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10/07/23
Distortion
Well worth the cost of the package deal of the sounds of science courses.
Science of Sound: Saturation (FaderPro)
Everything Music Producers Need To Know About Saturation
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About this course
Distortion is far more than just an effect that belongs to the realm of electric guitar amplifiers and heavy metal bands. It can be used to add harmonic content to sounds, smooth out mixes, introduce texture and grit in a sound design context and much more.
In this course, Jono Buchanan examines the world of distortion in full, bringing overdrive, fuzz, saturation, tube, bit-crushing and other styles into sharp focus.
Over the course of two hours, you’ll receive a full grounding in the fundamentals of distortion; how it works and how it can be applied in the context of a mix to achieve anything from organic warmth to more extreme results. Distortion has been a product of analogue recording equipment for decades, both intentionally and unintentionally, and in The Science of Sound – Saturation you’ll see how versatile it can be within a modern software environment. Whether it’s parallel processing, vocal treatment, mix warming, insert and auxiliary effects – you’re bound to find a new use for distortion that you never knew existed!
In today’s digital world, there is no shortage of distortion and saturation plugin options to help you to warm up your waveforms and shape your signal. Some emulate classic hardware units of the past, others bring new approaches to the table, and Jono covers examples of both in this course. By the end, you’ll be familiar with the parameters commonly found on these tools, and know how to put them to use in your own projects.
In total, there are twelve chapters of content in Science of Sound – Saturation, covering the full spectrum of what the effect can do in a music production context. All of the techniques that are covered in this course are explored through audio examples in a Logic Pro session, so you will hear for yourself the unique ways that distortion can be applied in a mix.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as engineers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your productions with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
In this course, Jono Buchanan examines the world of distortion in full, bringing overdrive, fuzz, saturation, tube, bit-crushing and other styles into sharp focus.
Over the course of two hours, you’ll receive a full grounding in the fundamentals of distortion; how it works and how it can be applied in the context of a mix to achieve anything from organic warmth to more extreme results. Distortion has been a product of analogue recording equipment for decades, both intentionally and unintentionally, and in The Science of Sound – Saturation you’ll see how versatile it can be within a modern software environment. Whether it’s parallel processing, vocal treatment, mix warming, insert and auxiliary effects – you’re bound to find a new use for distortion that you never knew existed!
In today’s digital world, there is no shortage of distortion and saturation plugin options to help you to warm up your waveforms and shape your signal. Some emulate classic hardware units of the past, others bring new approaches to the table, and Jono covers examples of both in this course. By the end, you’ll be familiar with the parameters commonly found on these tools, and know how to put them to use in your own projects.
In total, there are twelve chapters of content in Science of Sound – Saturation, covering the full spectrum of what the effect can do in a music production context. All of the techniques that are covered in this course are explored through audio examples in a Logic Pro session, so you will hear for yourself the unique ways that distortion can be applied in a mix.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as engineers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your productions with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
What you'll learn
- Comprehend how distortion changes the harmonic picture of a sound
- Differentiate between triode mode (even harmonics) and pentode modes (odd harmonics)
- Understand the fundamental difference between EQ (volume adjustment of existing frequencies) and distortion (adding new harmonics)
- Appreciate the spectrum of distortion from subtle saturation to extreme effects
- Learn to properly gain-stage distortion effects by matching output levels
Release date: 08/22/2023 • 2h 25m runtime
Sample lessons
Mix Warming
Demonstration
Bit Crushing 80s Drums
Demonstration
Synth and Drum Mix Aggression
Demonstration
What's included
12 lessons
Science of Sound: Saturation
When it comes to altering the tone of sounds within your mixes, the tool you'll likely reach for is equalization, or EQ. EQ lets you modify a sound's harmonic content by adjusting the volume of individual frequency groups. To make a sound brighter, you can amplify the top-end harmonics.
If you want to reduce the boomy low-end sounds, you can use EQ to lower the level of those frequencies. EQ allows you to make either general broad changes or specific surgical ones, targeting narrow problem areas. But the essential thing about EQ is that it only lets you cut or boost frequencies already present in a sound.
Should you decide to add a five-kilohertz boost to an S Wave baseline, nothing will change, as you're trying to amplify frequencies that don't exist in that core sound. It simply won't work. If you want to increase the number of active frequencies in a sound, enhancing its harmonic footprint, you can use distortion and saturation tools.
Turning the concept of distortion into an image, think of sound with a frequency analyzer on. It allows you to see a picture of the sound's harmonics. If you add a filter or processor to a digital image, its appearance alters with color saturation, inversion, flipping, or other changes. The same can be done to audio with distortion tools, modifying active harmonics, and thus altering the sound.
Distortion comes in various forms, and though digitally available as plugins, it used to exist only in the analog realm. It often conjures images of electric guitarists playing through Marshall amps. While musical uses of distortion go far beyond guitarists, amplifier distortion is a useful starting point to understand its effects. Distortion is a catchall term for the process of changing a sound's sonic image.
Within that term, different treatments exist, all altering sounds in subtle or extreme ways. Overdrive, for example, gets its name from boosting the input level into a vacuum tube, becoming a popular effect with guitar amps. Turning the volume to maximum was the only way to overdrive some early amps, creating problems, especially during live performances.
Now, tube-based amps tend to have two controls for volume: input gain and output volume stage. These control the amount of signal level coming into the amp and the final output level, allowing desired distortion at a comfortable volume. Many distortion plugins copy these amp options.
Other amp types available to guitarists are solid-state models, which use transistors rather than vacuum tubes. These offer a cleaner sound, less favored by guitarists looking for more shredding distortion effects. But stompboxes allow distortion outside of the amp, easing the pressure on the amp itself.
Distortion isn't only for guitarists. A unit like the Thermionic Culture Vulture was built for studios, expanding distortion options to a wider range of audio sources. It offers three different types, adding even harmonics for gentler results or odd-numbered harmonics for wilder, thicker treatments.
If you're familiar with subtractive synthesis, there's a parallel with waveforms and harmonics. Adding a second oscillator with a different waveform enriches the sound, making it more complex. This relationship between wave shapes and harmonic content enriches our understanding of distortion.
The Culture Vulture features valves at both the input and output stages, with bias and drive controls varying the amount of current and levels sent. This explains the diverse flavors of distortion, with even minor adjustments making significant changes.
In pre-digital days, tape recording was favored. Engineers found that tape offered a sweet spot where levels could begin to break up, producing a warm, rich color. Pushing the input level too hard led to distortion. Unlike digital distortion with a clear threshold, tape levels offered a dynamic range where softer clipping and saturation produced pleasing results. This has led to the popularity of tape emulation saturation plugins today.
Even digital recording is subject to distortion, with modern workstations now capable of recording at high sample rates and bit depths. This has removed the issue of distortion due to substandard components. But the early days of sampling and digital recording added their own characterful distortion, inspiring the bit crushers we use today.
It's essential to recognize that adding distortion doesn't mean overwhelming your productions with gritty effects. Subtle additions like tape emulation plugins can smooth out transients, qualifying as distortion but sounding very different from overdrive effects in rock guitar solos.
Distortion effects can vary widely, providing crucial parameters for us to manipulate our mixes in either subtle or dramatic ways.
If you want to reduce the boomy low-end sounds, you can use EQ to lower the level of those frequencies. EQ allows you to make either general broad changes or specific surgical ones, targeting narrow problem areas. But the essential thing about EQ is that it only lets you cut or boost frequencies already present in a sound.
Should you decide to add a five-kilohertz boost to an S Wave baseline, nothing will change, as you're trying to amplify frequencies that don't exist in that core sound. It simply won't work. If you want to increase the number of active frequencies in a sound, enhancing its harmonic footprint, you can use distortion and saturation tools.
Turning the concept of distortion into an image, think of sound with a frequency analyzer on. It allows you to see a picture of the sound's harmonics. If you add a filter or processor to a digital image, its appearance alters with color saturation, inversion, flipping, or other changes. The same can be done to audio with distortion tools, modifying active harmonics, and thus altering the sound.
Distortion comes in various forms, and though digitally available as plugins, it used to exist only in the analog realm. It often conjures images of electric guitarists playing through Marshall amps. While musical uses of distortion go far beyond guitarists, amplifier distortion is a useful starting point to understand its effects. Distortion is a catchall term for the process of changing a sound's sonic image.
Within that term, different treatments exist, all altering sounds in subtle or extreme ways. Overdrive, for example, gets its name from boosting the input level into a vacuum tube, becoming a popular effect with guitar amps. Turning the volume to maximum was the only way to overdrive some early amps, creating problems, especially during live performances.
Now, tube-based amps tend to have two controls for volume: input gain and output volume stage. These control the amount of signal level coming into the amp and the final output level, allowing desired distortion at a comfortable volume. Many distortion plugins copy these amp options.
Other amp types available to guitarists are solid-state models, which use transistors rather than vacuum tubes. These offer a cleaner sound, less favored by guitarists looking for more shredding distortion effects. But stompboxes allow distortion outside of the amp, easing the pressure on the amp itself.
Distortion isn't only for guitarists. A unit like the Thermionic Culture Vulture was built for studios, expanding distortion options to a wider range of audio sources. It offers three different types, adding even harmonics for gentler results or odd-numbered harmonics for wilder, thicker treatments.
If you're familiar with subtractive synthesis, there's a parallel with waveforms and harmonics. Adding a second oscillator with a different waveform enriches the sound, making it more complex. This relationship between wave shapes and harmonic content enriches our understanding of distortion.
The Culture Vulture features valves at both the input and output stages, with bias and drive controls varying the amount of current and levels sent. This explains the diverse flavors of distortion, with even minor adjustments making significant changes.
In pre-digital days, tape recording was favored. Engineers found that tape offered a sweet spot where levels could begin to break up, producing a warm, rich color. Pushing the input level too hard led to distortion. Unlike digital distortion with a clear threshold, tape levels offered a dynamic range where softer clipping and saturation produced pleasing results. This has led to the popularity of tape emulation saturation plugins today.
Even digital recording is subject to distortion, with modern workstations now capable of recording at high sample rates and bit depths. This has removed the issue of distortion due to substandard components. But the early days of sampling and digital recording added their own characterful distortion, inspiring the bit crushers we use today.
It's essential to recognize that adding distortion doesn't mean overwhelming your productions with gritty effects. Subtle additions like tape emulation plugins can smooth out transients, qualifying as distortion but sounding very different from overdrive effects in rock guitar solos.
Distortion effects can vary widely, providing crucial parameters for us to manipulate our mixes in either subtle or dramatic ways.
Culture Vulture Tour
In this lesson, we will explore the workings of distortion by delving into the Thermionic Culture Vulture, an emulation of a classic studio distortion unit built for a broad range of treatments, not just for guitarists. We will examine all of its parameters, including three different distortion types referred to as topologies, which allow for varied flavors of distortion. Through the examination of its two separate channels and various dials, we will understand how to utilize different modes to add either even or odd-numbered harmonics, resulting in varied treatments ranging from subtle warming to aggressive decimation of a signal. The lesson will illustrate how to apply these techniques to different audio sources, using an 8 0 8 beat loop from Battery 4 as an example, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Culture Vulture's capabilities.
Decaptitator Tour
In this lesson, we will explore the functionalities of a popular processor known for distortion and saturation effects in various musical styles and genres. Building upon the understanding gained from the previous chapter on Thermionic's Culture Vulture, we will use the same beat loop to compare the effects. The processor being examined offers a straightforward feature set, including a drive dial to push up the input level, a "punish" button for an additional 20 dB gain, and both low and high-frequency cuts to apply filtering to the processed signal. We will also explore a tone dial for creating brighter or darker distortion treatments and understand how to set the balance between dry and processed signals using a mix dial. The lesson will delve into the tool's five different styles of saturation, allowing for a wide variety of sound manipulations. By examining these features, we will gain insights into how to use this tool for everything from gentle saturation to more aggressive distortion treatments.
Pedal Board Distortion Tour
In this lesson, we will explore the world of stomp box distortion effects, traditionally used with guitars but now available within modern workstations. Using Logic's pedalboard plugin and sound from Massive 10, we will examine various types of pedals, such as fuzz, high drive, and tube-based effects. The lesson will guide us through the manipulation of specific controls like grain and texture to understand how they affect sound. An additional focus on an EQ analysis will provide insights into the frequency changes brought about by the stomp box effects, allowing us to see how these tools can color sounds in different ways.
Vocal Parallel Saturation
In this lesson, we will explore the application of distortion to vocals, focusing on a technique that emphasizes rather than overwhelms the sound. While distortion is often associated with extreme alteration, we will demonstrate how subtle saturation can be employed to enhance the harmonic footprint of a vocal track. By carefully choosing the placement of distortion in the processing chain and using specific tools such as Soundtoys Decapitator, the lesson will guide the viewer in achieving a thicker and more robust vocal presence in the mix without overblowing the effect. This technique can be particularly useful for vocals with a soft tone, enabling them to sit better in the mix and resonate with stronger beats and harmonic content.
Mix Warming
In this chapter, we will explore the technique of warming a mix by using saturation tools, such as the Culture Vulture plugin. The focus will be on enhancing a 60s inspired groove by bringing out vintage warmth and smoothness in individual elements like drums, bass, and Rhodes. We will delve into subtly different saturation approaches tailored to each instrument's characteristics, demonstrating how even-numbered harmonics can be used to achieve less distorted results. The lesson will also guide through careful manipulation of the plugin's parameters like bias and drive to ensure that the warmth and punch are added without merely increasing volume, thus enriching the overall mix with depth and character.
Aux Delay and Dirt
In this lesson, we will explore the technique of adding distortion to other effects to create rhythmically complex and intriguing sounds. Using a straightforward combination of a four-to-the-floor kick drum and a simple bass pattern triggered by an arpeggiator within Zebra, a sound set by the sound designer called the Unfinished, we will demonstrate how to create a more complex pattern. The focus will be on achieving a parallel processing signal with the Native Instruments plugin called Dirt, where distortion is applied to an auxiliary channel, allowing for control over the blend between the dry and distorted signal. This method offers flexibility and creativity in shaping a sound that can be both clear and aggressive, enhancing the overall texture of the track.
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