Mixing With Saturation - Why You Need It

[@brandongreco6729]

This dude is a beast of a teacher.Feels like I should pay this dude for these videos.

[@IceyGuy]

Patreon ;)

[@d-rockanomaly9243]

A beastcher.. Beacher... Beaster... Nvm it doesn't really work. He's a beast of a teacher.

[@joelonsdale]

You do!

[@prodbysaze2892]

@@d-rockanomaly9243 Teast?

[@d-rockanomaly9243]

@@prodbysaze2892 lol that'll have to do.

[@jahva1O1]

I love your hair.. its thick, fuller, has warmth, and SATURATED...

[@ffjaron]

jahva1O1 yeah, his paste is giving him a lot of saturation. Wonder if theres a free demo.

[@marwox6765]

@@ffjaron lol

[@fuzzyhymnself]

Y'all ain't got no sense lol 😂😂

[@steveshields2293]

True. To me Thicc definitely means the bottom end it's fuller and more round 👍🏿

[@shiroal-fatih1984]

Lmao

[@inthemix]

Mastering overview video will be posted on Saturday :)

[@mohandass5030]

And Finally....☺☺☺

[@Hemel02]

can u make a vedio about mixing and mastaring plugging comes with fl studio?

[@enricoreimann5609]

I know, I'm a little late, but you know It came out on "Satur-Day" (you know, because of "saturation" 😅

[@ACES-BRAZIL]

justin bieber cheap...no man

[@simonehanley2873]

As a 60 yr old who came from the wonderful world of analogue production I think this guy is a great teacher. Great descriptions and explanations, lovely voice and hair and a good knowledge of his subject. I've just subscribed.

[@DavidDiMuzio]

I'm loving your tutorials man. You're great at making complex ideas simple and easy to understand. Btw, if you ever come to Nashville I'd be happy to show you. You've always got a free place to crash here :)

[@inthemix]

Thank you! I really appreciate that David

[@heinrichsmit2]

Finally a youtuber that doesn't waste my time and I can actually see results

[@tehsma]

If you duplicate the sound that you are applying saturation to- this one without the effect- you can invert the phase of this "bare" copy, and adjust its volume until it almost cancels the saturated copy. Almost, because the harmonic differences the saturation plugin introduced are left behind. Only the "effect" remains. This can be a useful way to compare or analyze different saturation or distortion plugins in an objective way. It may remove some of the mystery of some of these plugins.

[@wreck2881]

👍

[@BenjaminMJ]

you can also make an IR of their effect.. so u can make an IR of your fav settings or whatever.. as long as the effect is linear as in not changing for the duration of the IR sample.. like half a second or something.. right?? u seem to have expertise.. and im just repeating something i heard :D

[@GeorgePiazza]

You are describing what is commonly called a Null Test - take an unprocessed audio signal (or file) and a processed version of the same signal, match the levels (rms or average), invert the polarity of one, then play or render them starting from the same sample position. To fully grasp this, take two identical audio files, invert the polarity of one, then play them together. They will cancel each other and you will hear nothing - silence. Be sure NO processing of any kind is applied to one or both - not even a miniscule gain change. Regarding your Null Test experiment between an unprocessed and processed signal: Yes, it is a good way to understand what these plugins are doing - what they are adding; but only if the applied saturation is static (doesn't change with the dynamics / level of the original signal), or if the plugin has complex non-linear interactions. With dynamic non-linear saturation plugins, it's better to adjust by ear - just don't overdo it (there is a reason engineers didn't add Aural Exciter to every track back in the 70s & 80s. Something has to be in the background, otherwise it's a wall of mush - piercing mush that will get fatiguing real fast.). Consider a few nonlinear analog systems: Tubes have a very smooth curve toward higher nonlinear saturation; transistors and op-amps tend to be more linear until they approach their clipping point with a smaller dB transition range to hard clipping; transformers vary with the given design topology and materials - their saturation type, amount and curve in relation to input fluctuations (level) vary greatly.. (they also exhibit EM field effect saturation); tape is a very complex non-linear system, between the input & output electronics, the magnetic heads, bias, tape formulation, particle domain concentration & polarization, etc.. Older plugins (and some recent ones) typically applied 'static' saturation to a signal, regardless of average level or fluctuations in amplitude (a cheap way of simulating tube, tape, transformer and other analog non-linearities). These can easily be nulled to expose the added saturation. But many new plugins have dynamic implementations of saturation - e.g. the amount of saturation will fluctuate in relation to signal amplitude. Even with non-saturating dynamic processors, it can be hard to make sense of the 'delta' from a null ('delta': what is leftover - the difference between the unprocessed and processed files). Some plugins distinguish between transients and average levels as well (check out Physion from Eventide and the Unfiltered Audio plugins for examples). Sophisticated tape saturation plugins (especially deeply modeled multi tube devices like a good guitar amp emu or the Thermionics Culture Vulture) and other 'end-to-end' emulations combine numerous techniques to interactively generate varying degrees and types of saturation: the UAD SSL Console has numerous clipping points; their Distressor emulation is also highly reactive; the Manley Vari Mu tube mastering compressor & the Voxbox both have extremely complex non-linear interactive circuit topology, including the Input & Output tubes & transformers, the program dependent compression behavior, the tube amplifier and, with the VoxBox, the EQ inductors. multiple nonlinear dynamic systems interacting with each other, making an analysis by 'Null Test' almost meaningless.

[@dumithegreat3892]

Kekka dake da

[@jakoby757]

I make broccoli with this technique

[@louisjans9450]

It fills in the gaps between the frequencies, this is how I hear it. Very good explanation 👍

[@inthemix]

Louis Jans But does it press the space-bar to start? ;)

[@louisjans9450]

Only a wizard knows the answer 😜

[@BenPotts]

such a great channel, even as an experienced producer this is just top notch stuff, very very well done

[@inthemix]

Ben Potts Thank you very much Ben!

[@penguinshredder]

@@inthemix Couldnt agree more.

Man, im from Poland and im watching your movies from quite a lot but i love your type of explaining everything :) I learn a lot from this movies :)

[@1998Cebola]

Having binged your videos over the last couple of days and going this far back really accentuates how much your presentation has improved. This is by no means bad, but compared to the quality of lighting, sound and overall visual presentation in the most recent videos the small changes make a huge difference.

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

The Softube Saturation Knob was one of the first saturation plug-ins that I had. Free, yes, but the lessons were priceless. I've bought a few others since then.

[@KaitavSapreMusic]

Very impressive tutorial. I like how you talked about "warmth" 3:10 and how companies market their plugins. :D Thank you so much!

[@crust5909]

NOW i understand. The other people making videos about it did not gave good examples, or dived in too many details about the mathematics/geometry of the sound wave. Thank you for making this video easy to understand.

[@sc4rlotte456]

whenever im looking to research a new topic, i always look for your videos, even if they're rly old. you explain things in a great way, thank you!

[@Andydemelo]

Underrated channel. These lessons are like payed lessons! Learning alot here! Thanks bro.

[@MabawaVocal]

ONE OF THE EASIEST EXPLANATIONS EVER,I UNDERSTOOD YOU 100%

[@QuintSEnce]

Great explanation to saturation, a lot of people just have no idea of what saturation can do... but I think you really did clear up the question mark that appears over peoples heads when saturation is mentioned. Excellent info.

[@rjrmusic665]

The most eloquent and easy to understand explanation of saturation I've ever heard! BTW, I love everything about this channel! Top-notch stuff!

[@inthemix]

What a lovely thing to say. I really appreciate your comments :)

[@dariofromthefuture3075]

Clearest sound communicator on youtube. Your videos are SATURATED with knowledge :)

[@chokichocat3083]

I love this guy. covers many topics, gets straight to the point, knows what he's talking about and explains it in a way that even a kid could understand, and he doesn't ANNOY ME WITH PLUGS OR BUNDLES AND SHIT LIKE ALL THESE OTHER GUYS! GET THE SPLICE PACK GET CYMATICS NO DUDE I DON'T WANT TO SOUND LIKE ANOTHER CLONE STFU! oh and that smooth buttery voice is 10/10

[@rubenwardlaw7806]

Chocat Hey y’all, Im giving away Ozone 8 master suite to anybody that messages me on instagram for literally free. Its cracked but its the full version. Instagram handle ruben_0215

[@streetlord5592]

This my first time commenting on your video and I must say I have learnt a lot from you over this few months. God bless you and continue giving us your best. Bless up

[@inthemix]

Street Lord Thank you! I'll keep trying my best :)

[@tresilloproductions]

I’ve been watching a lot of your videos, not really by choices, but out of utility. They have been greatly helpful. Thanks for your work. I’m subscribed

[@NTayls80]

Man, thank you so much for doing this. Your videos are almost incredible in regards to their clarity and value! You are a gift among the youtube rubble. Lots and lots of respect 👏🏼

[@BeansGalaxy]

You’ve connected parts of my brain with this video. I’ve always left my “analog” plugins in the red and subtlety used clippers but I could never understand why my saturation sounded flat

[@lisah1922]

I love saturation knob. It works really well on my lead bus. Thanks for this video! You make amazing content! Keep it up! ♥️

[@inthemix]

Lisa H Thank you, I've used it on countless distorted leads, it's definitely got something magic going on behind the simple one dial because it sounds great!

[@skygazer3696]

Only Mike can help us better than none. Bless having this channel .

[@JojoWoori]

You explained so easily! Thank you so much! I was always feeling something was missing. my tracks sounds kinda empty, you made me realize why. 👍

[@lioneyebeatz]

Just started making beats like a month ago and i have been learning a lot from your videos thank you

[@koshizmusic]

6:37-6:42 you just explained exactly the problem I've had. I thought my problem in having a dry sound was the eq but it might be the saturation.

[@CIrylgAnee]

Same!

[@penguinshredder]

Me too. I was just rolling with the dry sound. Too much notching maybe? It does sound "clean" in a sense but def lacking that over all warm tone.

[@pulicemusic8999]

Same here

[@AlexWallaceAudio]

One of the very best mixing tutorial channels on KZbin 🔥

[@iamGoldy]

Man your voice is so relaxing. Can you start an audiobook series or something

[@inthemix]

Kreate Yeah I want to make that happen. Let's do it.

[@iamGoldy]

looking forward to it

[@nervz3837]

Do it!

[@AudioReplica2023]

he just wanna hear you moan...lmfao!

[@nenissaK]

@Nobby Heads So warm it's heated up

[@aiyleatom2211]

Learnt a lot from you ...and you'll be blessed for being helpful for the ppl who cant afford music classes...thank u bro

[@i-AMsorrow]

Subbed! after a 5 year break away from production, I came across one of your videos and now watched many!, Very informative and I've learnt a load more than I already knew from your vidz! Keep up the damn good work 👍🏻

[@JonathanChivon]

Thank you so much, your video is really helpful! I've been curioused to know about what Saturation do to the mix for a long time.

[@nikoleasdimopoulos9052]

I guess young sound engineers and producers will hate this guy because he is so good that everyone watching these videos can learn to get the job done and not need them :P

[@23thkr]

This is a really informative channel with quality content. Here i feel welcomed rather than other mixing channels on youtube, where the host would respond to your questions and comments in a very condescending and arrogant way. I dont understand why some mixing engineers believe they are superior to anyone else in the same field. So being a cool guy towards your clients or potential clients is as important as the mixing skills to grow your business Big fan of this channel and keep up the good work :)

[@andrewryder1319]

That was an extremely clear and effective explanation. I'm finally beginning to understand saturation. I look forward to learning more from you. Thank you!

[@neoncut]

This was a really nice intro for me. The side-by-side comparisons were really helpful and had the right length. Made me excited to make music. 🌶️🌶️🌶️

[@zimzimmaberlin]

Thank you for explaining so good. And also for sharing your experiences to emphasize with a little amount on relevant channels.

[@hleet]

Thanks for the explanation. Way easier to understand than most of "teachers" over internet.

[@StrayMedicine]

AHHH thank you for your informative videos! Very useful, you break down jargon a lot of people use without knowing what it means. Maybe I've been looking in weird areas on KZbin or something but your videos are a lot more informative and clear to me than other people's I've seen about mixing/mastering, and I feel like I'm finally getting a grasp on verbage and understanding things because of you.

[@jjlacey1970]

i make sure to use audio as well as digital sounds, beats, synths. to have a completely 'digital' recording session has never existed for me. i hope its why people like my sound. i try to make it as analogue sounding as i can even going so far as to master to cassette at times :) great vids

[@MiaAmareMusic]

really helpful video - thank you for all your work Michael

[@Skejtboard]

Love your tutorials! The thing that makes you better than other music tutorials is that you often bring in visual so that you could really see and understand whats happening before I my self can wrap my head around it. I know its not good to make music with your eyes but its a wonderful teaching tool. Thanks! Will watch more.

[@NRTKDNB]

Best Tutorial channel of all times !

[@LaScienceMusicale]

that's just amazing ! Ty It is often used in post-rock and EDM also in contemporary music

[@NineToes821]

This is wonderful. Being a beginner myself, it's always confusing and off-putting to hear people using unrelated adjectives to describe properties of sound; "warm lows", "chewy mids". I'm glad someone finally explained *something* to me about it.

[@izvarzone]

My rule of thumb warm means saturation or distortion in lows/mids and cold saturation in high/presence/air frequencies. So it depends what frequencies you actually saturate rather what type of saturation you use (tube, tape, etc) What other people mean by it, I dont know.

[@salvadorcabezadevaca9560]

Really appreciate all the quality content that ITM delivers to all the community 🔥

[@kurupt8929]

Really appreciate your efforts put into your videos,the way you explain everything in detail and in a way that makes sense, is top notch and very professional and I'm getting results instantly !! Thanks heaps mate

[@cjlaws2341]

This channel is so informational always learn something new here thanks for being so detailed and easy to follow I love your videos

[@brandonmalela2506]

one love and salute to all your learners , we should pay this guy for learning us thse things

[@OloffMusic]

These tutorials are incredibly clear.

[@heclairsful]

I have been away from a while but thanks for all tutorials to keep me update, you guys are awesome

[@rdoetjes]

Fascinating! I used to be a professional guitar player and I used to play tube amps. Mainly because they saturate so nicely. But tube amps SUCK! They are not made for performing 2 or 3 gigs a day. When they are hit and thrown into a cold van and driven to the next gig unloaded and turned on again. Let me put it this way, I became quite handy in change out tubes. Then I had enough and went solid state. But I missed that warmth in my overdrive. But from my background as an electrical engineer I knew what makes tubes sound “warm” and solid state sound “cold”. It’s the shitty characteristics of the amplification curve of tubes, because they are so slow the signal gets rounded off and that adds harmonics. So I went the route that you mention at @8:30, I bought two compressor peddles and really overdriven them and that added that saturation. And people seriously didn’t believe I played on two solid state amps (a clean and a distorted) and mixing those. So that myth (I was part of that) that guitar players can instantly tell if something is solid state or tube is absolute rubbish. And you can perfectly mimic these distortions that create harmonics with a mathematical algorithm too in the digital domain. So they’ll sound pretty close to the original analog stuff. The only thing is that analog is very imperfect and resistors and capacitors change when they are warm and over time. And an RC circuit (filter) therefore sort of drifts a bit. And vsts don’t do analog circuit modeling so the simulation of the component drift is a simulation (if at all implemented) but that’s so minimal that it goes unnoticed in a mix.

[@iranoutofideas3422]

This was a very easy to understand saturation video unlike the others I have read/watched.

[@d-rockanomaly9243]

Ferric IMO is the best saturation VST, free or paid. Been using it for years, never lets me down. Fabfilter Saturn is pretty cool too for a more coloured sound.

[@danboniface914]

Another great video. One of the best mix teachers out there.

[@Syklonus]

I often throw Isotope Trash's Tape saturation on the master bus.It gives it a nice grit and tightness, especially for heavier stuff.

[@lawrencevaughan5373]

Nailed it. Seriously great explanation. Top quality content mate!

[@lumpyfishgravy]

Since getting hold of Waves Scheps Omni I've been hooked on saturation, and especially intrigued with the difference between Even and Odd. The former (which you get from asymmetric hardware like Class A) seems to lift and sweeten a part. The latter (from symmetric hardware like Tape) tends to add weight and sometimes darkness. Fun stuff. Most analogue gear has a bit of both. So what I'd really like in the next Omni release are mix controls for the 3 types of saturation on offer.

[@NikkiWiley]

I could listen to you talk all day ☺️☺️☺️

[@TheApostleofRock]

Your hair is fuckin slick in this one my dude. Oh and so is the information. I feel intimidated like at the edge of a black hole of information when it comes to mixing/production/plugins. It's kinda how I felt a couple of years ago when I was diving into music theory. But now I know a lot of theory...so maybe i just have to go and ill start learning things. This channel will certainly help, I think

[@ezdmusic]

i never saw videos clearer than yours, well done !

[@inthemix]

Eliot Hantute Thanks Eliot :)

[@arnaudvanassche8242]

Can you do a video about a single/multi band compressor? That would be very helpful 🙏❤️

[@inthemix]

Absolutely

[@liam.config]

In The Mix yeeees finally

[@Yntec]

I highly recommend iZotope Ozone's Tube saturation. Specially if you're into retro video game music. SPECIALLY if you're into Snes/N64 music. I've heard some "Restored to HD" versions of songs, and they don't sound as good as with just the Ozone plugin on. The songs come up alive, specially the kicks and basses that get very warm, and the high pitched sounds that sound "windy" (I guess sounds in the middle range get sacrificed, but it's worth it.)

[@Yntec]

ne_skaju replied: "it's more a solid state / bucket brigade / transistor sound, tubes weren't used in computer games music. also lower bit depth and sample rate" This isn't about making video game music sound like it used to, it's about making it sound as good as it can, and tube saturation does that. It's like the same music but with better samples (your reply doesn't appear anymore for some reason.)

[@justdougbrand]

You just taught me a lot within the first 3 minutes. Sheeesh. Thanks a lot man!!!

[@rafaelkumoto]

This is the best video about Saturation I’ve seen! Thank you!

[@emiel333]

Another great video, Michael! I do use saturation sometimes on specific parts of my tracks. You explained it correctly, the warmth that comes along the sound is nice. I'm looking forward to the next video, and have a great week with producing and making music! Greetings, Emiel.

[@kobalt77]

Excellent video Mike, well presented, full of useful tips and knowledge, and no unnecessary waffle............. very much appreciated my man, thank you ....................... Camel Crusher is free and my Go To saturation.......... I have tried many, and always end up back using that little beauty.................. OH, and MDA VST are very basic, but absolutely wonderful, and they have a few different saturation plug-ins, but the whole suite is worth installing in my H O .... :)

[@Luckywynne]

Your hair looks _heckin good_

[@deejayransom]

Cuz he saturates it

[@ozclanarchive]

Ransom :D

[@Jay-407]

Ransom puts a comb filter through it

[@thebigshit2646]

Hè pud a soundgoodizer on it... xD

[@Tjejify]

SportsRGreat His hair looks good as fuck. It looks clean, not gay

[@Yonikaii]

Awesome and super useful video as always!!

[@nuttzbeats5667]

Always got great content man! You've made my productions sound so much better by what you've taught!

[@oscar9876543]

Very interesting, I've known about saturation, and have used it for my bass. But adding it to my drum mix? I'm gonna have to try that out!

[@OUTSS1]

This video was REALLY informative! Always kinda thought of saturation as a meh kind of thing to add in the mix. But this really makes sense

[@adilmuzic]

Thanks Mike for this topic... Helped a lot... Was pretty much confused!!! Thanks 😊

[@neimaddnilb]

Awesome video man, thanks for the explanation on using saturation in the mix

[@SATYAMPARKHE]

Is it okay to use saturation plugin on master bus?

[@thugfife9176]

Saturation was a real game changer for me

Mixing is very simple now. Loves from Turkey. ;)

[@Insideranon]

Im trying this. I make metal and this may have been what I have been looking for to get that sunk in all together feel I've been looking for

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

2:00 because this very pure and conceptual style of teaching i sm still your sub, despite of the music i don´t like ;)

[@Teeheehee093]

You make me understand in 2 mins what others would take half an hour to describe

[@BudoReflex]

My old trick was to dump a stereo mix down to my 4 track tape machine, drive it hard, then bring it back in. Then i discovered Mixbus v2, and now Mixbus 32c. No need for that when the entire DAW is modelling an analog desk from the 1970s.😎

[@trippingjune]

Thanks for the info.

[@ortolaza91]

ok im not new to installing plugins by any means....but i cant figure this out for some reason...i downloaded saturation knob and installed the plugin into is own folder and the vst for fl studio in the fl studio folder/plugins/vst.....and when i apply the knob to something in the mixer, gray box just hangs saying Loading............any help?

[@cheslinscheepers2547]

Thanks man your videos are really to the point and insightful. Much appreciated.

[@Truth_Hurts_Bad]

2:40 - So, my guitar amp is just cranking the saturation to create distortion? I always wanted to learn sound modelling & the like. I appreciate your videos. Cheers.

[@eldowns]

Outstanding video. Very well explained and produced.

[@thewest6128]

Basicly speaking saturation is the adding of harmonics to a signal, but it also can affect the dynamic and reduce it.

[@fysean]

Second Sun Beats I like to think of it as harmonic compression

[@JulyTheGinny]

You just changed my life

[@MilchoMalefic]

thanks michael you explaned a lot in this video

[@jeramylaboy1444]

Can you do a vid on saturation for bass music ( edm specifically). This info is so good i appreciate all the help you give to the producer community

[@DrVilest]

Very helpful and interesting video

[@halseyballistic]

Awesome. Thanks for your time to post this video for us all in the recording world

[@1980JPA]

Thanks so much. I've been watching a lot of tutorials lately in the hopes of getting my production game up to ths same level of my mucisianship. I've used FL studio and a few other DAWs for years but the music Ive made was never on par with the talent I have for actually playing instruments, so lately I've dedicated myself to really educating myself on FL studio. Of all the tutes I watch lately, yours have been the easiest to understand, and cover questions and topics that I've not fully understood for years now, and have found I've been using wrong (or sometimes accidentally been using correctly just because it sounded best to me 😁. Thanks so much for doing what you do, and for doing it simply and effectively. I will be watching all your tutorials from here on out. Keep up the good work!! 👍🏾

[@tengoodquestions]

Hey, you come across very very well ! Keep up the good work, already subscribed but I wanted to point that out. I learned more about Saturation today, thank you !

[@davidleeroth357]

AS ALWAYS, Great videos. Very detailed. Keep up the good work

[@keyboyrecords]

The tube saturation on the old Korg Triton Extreme was killer.

[@morgengabe1]

First time watching. This seems like a cool spot! Nice video. Got me wanting to dig out my old mic preamp to put synths through