Here is another tutorial from Oscar nominated Marcelo Cryo. In this free video tutorial, Marcelo takes a look at how to use saturation plug-ins like the Sonnox Inflator, the Warmth option in the Sonnox Dynamics plug-in, the Crane Song Phoenix II and the free Softube Saturation Knob in this film mix mastering chain. Over to you Marcelo....
A lot of people ask me what I use on my master buss chain, and one thing that I use all the time is saturation. It adds tone, vibe and helps the impact. There are some plug-ins that I use all time, and each one gives me some characteristics that work better for each project.
To give me some bigness in the low-mid I use the warmth button the Sonnox Dynamics plug-in I can also get a similar effect with the Sonnox Inflator, for me it adds more punch and definition and sure a lot of harmonics, and you have more control with the curve effect, more mid or more mid effect. Sometimes I use a small amount of both together using the warmth fro the Dynamics and the Inflator. For me using “warmth” give more 'bigness' and the Inflator to give the punch.
If my mix needs more clarity, the free Softube Saturation Knob is amazing, but I find it is a bit brighter than the Sonnox plug-ins. And the last but not the least – the Phoenix from Crane Song also give some great colour to my master chain and emulate very different tape distortions!
Using Saturation on my film mix mastering chin is definitely a case where less is more. You need to be careful to not overuse them, but saturation always gives me punch and make my mixes simply sound better.