A question about Saturator on Master channel

[Christian_R]

Hi!

I'm trying to learn mastering now, and I saw in a tutorial that putting a Saturator on the Master channel is one way to do this.

But I have a question:
When I set the Input Drive to 7 dB, the sound got a little distorted. But if I turned it down to 5 dB, and then inserted another Saturator after the first one, that I set to 2 dB, the distortion was gone and the volume was a little louder.

Does anybody know the reason for this? I'm very new to the mastering process, so I'm not sure why

I generally struggle to get my mixes loud enough, so I'm happy to get tips on that. I also put a Limiter on the master channel, so my song is starting to get the same volume as the other EDM songs out there.

[brianwdowling]

Good video on mixing louder if you haven't already seen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P_Opp4a6iY&t=333s

[Christian_R]

Good video on mixing louder if you haven't already seen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P_Opp4a6iY&t=333s

Thanks! Haven’t seen that video, will check it out sooon

[jlgrimes]

Hi!

I'm trying to learn mastering now, and I saw in a tutorial that putting a Saturator on the Master channel is one way to do this.

But I have a question:
When I set the Input Drive to 7 dB, the sound got a little distorted. But if I turned it down to 5 dB, and then inserted another Saturator after the first one, that I set to 2 dB, the distortion was gone and the volume was a little louder.

Does anybody know the reason for this? I'm very new to the mastering process, so I'm not sure why

I generally struggle to get my mixes loud enough, so I'm happy to get tips on that. I also put a Limiter on the master channel, so my song is starting to get the same volume as the other EDM songs out there.

It is quite common that many instances of smaller doses of compression/distortion/clipping can often produce a cleaner more defined sound than just one effect brutally affecting the master.

Simplest answer is that small doses of controlling peaks usually will work in a more forgiving manner as it is not just blindly shaving peaks off.


Usually too alot of master effects such as saturation are usually applied in a more subtle manner than if you would put it on a single track or group.

[compy]

The soft clipping on the right makes s big difference

You likely hit the soft clipping wall, slightly, with the first one, then the second simply rises up the volume.

If you crank up the drive higher, you simply "soft clip harder" creating more saturation, that may be excellent in single track, but excessive for mastering purpose.

IMHO a slight soft clipping as first plugin of the master chain helps reducing dynamics for s louder master (of you are after some loudness war