How to soften distortion?

[Sliverdub]

My distortion always sounds very gritty no matter what distortion plugin I use wether it's sausage fat or whatever. I kind if get used to it, not notice how gritty it sounds and then realise that everything sounds gritty in a shit way yet when I take it off I loose something. What I think I need to do is somehow soften the distinction with something after it in the chain. Any ideas, not really fussed on chorus or flanger, they soften it but you can hear what effect it is.

[wub]

Turn down the wet/dry level for the distortion you're using

or

Have a dry version of the track and a wet version via a Distortion Send channel and mix them together til it sounds right

or

Don't use distortion?

[Triphosphate]

You can put an eq before the distortion and add some notches in frequency ranges that get too harsh.

[wub]

Bandsplit the element you want add distortion onto and then only apply the distortion to a certain frequency range.

[mthrfnk]

1) Be careful what you apply the distortion to (i.e. not really high pitched stuff - it will sound very shrill)
2) Wet/dry amounts can be very precise, try tweaking ~5% either way on something that sounds "okay" to try and improve it
3) Stack distortions, instead of using one plugin at 15%, use 3 at 5% in series - doing this you can also slightly change each unit and add more character
4) Add an EQ with notches before and after distortion to remove unwanted harmonics
5) Use minimal distortion and instead use an exciter afterwards to bring out the wanted harmonics
6) If using guitar distortion units, ensure the settings you're using are applicable to your basses/midranges (i.e. some distortion units have settings on that are beneficial for guitar based sources but will wreck other sounds such as preset EQ curves or amplifier cabinet settings)
7) Distortion will sound shit if your initial source is shit, it doesn't make things better. Large full frequency sources will generally benefit more.

[Triphosphate]

Use alternative methods of distortion? Like tape or tube emulators?

[Sliverdub]

Wow thanks there's some cool things to try here, any more, I will try out all of them to get an idea of each sort of sound.

[kale]

split equing into bands if that is your thing, but mainly using a send/receive set up for your distortion could be ideal in that you can change the amount of the distortion plug as a whole applied to the instrument, other than that, though to soften it up, just run something after the distortion that you think would soften it, whether it be compression or whatever (don't get mad about that, people)..

[Rappone]

depends highly on the VST ur using, if it's a free one, it won't give you industry sounds.

[Genevieve]

Bandsplit the element you want add distortion onto and then only apply the distortion to a certain frequency range.

Yeah was gonna say this... .. and I actually WOULD mostly use that on high frequencies :p distorted hats from breaks sound ill. Subtly of course.

Also try removing all distortion from the entire song? Could be a psycho-acoustic thing. Distorted elements just tend to stick out more in a mix... so if you were to compare the clean frequencies to the distorted ones, then yeah, they're gonna sound duller. Even though, when properly mixed down and whatnot, the whole tune might sound great anyway.

You could use saturators too. Like Fabfilter Saturn. Adds some grit without going overboard. Nice on a drumbus or something.

[Genevieve]

depends highly on the VST ur using, if it's a free one, it won't give you industry sounds.

Bullcrap. Camelcrusher is a stripped down camelphat, it's free and it sounds fucking great. I put it on a lot of my drumbusses and it's my go-to plug for basslines.

Cyanide is dope.

There's more good ones.

All these cool ass dubstep producers we're fans of are producers like you and me, except they make money off of their shit. And they use any decent tool they can get their hands on, including free shit. There's free and paid plugs with bad or good audio engines. You're paying for features way more than you're paying for sound when you buy plugins, and evne that isn't always true.

[Rappone]

depends highly on the VST ur using, if it's a free one, it won't give you industry sounds.

Bullcrap. Camelcrusher is a stripped down camelphat, it's free and it sounds fucking great. I put it on a lot of my drumbusses and it's my go-to plug for basslines.

Cyanide is dope.

There's more good ones.

All these cool ass dubstep producers we're fans of are producers like you and me, except they make money off of their shit. And they use any decent tool they can get their hands on, including free shit. There's free and paid plugs with bad or good audio engines. You're paying for features way more than you're paying for sound when you buy plugins, and evne that isn't always true.

So call me when you get a paycheck off a track you used free VSTs to build and stfu.

[Rappone]

Camelcrusher is mediocre at best. I have it, used it a couple of times, but theres always something flat in the result. Never dynamic enough. To each their own though, if that's your plan then by all means.

[Genevieve]

depends highly on the VST ur using, if it's a free one, it won't give you industry sounds.

Bullcrap. Camelcrusher is a stripped down camelphat, it's free and it sounds fucking great. I put it on a lot of my drumbusses and it's my go-to plug for basslines.

Cyanide is dope.

There's more good ones.

All these cool ass dubstep producers we're fans of are producers like you and me, except they make money off of their shit. And they use any decent tool they can get their hands on, including free shit. There's free and paid plugs with bad or good audio engines. You're paying for features way more than you're paying for sound when you buy plugins, and evne that isn't always true.

So call me when you get a paycheck off a track you used free VSTs to build and stfu.

I'm glad we have veteran producers who've been at it for a month tellin' it like it is!

[Rappone]

[mthrfnk]

depends highly on the VST ur using, if it's a free one, it won't give you industry sounds.

Bullcrap. Camelcrusher is a stripped down camelphat, it's free and it sounds fucking great. I put it on a lot of my drumbusses and it's my go-to plug for basslines.

Cyanide is dope.

There's more good ones.

All these cool ass dubstep producers we're fans of are producers like you and me, except they make money off of their shit. And they use any decent tool they can get their hands on, including free shit. There's free and paid plugs with bad or good audio engines. You're paying for features way more than you're paying for sound when you buy plugins, and evne that isn't always true.

So call me when you get a paycheck off a track you used free VSTs to build and stfu.

Just as an aside; I've read countless interviews with producers mentioning free VSTs or DAW-native VSTs. Just because you pay money for a third party synth or plugin doesn't guarantee it'll make you're music better and worth selling.

[Triphosphate]

So call me when you get a paycheck off a track you used free VSTs to build and stfu.

Better idea: call us if that attitude ever gets you anywhere at all. Don't worry, we won't hold our breath.

[Rappone]

oh u can hold ur breath n ill get there before u know it

[InternetSlaveMaster]

So call me when you get a paycheck off a track you used free VSTs to build and stfu.

Better idea: call us if that attitude ever gets you anywhere at all. Don't worry, we won't hold our breath.

Plenty of PROFESSIONAL producers using free/native plugins.

It's 2012, free software doesn't mean it's shit anymore.

[Rappone]

Ugh. Native doesn't mean free. and plugins come in all shapes and sizes. It IS 2012, but still, 'pro' producers who claim to use free Plug ins and VSTs have more up their sleeve than that. A couple are great, I admit, but distortion plugins to be precise haven't really worked for me for free from what I've tampered with. Everyone has their own style though, if free plugins do the job for whoever then by all means make some paper with it. I find alotof free stuff either reduce sound quality or are just simply too flat/thin. Native stuff DOES work, so does free stuff buffed up by some other things, but anyway I'm not a pro at this, just from what I've learnt and used, free doesn't cut it as nicely.

You can all hate, call it bullcrap, in the end it's just my O, and it shouldn't be significant in any way to your production styles if you're confident with what ur doing.