Creative Ways to Use Saturation & Distortion Explained
If you think you've heard it all when it comes to saturation and distortion, think again! Plugin expert Gary Hiebner shares a myriad of creative uses in this comprehensive video course that will have you rethinking everything you know about these tried-and-true, gritty friends of ours. From effect chain order to parallel and mid/side processing and more, the techniques demonstrated here will ignite your creativity and get you thinking outside the box for your next productions. You also get all the wav files Gary uses in the videos so you can apply your own distortion and saturation effects while following along to the videos. These videos are for users with a basic familiarity of distortion and saturation effects and routing.
Videos
• Introduction (01:57) - Gary starts off by first explaining saturation and distortion and then goes over what will be covered in this video series.
• Different Types of Saturation & Distortion (05:20) - We take a look at different types of Saturation and Distortion here and see how to transform a wave shape through processing.
• Insert vs Send Effect (02:54) - Explore the difference between using distortion as an insert effect vs a send effect and the advantages to each.
• Chaining Order of Effects (04:12) - Chaining order plays an important role on distortion and saturation effects. In this video, we show how the tone can change quite a bit depending on where the effect is in the chain.
• Saturation & EQ (04:53) - This video shows how to work with EQs on saturation effects, what to do with the EQ settings, and how the chaining order effects the sound.
• Compression & Saturation (04:19) - This video takes a look at the relationship between compression and saturation and how the two can work together.
• Creating Lo-Fi Effects with Bitcrushing & Downsampling (05:27) - Explore the digital distortion of a bit crusher and see how you can use it to create degraded, lo-fi effects with your audio.
• Parallel Saturation on Drums (02:57) - Here we take a look at how to use parallel processing with a saturation effect on a drum track.
• Using on Single Drum Elements (06:01) - Instead of using a saturation effect on the whole drumset, it can be quite interesting to use different types of saturation/distortion on single elements of the drums. This video shows you what results you can get.
• Multi-band Distortion on Bass (06:57) - In this video we take a look at how to use multi-band distortion on an instrument by splitting the frequencies to different bands an applying different forms of saturation and distortion on each frequency band. This works particularly well on bass instruments.
• Multi-band Distortion on Synths (08:56) - We expand on the multi-band distortion idea with three frequency bands, applying different forms of saturation and distortion on each band. With this example, we demonstrate it on a synth.
• Saturation & Distortion on Vocals (06:49) - Learn some tricks you can do with saturation and distortion on vocals. I duplicate the vocal part and process it differently with some distortion and effects.
• Saturation & Distortion on Sound Effects (06:30) - Here we take more of a sound design approach and see what results you can get by adding saturation and distortion effects to some sound effects.
• Adding Extra Harmonics & Sustain with Fuzz (07:21) - Here we move on from saturation and distortion and show you how fuzz can add extra harmonics and sustain to your sounds in your mixes.
• Chaining Multiple Saturation Effects Together (07:09) - Discover what happens when you chain multiple saturation and distortion effects together. Also learn how the chaining order can alter the tone with multiple saturation effects.
• Side-Chain Saturation (05:32) - Now we take a look at how you can use side-chain techniques with saturation. For this example, we use side-chain compression combined with a saturation effect.
• Saturation & Distortion with Reverb (08:17) - Learn how to combine reverb with saturation and distortion and hear what results we get. Plus, we experiment with the chaining order to hear the different results.
• Automating Your Saturation & Distortion Effects (06:33) - By automating parameters on your saturation and distortion effects, you can create extra color and interest in your productions. In this video, we show you how to record and write in automation to your saturation and distortion effects.
• Using Guitar Stompbox Effects (04:35) - Here we take a look at how to use guitar stompboxes into your productions. You can get quite hands-on with these effects and tweak the dials while you record in these guitar stompbox tones.
• Mid/Side Distortion (09:30) - Finally, we explore the concept of using mid/side processing and have different saturation and distortion effects on each.