Intro

The 1976 Three Band Saturator was designed to inject character, color and life into your recordings in a style typical of the classic equipment of the 1970's. We took great care in modelling the original Drawmer 1976 hardware, with the collaboration and final approval of the Drawmer research and development team, to bring you the most accurate representation of the hardware possible.

Saturation is ideal for adding fullness to your music, taking your music from a cold, bleak landscape to a warm, bright vista. In addition, however, unlike conventional saturation products the 1976 also features 3 bands of stereo width control to really bring out the depth and add real presence to your mix, and all with a single, yet comprehensive set of controls that provide genuine stereo operation.

What is saturation?

Saturation in music production is something that can really enrich the sound in your mix by adding a subtle form of distortion that adds pleasant-sounding harmonics. It originates from the analog days when audio recordings ran through various pieces of hardware, each one adding their own character to the music giving the audio a pleasant quality that was much sought after. The 1976 allows you to add this character in a completely natural way. It will add presence, warmth and life to any audio.

What about 3-band saturation?

Because the 1976 has 3 bands of independent saturation it can pull off amazing feats that single-band saturation could never accomplish. For example, it can bring out the bassline, adding presence and grit without ruining the overall balance within the mix by adding distortion to the top end, or enhance the vocals without making the bottom sound muddy.

What About width?

Without stereo widening the mix won't jump out of the speaker and grab your listener, this is where the 3 bands of the 1976 can be used to enhance the extra dimension to take the mix from a flat wall of sound to a 3D immersive experience. It's likely your mix will have a stereo element already, however, the 1976 makes it super easy to control these, widening and monogising where necessary to get the desired effect, and all just using the single stereo controls of the low, mid and high bands. One major benefit of having independent width control for each of the bands is to allow the high frequencies to be spread across a wider soundstage without affecting the low frequency end.

User Interface

The 1976 has been laid out to be as intuitive as possible. Essentially the layout of the 1976 comprises an input control and Low and High cut filters (top left), after which the stereo signal is split into identical low, mid and high bands of saturation and width, each one processed separately at different frequencies without affecting the other, with the crossover frequency controls in between. The audio is then summed back into a stereo signal again before the output which is monitored in the middle top section, and a general Output control section is located top right.

Parameters

Input Level

The meter shows the effect of the input trim on the signal level to the saturation bands. The input control sets a balance between the incoming signal level and the amount (or drive) of saturation that occurs. Set the input control so that the central yellow LED is lit the majority of the time and the Red LED only on the very highest signal peaks. This is the optimum balance between gain and saturation. If the input trim is set too low (the green LED) little saturation will occur. Alternatively, increasing the input trim control pushes more level into the saturation circuitry and therefore more saturation occurs. However, set the input control too high (the red led) and, as saturation is also a form of dynamic control, the overall gain level is attenuated as the audio becomes more distorted.

Low Cut and High Cut Filters

To add to the functionality of the hardware, we introduced global low and high cut filters.

The low cut filter is situated before the saturation stage and has a range from 21 Hz to 1000 Hz, while the high cut filter operates after saturation with a range from 1000 Hz to 22000 Hz.

Output Level Meters

VU Meter

A 16-LED bar meter provides visual monitoring for the left and right channels. What is heard at the output is shown on this meter, so, with all bands in operation the full band stereo signal is shown. However, using a combination of the Mute and Bypass switches within the bands the meters can be made to show any combination of signals.

M/S Meter

A 16-LED bar meter monitors the output levels of the Mid and Side material separately.

Output Section

The individual signals from the three bands are summed back to a single stereo full band and pass through the output circuitry.

Wet/Dry Mix

Does what it says on the tin - sets the balance between the processed signal and the dry signal.

Output Level

The 1976 provides a single control to modify the stereo output level after summing, without having to adjust the three band gain controls (and thus altering the mix). Adjust so that the output signal approaches the desired level only on signal peaks.

Width Mode

Analog

This mode accurately represents the Width filter as implemented in the 1976 hardware.

Digital

As an additional flavor, this is our version of an ideal width filter.

Mono Check

Because the 1976 alters the phase between the left and right channels to control the stereo width, activating the Mono switch will combine the stereo channels, the phase of the left and right will cancel each other out leaving just the signal that lies in mono. This allows you to hear what signal is lost should it be played in mono and emphasize when you have ‘gone too far’ with the width controls of each band.

Cross-over frequencies

The 6dB per octave crossover frequencies determine the points within the frequency spectrum that one band stops processing audio, and another band takes over.

Low cross-over frequency

70Hz - 1.5kHz. Sets the frequency point at which the split between low and mid bands occurs.

High cross-over frequency

800 Hz – 15 kHz. Sets the frequency point at which the split between mid and high bands occurs.

Low, Mid and High Saturation bands

The controls for the Low, Mid and High Bands are identical and only differ in the frequency range that they operate within, as set by the x-over frequencies (2).

Saturate

Sets the amount of drive that the saturation circuitry creates, from none (0) through subtle and to extreme (10), adding harmonic distortion within that band as it is rotated clockwise, and warming the recording. (3b)

Width

In order to increase/decrease the stereo width and spaciousness of each band the 1976 uses mid/side coding and decoding to alter the width of the stereo signal with one single control. Using the control the width of the stereo image of each band can be made narrower (-5 mono) or wider (+5 wide) than the width that the incoming signal supplies. At the 0 position the width is not affected (i.e. the Left and Right phase is unaltered) and is the same as that in the input. You’ll notice that the nearer the mono end of the control the volume level of the band increases and when wider the level decreases, and this must be taken into account when adjusting the Level control to maintain the band balance within the recording.

Level

As the Saturation and Width controls have an affect on the volume of that particular band the Level control is needed to offset these changes so that the overall level balance for low, mid and high within the recording is maintained.

Bypass

In the OFF position all the controls of that particular band are in operation and saturation and width takes place. In the ON position the signal for the low, mid, or high band is allowed to pass through to the summing stage without being altered by the saturation stage (including width and gain).

Mute

In the ON position the signal for that particular band is effectively turned off (muted) and will not be heard at the output. Any combination of bypass and mute is available, for example, to hear only the signal of the low band mute the mid and high bands etc. Using a combination of mute and bypass switches for the various bands allows the operator to hear and monitor only the frequencies that are required and so ‘tune in’ to the low, mid and high frequency settings using the x-over controls.

Extended Features Panel

Next to the green Softube logo in the menu bar, you'll find the buttons to open the input, output and lower panels. They are part of Extended Features, a utility which is shared by all Softube plug-ins that contains advanced metering, levels, bypass, and other features. For more information, please see the Extended Features User Manual.

Tips and tricks

The following are a few handy tips to help get the most out of the 1976:

The Level Best

When setting up the 1976 it’s imperative that the input level has to be set up correctly as it has a direct influence on the amount of saturation applied - the more you drive the input the more saturation occurs. Set the input control so that the central yellow led is lit the majority of the time and the red led only on the very highest signal peaks. Too low a level (green led is lit on the meter) and little saturation will occur but the signal level will rise, however, too high (the red led) and more saturation will take place but, as saturation is a dynamic process, the signal will also be attenuated as the audio becomes distorted. Use this - you can adjust the input level slightly rather than all three saturation controls to get the correct amount of distortion desired. You will need to adjust the output level to compensate. Bear in mind that this should only be done subtly once the three bands are close to correct in the first place. Useful Frequencies As the 1976 comprises a set of crossover filters that splits the audio signal into three frequency bands it is imperative that these bands are set correctly. The following diagram provides a general idea of some useful frequencies that will aid in setting the crossover frequencies:

Use your ears

There are no hard and fast rules of how to apply saturation. In theory saturation can be applied to any audio signal, after all, on the whole it’s used to emulate old recording equipment where there was no option but to have analogue saturation in one form or another. It really is a case of playing with the 1976 saturation controls until you like the sound and it enriches your mix. Be careful not to over do it though because saturation is capable of completely ruining the audio. As a rule apply the saturation until you can hear it then back it off to make it more subtle.

Where it sat

As mentioned, saturation can be used pretty much anywhere, however it can be applied to some sounds far more effectively than others:

Percussion

Drums are one of the best sounds in which to use saturation. It can be used to 'glue' the whole drum bus together, injecting some punch and excitement, giving them depth and life, and adding harmonics that are pleasing to the ear, whilst taming rogue transients and high end harshness using natural compression.

Basslines

If your bassline sounds a little flat and lifeless it will really benefit from a adding some saturation. This will bring out the grit, dirty the sound and fatten it out. And we're not just talking about bass guitar here: use it on sine generated basslines to make them sound more natural and push them out into the mix. Experiment here, and drive the saturation hard to see if the heavily distorted sound appeals.

Synths

Synths tend to sound too digital and clinical. Saturation will bring them to life, making them sound warmer, more natural, and closer to the analogue sound that they emulate. It'll inject harmonics and grit, and make the synths stand out more in the mix. With synths saturation should be used fairly subtly - add saturation until its noticeable and then back it off a little.

Vocals

Saturation is one of the secrets to great sounding vocals. Your vocal recordings may sound good but saturation will make them sing (pun intended). It will make any vocal sound fuller, especially thin and dull voices, and will warm and tame harsh sounding vocals by subtly softening sibilance. Don't go over the top though, keep the harmonic distortion gentle or it could ruin the vocals all together.

Mix

For all of it's pros, digital recording has a major drawback, by it's very nature it sounds too, well, digital. It's too harsh, too clean. Saturation can be the key here. It will add harmonic distortion to inject life and warmth into the mix, and help your digital mixes sound more like those from the analogue recording era. Just passing the audio through an analogue device will have some effect on warming the mix, though passing it through the 1976 will take your mixes to the next level. Subtle saturation is the key here. Don't add too much distortion, it can quickly ruin a mix if too harsh. Turn up the saturation controls until you can here it making a difference and then back it off a little.

Things Don’t Stack Up

Of course it’s perfectly correct to use saturation on multiple individual instruments and tracks throughout the mix but care should be taken. The tracks sound fine by themselves but there is a risk of adding too much saturation to the mix if it’s stacked and stacked on one track after another. Too much saturation will cause your mix to over distort, soften the transients and make your mix sound mushy as well as attenuating the signal to some extent. Whenever adding saturation to individual tracks always test it as part of the entire mix also to limit this occurring.

Wide Open

As a general rule, use the Mid and High frequencies to provide the space and depth to the mix and keep the Lows mono, using the Width controls on the 1976 to taste. It is essential that you check any widened stereo signal for mono compatibility, as the stereo image may drop significantly in level, thin out, or even disappear altogether when monogised into one, due to phase cancellation. It's good practice to maintain some central image, especially in the mid tones. In addition, using pan controls it's easy to move the image around, however, try to maintain the total stereo image so that it sits right in front of you on the whole rather than off centre, which can be very disconcerting for the listener.

Ensure that the low frequencies (i.e. anything below 100Hz) are mono, by setting the 1976 low frequency width control counterclockwise. This includes bass drums, bass guitar, percussion etc. This is essential if you're mixing for vinyl, as a stereo bass will result in the needle skipping. Don't worry too much about how this will effect the stereo image as the ears are poor at judging direction in low frequencies anyway - this is why Sub & LFE speakers can be placed almost anywhere. You can use the Mono switch on the 1976 to see how the stereo signal has been affected.

Monogising

Check your mix in mono - often! Just because a mix sounds good in stereo doesn't mean it will sound good when the left and right channels are combined.

Why should you care if your mix sounds good in mono? Well, most live music venues and dance club sound systems are mono - running the PA or sound system in mono is common practice to ensure music sounds good everywhere in the room because it removes the ‘sweet spot’ and the complex phase issues of stereo. In many cases the low frequencies will be put through a crossover and summed to mono before being sent to the sub, such as in a home theatre system, for example.

Monogising is also necessary when testing the audio for use on nonstandard applications such as for broadcast or mobile phone. Monogising will highlight phase problems. When a stereo mix is combined into mono any elements that are out of phase will drop in level or may even disappear completely. This could be because the left and right outputs are wired out of phase but it’s more likely to be due to phase cancellation caused by stereo widening effects and techniques, such as chorus.

Listening in mono also highlights problems with the stereo width and balance of the mix and is more apparent when you use a lot of stereo-widening or width-enhancing techniques and tools. Switching mono in and out fairly quickly may make it apparent that the centre of the mix is shifting to the left or right, something that may go unnoticed if only working in stereo.

Credits

Maxus Widarsson – Product design, presets
Thomas Andersson – Tech lead, DSP models
Kim Larsson – Co-lead, DSP models
Niklas Odelholm – Product design
Patrik Holmström – UI programming
Ulf Ekelöf – 3D rendering
Johan Bremin – Quality assurance
Markus Krona – Quality assurance

Before we start, let's get this out of the way

Drawmer 1976 Three Band Saturator