Saturation Knob on the master?

[Nick Marcelo]

Is it okay if I use a bit of saturation on the master because it adds some harmonic energy to everything? I prefer to use saturation knob for this rather than using a fattener like sausage fattener.

[nickamandote]

yes I guess it's fine but you could also it in the mastering stage

[acYm]

try putting a saturator or some sort of console emulator with subtle drive on every mixer channel instead, and keep the master for typical eq/comp/limit, it'll be more versatile, and probably sound more natural

[MogwaiBoy]

I love Saturation Knob on the master... just around 0.8-1.0 to add some density and sheen - I'm finding it's great in the mastering chain. At that low level it is more like a harmonic exciter than distortion/saturation. Your ears perceive it as extra clarity, not overdrive. In many cases i'm finding it as useful or more useful than, say, Waves Saphira/Aphex Vintal Aural Exciter.

In short: yes!

[Nick Marcelo]

I love Saturation Knob on the master... just around 0.8-1.0 to add some density and sheen - I'm finding it's great in the mastering chain. At that low level it is more like a harmonic exciter than distortion/saturation. Your ears perceive it as extra clarity, not overdrive. In many cases i'm finding it as useful or more useful than, say, Waves Saphira/Aphex Vintal Aural Exciter.

In short: yes!

I completely agree with you

[do_androids_dream]

Is it okay if I use a bit of saturation on the master because it adds some harmonic energy to everything?

You can do whatever you like my friend! The more interesting question might be - what's led you to thinking you need permission? I use Softube Saturation Knob all the time in mastering.

[Vospi]

I would be the first in the thread to disagree.

One of the greatest goals in mixing and mastering is depth. To achieve it, you need your content to have different characteristics. Coloring your master in whole maybe okay for a guitar duo recording, but there's almost nothing good about it when it comes to dense, contrasting mix — which is most of the music, right? I would say this from experience: if your mix suddenly sounds way better when you apply some extreme and unusual processors -- like а stereoizer or a saturator -- to a master bus (don't do that ), then that means your mix could be improved. How?

You could figure out which instruments groups OR song sections require that processing alone. More low end, more attack, more very subtle room reverb. This way you would state to your listener where to pay attention and when to "worry", thus increasing perceived depth and contrast.

Applying any of this to a master bus, you're doing the opposite.

[MogwaiBoy]

There are no rules. It's not that different from bouncing your mix to tube exciter and back - same kinda principle.

Ofcourse with Saturation Knob or anything gainy on the master bus... you are talking about applying very small amounts, carefully. I imagine it wouldn't be good for jazz.

Stereoizers are pretty dangerous, by the way : )

[Ah_Dziz]

I'm guessing you guys are speaking of the Softube Saturation Knob? If so I would recommend at least taking it back to the submix area if not smaller groups or individual tracks. That would give you far more flexibility and range in tuning the effect as far as the amount and the mode that the effect is set to. I've had good results with a combo of a clipper and Saturation Knob with the keep bass mode on my drum setup and Saturation Knob the neutral mode on vocal groups, all with very low settings. This is on more aggressive styles of music and with the effect set somewhere in the first 10% of its range and I find it adds a bit of edge and homogenizes the elements of the song without turning things mushy.

I haven't had much luck using it on a whole song, but I could see it working well on some more dirty punk or thrash or even grindcore type tunes. Those aren't where my work has taken me lately so I haven't had occasion to try. I would recommend using it with care on a whole track and keeping the settings barely audible or you may end up with troubles. This effect also cares about the input gain so pay close attention to how hard you are driving it.

It is a nice freebie.

[a_Scientist]

It is posssible but I think, with something else since Saturation Knob has no "mix" knob. It is great plugin I useit all the time.
But what worries me (anyone agree?) that Sat.Knob will dampen transients whhich is not good.

I know Moby used saturation on whole mix in his song The Lonely Night. It must be a good saturator with a lot of controls.

[mr jkn]

The Softube sat plugin sits on my masterbus on almost all my mixes. I regard it as a hot summing bus on an analogue desk. It almost always makes additional compression redundant.

[do_androids_dream]

The Softube sat plugin sits on my masterbus on almost all my mixes. I regard it as a hot summing bus on an analogue desk. It almost always makes additional compression redundant.

It's a gem isn't it? I use it for the clipped converter sound in mastering - small doses can work wonders on clean, dynamic mixes.

[acYm]

inspired by this thread, I tried the actual Saturation Knob on the master. it's pretty good. that thing is apparently modeled on an output amplifier, so there's no reason it shouldn't be there.

[Lejurai]

I like to add a tiny amount of saturation to master channel. Or tape emulator. Depends really about the song, which is better.

[do_androids_dream]

Applying any of this to a master bus, you're doing the opposite.

Your post is confusing to say the least.. Doing the opposite of what by adding saturation to the master? It's very common to use saturation on the master buss both during mixing and during mastering. Why do think a lot of ME's clip converters on a whole mix?