Frequently Given Feedback #3 - Taming Transients (Soft Clipping, Tape Saturation, Gate)

Hey Everyone, in this video I demonstrate a simple technique to help tame transients in order to avoid harshness, soften peaks, and allow for more headroom when further processing and mastering. Many of you send tracks with drums that are too bright and/or just too sharp and this is my go-to technique for keeping the overall energy of the elements while reducing their peak levels.

I first demonstrate it with Ableton's stock Saturator, which is great for individual drum hits and loops. For more complex material/busses/if Saturator just isn't cutting it, you can experiment with dedicated clippers like the free FreeClip or some paid software like KClip or Newfangled Audio Saturate.

Then there's also Tape Saturation. I demonstrate its use with UAD Studer A800, but you can experiment with driving the input (and offsetting the output) on VSTs like Waves J-37, Kramer Tape, etc. Even if you don't have these plugins, I'd recommend still watching that section because I show a useful gain-staging Macro tip as well as demonstrate how to use this technique for increasing overall loudness (rather than just reducing peaks).

Then finally I quickly demonstrate how you can use a gate to actually change the shape of a sound rather than clipping it, if that's what's desired.

Note: In the video, I'm specifically talking about soft clipping to tame transients. If you do additional research online, you'll potentially see people recommending limiters instead, and thats because (like I mentioned) there's a lot more customization possible with attack, release, etc. and that can be helpful with more complex/dynamic material, or when you want something more transparent (i.e. no additional distortion/extra energy). You may also read that clipping is a way to give an element more energy and expression--this is building on what I demonstrated at the end with the Studer A800--namely shaving the peaks and increasing the output-- and/or using a clipper without fully gain staging the output. 

I think I may have also accidentally interchanged soft and hard clipping but here we were only ever using soft clipping. Hard clipping is often more extreme and creates more harmonics (e.g. distortion) that usually isn't as pleasing to the ear.