Trying to come up with a nice warm tone for some of my rock-ish master mixes. I've just compared a few of my tracks tonally to relatively recent tracks from bands like Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, and those tracks most certainly (to my ears) sound like rock music. Du'h. They are warm, and there is a certain amount of distortion or saturation to them that is warm but not clearly identifiable as specific distortion...  it's just very smooth and sounds sorta like a live band would.
My master mixes, before processing, are too clear and sterile in comparison...  (I admit approaching the recording aspect from getting the clearest, not the warmest, sound I can. I'm thinking you can warm up a track well enough with the right tools, but you can't clean it up if need be later on.)  And whatever processing I apply to the master mix doesn't seem to have the goodies my ear desires. I don't have a good Kramer Tape type plugin, apparently something like that would help...  wondering how you might recommend I get that warmth and the "friendly" distortion in a predictable fashion. 

Check out Psp's vintage warmer, its an incredible plug in, i have used it for years never fails to impress ;)
 
http://www.pspaudioware.c...rs/psp_vintagewarmer2/
 
Also check out Nomad factory Magnetic 2, its a decent tape sim, you can sometimes get it on offer
 
http://nomadfactory.com/products/magnetic_II/index.html 

Slate's FG-Bomber and the free Revival plug works for me.
 

Morvejones
Check out Psp's vintage warmer, its an incredible plug in, i have used it for years never fails to impress ;)
 
http://www.pspaudioware.c...rs/psp_vintagewarmer2/
 
Also check out Nomad factory Magnetic 2, its a decent tape sim, you can sometimes get it on offer
 
http://nomadfactory.com/products/magnetic_II/index.html 

Thanks, these both cost a fair bit

gustabo
Slate's FG-Bomber and the free Revival plug works for me.
 

 
*iLOK2 REQUIRED for the Revival.  What does that mean to me if I want it for free and I don't have any Slate plugins?

Trust me, you don't need to buy anything if you have Sonar Platinum.
 
First off, use the big Tube knob in the ProChannel on bass, kick/snare/overheads/hat and perhaps even on the guitars. Secondly, use the Tape saturation on the drums, especially on a master buss or on the overheads. It works GREAT for softening harshness. Make sure you don't have too much high end frequency stuff going on (roll off some highs on guitars!). Put a console emulator on individual tracks and busses.
 
If you have some money to spend: get the Cakewalk CA-2A. It's been sad it's not a particularly exact emulation of the LA-2A, but I think it's awesome! For Kicks and Snares it make life so easy. Super warm, nicely controlled...
 
R

Chevy

gustabo
Slate's FG-Bomber and the free Revival plug works for me.
 

 
*iLOK2 REQUIRED for the Revival.  What does that mean to me if I want it for free and I don't have any Slate plugins?

That you need an iLok2 if you don't already have one...

Chevy

Morvejones
Check out Psp's vintage warmer, its an incredible plug in, i have used it for years never fails to impress ;)
 
http://www.pspaudioware.c...rs/psp_vintagewarmer2/
 
Also check out Nomad factory Magnetic 2, its a decent tape sim, you can sometimes get it on offer
 
http://nomadfactory.com/products/magnetic_II/index.html 

Thanks, these both cost a fair bit

Check out http://rockindiy.com/free-audio-plugins-analog-recording/ for some freebies

Saturation isn't the only thing that makes thing that makes a track warm. Make sure that your low end is where it should be as well. The bass and some of the lows in the guitars contribute quite a lot to warming a track.
 
Kramer Tape is pretty awesome, though I'm sure you can get good saturation from many different plugins.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Chevy, at the risk of being painfully simplistic, you said 
 
"I admit approaching the recording aspect from getting the clearest, not the warmest, sound I can. I'm thinking you can warm up a track well enough with the right tools, but you can't clean it up if need be later on.)  And whatever processing I apply to the master mix doesn't seem to have the goodies my ear desires. "
 
The two bold statements make me wonder why you don't experiment with getting warmer sounding tracks to begin with? I understand you're point about not being able to "undo warmth" but if that's the sound you're after maybe it's just question of finding how much warmth to allow on the tracks themselves. Maybe I'm off mark or being overly simplistic, but just thought I'd throw it out there. Hope you find what you're looking for one way or another!