Intermodulation Distortion and How it Affects Your Mixes

[@Naircol]

I gotta say, I really appreciate anyone who is willing to come to their own conclusions through experimentation. Feels like a lost art sometimes. Thank you for making this type of content.

[@panorama_mastering]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching!

[@hermianofficial3400]

I noticed that when i started using saturation a lot more, a few plugins worked better than the others depending on the scenario. I now know why. Thank you so much.

[@panorama_mastering]

There we go!

[@this_is_jmdub]

man, when I started out mixing, I used to buss everything because of CPU power and because I thought that I had to do it. And there was always so much stress in my mixes.. it drove me crazy. Thanks for shedding a light on this!

[@lloydbrothers3315]

Great insight on buss mix processing and saturation tools. Really appreciate the time you take to perform these experiments and share them with us.

[@TheBelse]

Thank you and big love.

[@panorama_mastering]

You are so welcome

[@naldosrecords]

This is fascinating

[@panorama_mastering]

Thanks mate!

[@americatunedright1211]

Don’t know how I came across a 2yr video of yours but I’m glad I did, this was a point I was driving to a Utuber that IMD is everywhere good or bad is subjective like, driving a guitar amp or pedal for tone. You gave a great lesson and left it up for people to experiment with. Even tho the KZbinr lashed out his steroid side effects on me he totally missed or just don’t understand his misguided video title causing audio profiling and not giving it its place in the engineer tool bag, lol audio discrimination.

[@speckles9251]

In EDM, the more grit is in the sources, the more this can play an up-to major role when maximizing. Vintage synths can be quite ... erhh ... colorful.

[@GMRecording]

I've had this issue for year's and only recently came across what it actually was, thanks for breaking it down as its been a very frustrating process! What is the best way to eliminate these? Avoid in the box saturation on busses ? Thanks 😉

[@panorama_mastering]

I find parallel processing to the be the best; because you can drive the parallel processing as hard as you need and hear the full effects of the distortions introduced then blend to taste; more finite control;

[@GMRecording]

@@panorama_mastering Thank you :)

[@SuperFake777]

@@panorama_masteringwouldn’t the parallel channel still have IMD if you are sending 2 melodic signals to the bus

[@Haintly]

​@@SuperFake777no because it's being put on the tracks separately. That's how parallel processing works vs serial processing(or as a series)

[@nj1255]

Even though dissonant intervals is a big thing in metal (and various metal guitar techniques), it's still not something you want to get from the post-processing. Metal music is quite tame in that regard (or at least it has become that way), compared to some modern electronic genres where all kinds of analog and digital distortion and noise is more than welcome.

[@heavymetalmixer91]

Does this apply to dynamic processing as well? 'Cause those cause harmonics too and it's very common to use them in busses.

[@panorama_mastering]

Correct; it does; but to varying degree's based on how heavy / hot that processing is being applied and the sort of dynamics processor it is; THAT said; the amount of IMD introduced at even moderate levels of compression is negligble / if not inaudible;

[@heavymetalmixer91]

@@panorama_mastering Thanks for the answer. I gotta some some tests to see how much of a change in saturation placement can do to my mixes.

[@edsavage6214]

This is really interesting, one thing that baffles me though is: what's the difference between putting an effect on a bus or printing that bus and then puting an effect on top? Should be exactly the same no?

[@davidasher22]

You’re correct but that’s not what he’s doing. He’s comparing processing the bus signal against processing the individual signals separately.

[@talgy2671]

So are yiu saying that we should not saturate busses / whole mixes?

[@algorix8420]

at least not heavily I think, In general saturating entire mix is something you do slightly

[@paulgilbody]

Nice. You read it in a book? Which one - Bob Katz? Thanks for the great content.

[@paulmistygatz7888]

What’s the conclusion? Avoid harmonic processing in busses for a cleaner sound? (Although no harmonic saturation at all would be the cleanest sound for sure).

[@Limit5482]

i stopped using harmonic distortion on masters a couple years ago because clarity and just overall "good" feeling was lost. i guess i know why now

[@panorama_mastering]

Very interesting! Same boat here. In mastering applications though the amount of IMD introduced through subtle saturation or harmonic distortion most often will be inaudible/negligble.

[@Limit5482]

@@panorama_mastering true but it depends on the genre. Electronic music with electronic drums and synths not so much a big deal and can work great depending on the arrangement but I find acoustic stuff can suffer from dissonance from this process, just like you said in your video. I felt you were bag on with it 👍

[@Walid.OnTheTrack6725]

besides your amazing content that's a fucking sick performance right there by the way what a vibe

[@panorama_mastering]

Cheers!

[@juanchis.investigadorsonoro]

Hi! I just found this video. It's a great example of one of many scenarios. I'll try to add if I may. :) Snares, for example, really depend on how big, ringy or sustainy they really are. Maybe for electronic, synth-based drum sounds this won't matter as much. But for example, when someone is trying to distort their 808 & they get that "clarity" in most speakers just driving it hard many things can happen too and most of that sound relies on those effects with many other sacrifices ha! We know the recording tone is not the playing for myself tone. On the bus summing subject. It's kinda much more complex, since also the type of "amp" saturation you are using makes all of the difference. Not all tools are meant to handle the same amount of gain or level. That's why some masteing designs can handle so much level add a couple of harmonics and still sound sweet. On the other hand that's why it's so hard and expensive to build gear or plugins with really low THD. I wouldn't go as far as saying you should avoid it. But it's just somehing in exchange for another thing. Maybe a couple of API 2500 / SSL Bus not so driven so they don't add so much tone, for example & so on. Personally I don't think every style of audio work requires one way, but the better you know the results of one situation or another, it's easier to grab the tool that will do the job. Awesome video again, thanks for making it. Some of my sources are Bob Katz (he and Ethan have some heavy public discussions often hahaha) and Camilo Silva a great Mastering Engineer from Colombia (I'm from Mexico) that specializes in harmonic handling. He makes his own preamps and some other hardware, you can find them in Abbey Road and Blackbird. :)

[@panorama_mastering]

Hey Juan; Thanks for the contribution; that's awesome; I MUST do update video's on a lot of these topics; as I"m often creating these videos in parallel with my own exploring of my craft and boundaries too! Appreciate you mate! Warmly, N.

[@timjoseph887]

Play slowly the intro to Johnny B. Goode, hear the low octave hum. Happens and can't get rid of it on your amp.

[@django3108]

I think IMD sounds good on non-melodic drum elements , especially in an electronic context. I would even go as far as to say I would even abuse that if I needed to. Would NOT suggesg this for any other element.