Saturation Tutorial - The Basics Of Harmonic Saturation

[@MikeHeebz]

Wow, game changer. Thanks for sharing. Found a few of your saturation videos & can honestly say you are the first one I've come across that explained & showed examples of how saturation works & can add good harmonics to a mix. Greatly appreciated.

[@peterlambros]

This was one of the most informative, clear and concise videos I have seen. Thank you for sharing

[@cankucuk17]

Thanks man. Literally the only no bullshit video on KZbin about saturation

[@RecordingLounge]

Thanks. That’s what I strive for. Please share / subscribe!

[@Ereth]

Thank you I never realize about the lower tone but now it's clear with the harmoni💪✌️

[@MiguelLSilva-ef5is]

Great channel. I like the scientific and experimental side of things. Thanks!

[@bboydreaded]

Man. I have been producing for 5 years. I put so much time into compression and reverb. It sucks/but also cool that I only now find out what saturation does. The best. Changes everything

[@RecordingLounge]

Like anything else it’s easy to go overboard with it. But used tastefully saturation can be pure magic.

[@musicmadeeasy8194]

This is one of the best saturation video I have watched. Thanks for this great content.

[@juanchis.investigadorsonoro]

Nice video Kendall! I had this one pending. At around 3:40 you talked about the "fat" description a lot of people use. I agree, besides there's a whole conversation on which adjectives could better describe & which people use. But I'm not sure if you are already considering this in the video (7 years ago). 3rd order harmonics appear really close to the fundamental one is a bit lower, or even 2nd order harmonics can go under that fundamental with f2 - f1.

[@oldskool5605]

Really interesting, especially the psycho acoustic dimension and how it improves audibility on smaller speakers. Thanks!

[@amiryorke]

Very nice info.You are a great teacher.thanks.

[@bcalenda2609]

Great demo with scopes.

[@nichttuntun3364]

Great video. Saturation works a lot like additive synthesis. Very interesting.

[@RecordingLounge]

Yes it does!

[@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

Late to this video, but it's so helpful that I had to comment! Subscribed too, and will raid your archive! I've been playing with saturation plugins, and compressors that saturate, and I can only hear distortion if I crank them, and I don't hear much difference at lower levels, so I take them off again. It helps to know exactly what is going on, I think I'll be putting some saturation on my bass tracks at least after watching this video! Thanks! 🙂👍

[@kaykintero8018]

Aliasing of harmonics above the Nyquist frequency can add frequencies below the fundemental to add that warmth.

[@darrenfox5165]

smart video. Lovely logical explanation and easy to understand. Oh and Reviver.....its one of my favourite plugins that doesn't get talked about much. you can really push it...its very clean. its difficult to know which distortion plugin to use and to know when enough is enough (treatment) because it's so tempting to slap stuff on. I guess referencing mixes is key here. A video on this topic (when to stop treating your sounds) would be interesting. I like your style of teaching. thanks again :)

[@jamesstonehouse3448]

The extra harmonics are occupying more of the power spectrum (even peaked the same), hence the perception of loudness.

[@yossiamsalem9636]

there is sub-harmonics generetors also, that can create the sense of fatness you talked about, and do add harmonics below f1.

[@RecordingLounge]

+Yossi Amsalem very true! Those can definitely come in handy when your fundamentals are weak or when you just need some extra PHAT

[@MarssStudio]

Which software is this??

[@TheEqualityComedy]

Great stuff man!

[@JosephEudave]

Great video!

[@TheBlashMusic]

3:22 This is the same reason why any note on the Low “e” string + the major 4th above it on the “a” string (on guitar) = the illusion of playing an octave below the fundamental.

[@ernestoarroyo7044]

Wow , thanks

[@ImaginaryAsh]

What would the even harmonics of a 100hz sine wave be? 200, 400, 800, 1600? Or would they be 200, 400, 600, 800 ect. I'm a bit confused about the mathematical rule.

[@RecordingLounge]

+Ash hey Ash! The easy way to look at it is like this - all of the harmonics (even and odd) in the sequence are found by 1x (fundamental), then 2x, 3x, 4x, etc etc. so for 100hz, it would be 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. The "even" ones are 2x, 4x, 6x, etc and the "odd" ones are 3x, 5x, 7x, 9x, etc. Just even and odd multiples!

[@RecordingLounge]

+Ash the other term that gets confusing is "overtone." So the "overtone number" is offset by one, meaning that the 2nd harmonic is the 1st overtone, the 3rd harmonic is the 2nd overtone, the 4th harmonic is the 3rd overtone, etc The term overtone is basically saying "how many harmonics ABOVE the fundamental." Kind of a confusing way to do it in my opinion, but that's how it is. Haha

[@ImaginaryAsh]

Thank you for your detailed answer. I'm trying to gain a good understanding of the science behind saturation.

[@lihatjalanan1979]

how we use the harmonic saturation chain in production ? before the mix ?

[@RecordingLounge]

If you run through analog outboard gear, you will get some harmonic saturation, but typically these days most of this is done in mixing or mastering as a creative choice.

[@moulcode]

really good explanition thanks a looooooooooooooooot

[@igmaribanez]

nice video, and btw the more you add higher harmonics the more you're leading into a square shape wave, all related :p

[@simke123]

about the video: awesome as always :) maybe you could show us what kush ubk-1 will do with those harmonics (or maybe it will be the same as Decapitator?) offtopic: i have an idea, about collaboration with Michael White, so you both talk and explain 'some' things (via skype or idk how is it working)...it will be amazing if that will be possible :) and its a shame that both of you maestros have so little views/subscribers...

[@pacificresonance]

Simmke it's definitely different than decapitator! All saturation plugins are different (at least the good ones are! Haha)

[@MrCool144]

Peter Parker: Harmonic reinforcement? Doc Oc: yee

[@lez-gelm4561]

2:00 ... That hurts... 🙉

[@alexandrumacedon291]

then my samsung heaphones that came with the phone are quite good, i could hear the signal at 40 hz and they are in ear headphones lol

[@stupidusername38]

great video.could it be that Cubase's meters are in fact peak and not RMS meters? Although, having said that, if they were PPM meters then with the saturation cutting the peaks it would be showing a lower volume. thanks for the video very informative