if you need say a lot of compression, don t do it with only one plug
compressors introduce artifatcs, new harmonics, and yes saturation
wanted or unwanted these side effects increase when trying to achieve big amounts of gain reduction on a single compressor.
Especially vintage emulations.
So you can use more compressors to get a few dB of compression each.
Usually my strip channel for compressed sounds would be:

pre comp eq, subtractive equalization (low cut, shelvings, parametric cuts of unwanted frequencies)
compressor, it must have the highest reduction values, more than the limiter, from 4 to 10 db (vocals, as istance)
limiter 4-5 dB of gain reduction
post comp eq, where I push the sound, a low pole, mid pole, high shelving, and a hi cut

by equalizing the mid highs after compression I stay away from frequencies dependant compression (the comp isn t engaged by a sound that hits the mid high spectrum and the equalizer with mid highs enhancement)
the highs aren t ruined by compression artifacts. On a whole mix, it makes the difference.

if you use BUSS mixing, and you have drums, bass, guitars, vocals BUSS, I would use a limiter, to get some extra compression and keep all the vocals, say, under control on the Buss.

On the master, eq, multiband comp, comp, eq, limiter

not all the passages I ve described are necessary all the times

vintage emulations change color and saturation levels depending on the input/output values so always check those values, plug by plug, I m not talking about internal clipping in a strip channel but output volume, on vintage emulations stay low, below -12 dB, then increase the input or the threshold of the next limiter

ok that s all is coming on my mind by now... I hope it ll be useful

 

check this producer on a vocal track:

first step volume automations
eq-comp, Waves fader rider, eq-comp, Waves fader rider
all of this to hear all the words, all the phrases at the same level

well, even too extreme, almost no dynamics anyway...

 

Distortion is indirectly proportional to age...

The older You get, that less distortion You need <--> The Younger You are, that more distortion You need

 

A better question would probably be " how much distortion is too much ? ". With things like distortion or saturation a little goes a long way. Using parallel busses for these things can help a lot so you can dial in just a touch in different frequency areas to add say, more 'richness' in the low end or 'sparkle' in the high end by introducing even order harmonics.

It's all up to taste really and it definitely depends on the material. For example in electronic music you can get away with far more creative and extreme uses for distortion in its various applications whereas with pop or rock music you need to be more subtle in order to make real instruments gel and sound organic.

Also be very wary of digital distortion from clipping or improper gain staging as this is extremely undesirable; you are essentially destroying frequency information when that happens. Make sure to gain stage properly and never clip plugins (unless they're meant to be and it sounds cool) and especially never clip the master buss.

 

I must be getting younger then.

 

As too much as it might sound, I've actually used a Boss HM-2 with a MetalZone stacked after it in series but not with the gain maxed on either of course. The HM-2 gets love for being the trve Swedish DM guitar pedal but the MT-2 gets panned as being shit, It is shit when a kid in their bedroom scoops out all the mids, However used with a more suitable mid-range setup they are pretty decent especially when they can be had for £20 used. Still I have around ten all out high-gain distortion boxes that I reach for before the HM-2 and/or MT-2.
Great picture, Still if you wanna really square something into oblivion then beyond a Zvex Fuzz Factory one has the option to build one of these behemoth boxes of filth, The Beavis Audio Fuzz Lab:

It is just a bit excessive, I'm not much of fuzz kind of player but when I do want some fuzz my square wave device of choice is the polarizing Boss HZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, It doesn't do anything but really nasty fuzz plus has a useful clean boost mode too. Polarizing due to not being a purist's type of fuzz at all but if you are trying to nail Dope Throne era-Electric Wizard then it is the fuzz pedal you want/need

Keep on squaring waves in free world

Dean

 

Man how disappointed i was when i first discovered that too much distortion just made everything sound clean, dull and generic again.
I guess its true when they say "more is less"