"jeeez brutha how to make this distortion!"

sorry for my poor slang lol but more or less that's how I got this request
this kind of distortion/saturation seems to be very popular lately, mostly in a certain kind of trap, hip hop, and something like phonk or modern DnB or whatever they call it

a friend of mine send this track asking how to make this kind of distortion

sounding very similar to another track from the same singer rapper

I assume it's all based on the stereo buss, and then the whole track is "mixed into it"
I have made a bunch of quick tests and I started with

-soft clippers, as I heard something about the FL Studio soft clipper by Jaycen Joshua (will specify later). Tried ASH Ultra by acustica, but not working, went better with Standard Clip with soft saturation. Also had good results with Cubase Soft clipper which is something I remember since 1998 lol boomer!!!

-tape saturator, tried only the UAD studer which I am familiar with, gives some interesting results but definitely not like that

I dont think it's a complex chain of plugins, like a combination of bit crushers or whatever magic thing, as it is probably something inventend by a teen ager producer (no disrespect! on the countrary! i like a lot those young guns!!!) experimenting with his tools

Anyhow, from the first test the most annoying thing was that pushing hard the soft clipper or the tape saturator the track started to PUMP too much, expecially on the high frequencies (as you obviously know...). I hear a bit of pumping on the examples I have posted, but not that much as I am getting making tests with a finished mix.

So...solution:

Maybe should I setup the mixbus with distortion then mix into it?
Or any other idea?

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forgot to mention that Jaycen Joshua thing: I remember I heard from him somewhere (probably a MWTM 2022 or 2023) that the most annoying request from hiphop clients was to replicate "that weird FL studio soft clipper distortion" so I assume that could be the origin of the whole thing and the solution to make that sound
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I am putting @El Cycer as "best answer" as it is probably the solution, but I have give credits to @shinyzen as well for the sentence "dont overthink it". As stated, I really dont think it's a combination of plugins or somethin that has been project during production/mixing. It's just something unorthodox that people likes nowadays

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2024

Izotope Trash 2 -> Distort -> Rubber Hammer

It's one of my go-to Distortion for Clipping sort of FX without actually clipping the track. You can get away up to 70%-80% Mix value with the distortion and most of the dynamic still intact. It doesnt sound too harsh. Give it a try.

I think you can get better result by distorting the elements separately per group or busses because everything need individual treatment so some parts that make the song still not really destroyed. Clipping the whole track might destroy the dynamic and make it flat. Also Clipping bring up the low level noise and all the reverb, whatever Fx you added all become too loud.

Might need a bitcrusher too to smash some of the high end. Also PSP Infinistrip has 12Bit preamp (90 ADC) that should sound right with this type of FX.

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2024

I hear bitcrushing, a little ring modulation, white noise and probably some distortion or saturation as well..

 

my guess is decapitator.

 

I think you quite literall Nailed it... I didn't know becuase I don't think I have ever Intentionally hard clipped my Master bus like this, lol. It's very crap sounding but... Im a boomer. What do I know.

 

fake hand claps, limp bass DRONE, and an obvious digitally keyed vocal (more likely to cover an inability to hit correct pitches), all distorto-massivo ... THIS is "music" now apparently... I ain't no boomer and this kind of shit puts me to fuckin sleep...

 

This is the script of what happened in the Ken Carson studio

Ken (visibly high on Fentanyl):
"Yo Bro, lat's make dahs shaht LOUD!

The producer (smoking a crack pipe and coughing):
"Aahahght bro, ..cough... cough.. Imma put dahs shaht on fahre FO' REAL!"

Script written with the help of Ebonics instant translator https://funtranslations.com/ebonics

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2024

I love this type of effect, here's another cool exemplo:

 

I think its one of those Lofi-VHS-Vinyl shitisizers applied on individual tracks (or buses) then master is driven over digital 0. You can hear wobbly dropouts in the first clip, so called flutter and whole lot of bunch of aliasing in the other clip, while the vocal and drums (especialy hihats) remains somewhat clean. Sounds like shit.

 

Bit crush each track individually and then clip each buss until the waveform looks as smooth as a sea lion's forehead feels. Nuke the 2 buss with a Waves CLA-76 while employing the all 4 buttons in trick and clipping the mains meter at between +12 to +18 dB to taste. Then, mix it all onto a NOS TDK SA 60 cassete tape running at half speed using a vintage Tascam Portastudio 244. Steal a 2007 Cadillac Escalade and install a vintage Blaupunkt cassette player (cheap on eBay) and then drive the car into a brick wall (with the cassette playing of course) at any old abandoned factory building in Detroit to embellish it with a little of that Motown sound while going exactly 23 mph at sunrise on the vernal equinox. Make sure to wear your seat belt.

It works for me every time. YMMV.

The two producers seen in the foto are arguing over which year Escalade is the best to use, either this 2008 or the more in demand 2007. To my ears it really doesn't matter because most listeners are using their laptop speakers to listen anyway.

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2024

dont over think it, just clip the shit out of the master. i do this sort of stuff all the time lately, have even been getting request of it for sync. drift phonk, phonk trap, the heavier memphis shit is coming back just flipped for 2024 / post trap edm.

Kclip is a great clipper for this type of stuff.

you can go about it like others have noted in the thread, if you want more control, or for it to sound good but still sound bad, but i would say just clip it. the songs that blow up on tik tok and this new gen of rappers and producers just clip it

 

I may not know everything, but I know thats not music....

 

ok it works but...before or after the final limiter?? AHAHAHAHHA

your example is perfect, but I would translate it in action while mixing: we just have to CLIP THE DIGITAL SHIT OUT OF IT! lol and at this point I have to quote @shinyzen

absolutely no control needed lol it just has to sound bad to be like that, so just to sum

-absolutely no "analog emulations" like tape saturator or whatever, just digital distortion with no fear for aliasin
-push the "digital VOLUME" to the limit, so HARD CLIP it, not soft clip!

I saw the track statistics and thats it


bring the shit to -3 LUFS lol thats the trick

-no fear for dynamics or what we usually think "sounds good" and definitely "dont over think it"
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I wanna add... not to overthink lol but who knows, it could sound a lil bit better

I will definitely try KClip and I know it has a multiband clipping function: MAYBE it could help to keep the track (a bit) alive working in multiband. Will try 3 bands, will clip all at the same way as starting point, then I will adjust the single bands to have a bit of dynamic back (almost impossible but will try...)

 

What You Motherfuckers Knows About DISTORTION Or LUFS

 

That's so quiet you can barely hear it.
Now "Parallel Deserts" by Five Star Hotel is +3.0 LUFS.

 

Yeah. I can too give you links of SOMEONE +3 LUFS tracks. But this was MINE.
Actually this one on youtube is much quieter than my link. Did you even listen to it?

 

Guys, after listening to tracks from this thread my studio monitors started to sound weird.
I looked inside. Do I need to worry about?

 

naaaaah you aint notice anything