This is Chapter 2 of Mixing Foundations – Saturation Explained: Everything you need to now about Saturation. Learn the differences between transformers, tape, and tubes, discover what harmonics are, and learn how to add warmth and depth to your mixes. (12–15 minute read)

The Importance of Saturation in Mixing

Saturation is so vital in mixing. I can tell you in half a second whether a producer or mixer is skilled or not with their use of saturation. More often than not, I bet the tracks that you really love have high-quality, thoughtful, and intentional saturation. But what exactly is saturation?

I always explain it like this: 

Someone went to the kitchen one day to warm up bread. They warmed it up in a pan on the stovetop and left it on too long, which caused it to change color and become hard and crunchy. But then they tried it, and it was incredible.  

When you take soft bread and toast it, its molecular makeup changes from soft and bland to sweet and crunchy. That's the sa...

This is the Introduction to Mixing Foundations—My personal experiences that laid the groundwork for our world-famous courses on saturation, compression, EQ, reverb, and much more. (8–10 minute read)

About the Author
Daniel Wyatt is a multi-genre, Emmy-nominated, Platinum-selling music producer, engineer, and educator based on the East Coast with over 40 years of professional experience.

My First Official Major Record Label Release

Recording the Album - A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield

Easily the most cherished memory of my music journey to date was flying to Atlanta to Curtis Mayfield's house and recording Curtis Mayfield's vocals for a track that I co-produced and played congas on for a band that I co-founded, Repercussions. I think I literally remember every second of that day - and I can replay the entire "movie" memory from start to finish.

That track became a single and was a cover of "Let's Do It Again" and was featured as track 3 on the Tribute to Curtis Mayfield Album th...

I thought this topic would make a good, and short read — as I have been asked these questions so many times:

The questions: When I mix as I produce, should I bounce out the dry stems or keep my channelstrip settings and FX? Should I keep my “production reverb”?

Should I bounce my mix stems with or without side-chaining? What about the mix buss inserts? Or should I just do simple raw production and then do a proper mix?

The answers of course to these questions can be very personal and contextual, but I want to share with you what I think works the best for both the production and mixing cycles.

I think the best practice when producing is to do only very basic channel stripping of individual elements, i.e. basic saturation, reductive EQ, and compression with the idea that you can and will do more later during the mix session.

While I think it’s fine to keep what I call “production reverb” (reverb is part of the sound design of a synth patch or ambience that’s already in a snare s...

It’s true. The best plugins use up the most CPU! It’s just the way it is, and that won’t change anytime soon.

And we all like to use the best plugins — and sometimes many instances. So what do we do? Buy a new computer each month? Buy monster Octo systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars?

No. Regardless of how big a system you put together, you will still run out of CPU at some point. So what do you do?

• Max out your buffer size
• Render tracks
• Freeze tracks
• Use UAD
• Use Slate Digital Plugins
• Bounce stems before Mastering.

MAX OUT YOUR AUDIO BUFFER SIZE.

In the audio preferences in any DAW, you will find a window to see your buffer size. When recording, keep it a low as possible to minimize latency, but when mixing and mastering, max it out!

This increase will give the CPU “more time to think” and will increase latency from the moment when you hit the spacebar until you hear the sound, but who cares?

Bigger buffer sizes eliminate pops, clicks, and glitches that hap...

The best part about a channelstrip workflow is the ability to systematically build a sound and then to ergonomically jump back and forth between the parameters within the modules.

Since EQ, saturation, compression, and filtering are all interdependent, the ability to make quick adjustments between these fundamental realms makes mixing fast, free and creative.

In that light, here’s a look at UAD’s beloved channel strips:

1. SSL 4000 E CHANNEL STRIP

SSL is a favorite sound for Dance, Pop, and Urban Music. Sonically it has a tight, bright saturation in the mids and highs and a dynamic low end. Rich in harmonics, the SSL has a tight, short “ring” that is also smooth. Absolutely wicked on drums.

2. MANLEY VOXBOX

The Manley VOXBOX has a number of personalities depending on how you drive it. It can be very clean or rich in tube saturation. It also comes with a very easy-to-use de-esser and a compressor that is before the pre-amp stage to minimize distortion. And a great Pultec style...

This week FabFilter released their new Reverb plugin – FabFilter Pro-R.
Watch our new video tutorial that explains how this plugin works and how you can tweak your reverb 

Watch as Daniel Wyatt (Mixing and mastering mentor) does a walkthrough of the Distressor emulation from Slate Digital, the FG Distressor.

Softube Tape is a new tape saturation/compression plugin from Softube that brings great sound, intuitive controls and some unique features not found on other tape plugins like dry/wet and crosstalk controls.

Slate Digital recently introduced Virtual Tube Collection – great addition to their Virtual Mix Rack collection of API-500-like mix rack.
Virtual Tube Collection comes with 3 different flavors: Hollywood, London and New York inspired by classic vintage topologies and designs, and they all sound a little bit different.
They are very easy to use: each module has two different models: Preamp which is more flavorful and Console which is more conservative, but they both give a very nice tube color.
So if you are looking for even more distortion – there’s Normal/Push switch. Push mode gives more harmonic density and non-linear response.
Virtual Tube Collection is part of Slate Everything Bundle.

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