![]() ![]() There are so many different delay pedals and effects on the market even though they all do the same thing. Try it out for yourself and see if it works for you. There are some plugins that try to emulate this sound though, like Waves NLS or Slate’s Preamp collection. They just sound so good with high gain settings. This is why most studios still praise expensive neve, and API preamps. All preamps have a different color and some will provide you with subtle saturation, while others will clip way easier. So try to use this technique on stand-alone pre-amps and analog-mixing desks. This rules out most audio interfaces because overloading the pre-amp is directly tied to clipping the AD converter. Overdriving a pre-amp works best if you have a separate output control so that when you crank the gain, you can lower the output level to prevent clipping later in the signal chain. But sometimes ignoring those red lights can bring you to grunge heaven. Drive your preamps hotĮverybody usually tells you to stay out of the red. ![]() In some cases, using a dedicated re-amp pedal might be a good investment. Not all pedals can handle the line-level input from your soundcard though, so try lowering the output volume if the pedal starts to clip excessively. Analog delay pedals can also distort in interesting ways, especially Experiment with how hard you drive the input ofĮach pedal. You can use all kinds of pedals from subtle overdrive So, now that you know all of that, let’s talk about 8 creative ways to use distortion in your tracks. Tape saturation has a much larger transition period, going slowly from a mild saturation to distortion. If you hit the digital ceiling, your sound gets destroyed instantly. The other problem with digital clipping is that it has a very hard threshold. Inharmonic overtones are tones that have nothing to do with the root note and aren’t pure multiples. So then why is tape saturation more pleasant then digital clipping? That’s because tape saturation features mainly harmonic overtones, while digital clipping features inharmonic overtones. ![]() ![]() This range of harmonic frequencies sounds pleasant to our ears and this musical system was used for centuries known as pure intonation. 1/3th of the root note will be one octave + a fifth up, and 1/5th will be two octaves and one major-third higher than the root note. 1/2 th, 1/4 th, 1/8 th, and 1/16th of the root note are therefore all octaves. We know that an octave is half or double the root frequency. It vibrates at multiples of that root note. When a guitar string vibrates it doesn’t only vibrate from one end to another once. This has a lot to do with the harmonic structure of those instruments. You can play a 440Hz tone on a guitar and on a violin, yet the two instruments sound different. All acoustic instruments produce a specific range of harmonic overtones that defines that instrument. But why is it that we do like the subtle overdrive of a guitar amp? Or the warm saturation of a tape recorder? It’s all about harmonics.īefore we dive into the 8 creative ways to use distortion in your tracks, let me first explain something about harmonic distortion. You don’t want to see those red lights blinking at you, right? That is often the case, clipping your interface or converters isn’t a very pleasant sound. Distortion is something you usually want to avoid when recording. ![]()
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