When it comes to imbuing sterile audio signals with harmonic excitement, aggression, bite and character, there are few better effects than saturation and distortion. With so many flavours on hand, spanning subtle to searing, the ranges of tones on offer are almost infinite.
But so much sonic potential comes at a cost. Should you reach for a software emulation of a classic tape machine? Or would a glaze of retro tube distortion do a better job? And what about digital distortion and its associated aliasing artefacts? Unless you’re a bona fide analogue aficionado, the amazing hardware-emulating features packed into today’s plugins can all too easily prove overwhelming.
Yes, you can simply load up a plugin at random and overdrive your signals into oblivion – and this can often work – but such a haphazard strategy will only get you so far. Instead, understand what all those oddly named controls mean, and which process will best suit your source material, and your music-making and mixing skills will skyrocket as a result.
Thankfully, this issue’s cover feature is here to demystify the science behind these classic analogue circuits, helping you dial in delicious distortion tones in your DAW, for perfect mixes every time. Focusing on tube circuits and tape emulation tools, we’ll cover a broad range of topics, from harmonics and colour, to waveform asymmetry, intermodulation, compression sideeffects and beyond.
Analogue emulation aside, today’s advanced tools provide complicated features such as multiband modes, sidechain inputs, parallel blending, mid/side functionality and more. And that’s not even taking into account the routing flexibility of the average DAW! That’s why, later in the issue, we’ll break down a bunch of creative saturation and distortion tricks and tools you can use to spark your studio inspiration. It’s drive time…
Denne historien er fra November 2019-utgaven av Computer Music.
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Denne historien er fra November 2019-utgaven av Computer Music.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Explore Black Salt Audio's cm bundle
In a new series, we're highlighting the best plugins from the CM Plugin Suite V3.0 and showing you how to make the most of them
DH Plugins LFO-EQ-1
Modulating your EQ parameters opens up a multitude of exciting effects. Can this affordable plugin really hit the mark? Jon Musgrave finds out
SSL Module8
Multi-effects are getting more powerful at the expense of ease of use, but Module8 manages both and is therefore pretty gr8, says Andy Jones
Dawesome/Tracktion Myth
Peter V is fast becoming the most ground-breaking plugin developer around. His latest is a synth of mythical proportions, says Andy Jones
Tailored reverbs
Reverb is a great tool, but cleverly thinking about its application can really take your mix to the next level. Here’s how to get tailoring…
Make a spicy lead with GForce Axxess
It's time to turn up the heat and Axxess a searing lead, with a little help from an ultra-cool addition to the plugin suite
Cherry Audio Chroma
If you're after a colourful new synth, Cherry Audio has something that covers the whole spectrum. Roland Schmidt looks through the prism
GForce Software VSM IV
This updated VSM continues to prove that strings are very much the thing! Roland Schmidt swots up on his virtual string theory
KATIE TAVINI
A ubiquitous name in the world of mastering, Katie Tavini’s intuitive senses and aptitude for bringing out the best in a huge array of music has been rightly praised. We were keen to catch up with Katie – fresh from moving her studio into a new setup in Liverpool – to find out more about her acclaimed approach
Make a loop into a track
It's simple to make a killer loop, but how does that become a dancefloor-filling hit? It only takes a few steps to get the process started...