What other plugin tools do you like to give your mix punch? These might be in the form of stereo wideners etc. I've been hearing good things about wideners for heavy rhythm guitars.
If you have pod farm the api preamp model sounds pretty nice pushed a bit works for some mild vocal distortion
I'm all about saturation/harmonic distortion processors - URS Console Strip Pro, McDSP Analog Channel, Massey Tapehead, etc. I'm personally not a fan of stereo wideners because many of them mess with phase to achieve the widening effect, it usually just sounds unnatural to me.
What sort of plugins are good for saturation? I know there might not be many, because analog saturation is always preferred.
There are TONS - A lot of "modeled" plug-in add harmonic distortion to the signal, or you can go with a dedicated one: URS Console Strip Pro or Saturation McDSP Analog Channel Massey Tape Head Crane Song Phoenix Digidesign Reel Tape DUY Valve or Tape Sound Toys Decapitator etc.etc.etc.
Do a lot of guys really use saturation plugs?? Seems almost like a "hidden tip" if there ever are any.
Never. Ever. I tend to saturate (PSP MixSaturator/VintageWarmer/FerricTDS) a bit until every element sounds better, just makes everything sound more natural.
Recently getting into saturation in a big way- snares, guitars and vocals all seem to beifit from a little saturation/distortion. Also when you're clipping/distorting mildly it helps even out some dynamics while exciting the sound a bit more on some sources. Always take it handy with this kind of plugin though as its very easy to ruin a mix with audible clipping and it can make a mix very harsh if over used.
Trans-x is a plug in i don't hear many people use... ...i use it on toms and boy...that will give you PUNCH! also Rbass on snare, toms, bass (duh) and some synths
I can't understand why anyone would use wideners on anything except when you're looking for that effect for a specific part. They cause all kinds of anti-phase and weird phase issues that make guitars sound like they're coming from the back of your head. Wideners are for noobs.
A little saturation goes a long way. Our ears seek out a little warmth a little bit of saturated distortion in the music we listen to. I'm not talking about over saturated stuff, dripping with distortion, and definitely not digital clipping, but that warmth that we had in the days of analog everything. While digital allows us to capture things so pristine it's not even funny, adding a just a tad bit of saturation will take away nothing from a pristine source, but add oh so much warmth. Plugins like those mentioned are great places to look for a little warmth. I like to use Sonar's bundled TL-64 (Tube Leveler 64) to get some warmth.
