adds fullness, eventually brightens and distorts at higher settings • Warm saturation: reinforces kick and snare without excessive high-end boost but can make hi-hats flutter and break apart • Tape saturation: boosts high frequencies and mid/top of snare earlier than tube saturation

When distorting heavily and blending in small amounts, peak loudness decreases but average and perceived loudness increases due to added harmonics.

Use just a little saturation on many tracks (around 10 or 20 dB worth) which sums together to create a punchy, full-sounding mix rather than obvious distortion on single tracks.

Saturation adds grit and texture while letting the guitar sit further back in the mix, pulling up harmonic overtones for more detail without becoming an in-your-face screaming wall of sound.

• Saturation adds extra harmonics (even or odd) to the original signal • Non-linear behavior means different input levels produce different harmonic distributions • Circuit topology, not component type alone, determines saturation character

Marketing terms like warm and thick are real sonic qualities but come from overall circuit design rather than single components like tubes.

• Get hands on many different saturation plugins • Feed them substantial signal to hear their full effect • Train your ears to distinguish between different saturation types over time

Understanding saturation is not rocket science; it takes experimentation and ear training, but anyone can learn the differences between saturation types through practice.