Re: Saturation Knob Location
2013/11/02 13:41:43
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☄ Helpfulby Studious 2013/11/02 14:37:16
Depends on your application. If placed after EQ, you can use the EQ to boost those frequencies you want to saturate more readily, or cut frequencies (primarily in the midrange and upper midrange) that produce harshness when saturated. For example if you want a gritty but still distinct drum sound, you might reduce the highs so the cymbals and such are not saturated as much.
OTOH if you want to saturate all frequencies evenly, put saturation before EQ and shape the saturated tone with EQ.
As to compression, I almost always put any dynamics control before saturation to give a more "even" sound, which leads to more predictable saturation. This doesn't mean you can't compress saturation as this can sometimes produce good results, but any compression will often bring up noise, which tends to be an unavoidable result of applying gain to a signal.