Saturation is a very useful tool in the mixing engineer’s arsenal for addressing all kinds of issues. It adds warmth via overtones, essentially adding frequency information which didn’t exist before to achieve a fuller sound in tracks which need it. When it comes to the most useful, almost Swiss Army Knife-like plugins/effects which I use in literally every mix, I have my favorite overall plugin in FabFilter’s Pro-Q 3… but a very close second is Decapitator from Soundtoys which is hands down the best saturator plugin available.
Let’s talk a bit about what makes Decapitator my pick for the best saturator plugin.
The Best Saturator Plugin
To explain what makes Decapitator the best saturation plugin, let’s do an overview of Decapitator’s settings:
Drive
The “Drive” parameter on Decapitator is what really “drives” the sound forward. This is essentially the distortion which is being added to create that saturation effect.
The more you turn this up, the more colored the audio will become as more overtones are created. At low levels, the audio will feel fuller. At higher drive levels, you’ll hear that crunch of the distortion begin to assert itself more.
Speaking of the crunch of the distortion, let’s move on to the “Punish” parameter.
Punish
“Punish” is basically flipping that switch on an amp to the next level of distortion, like going from rhythm to lead. While not a perfect comparison, suffice to say that you’ll hear a lot more of that distorted crunch when you tick this button.
You’ll find that “Punish” can be useful when you want to add a little more sizzle to your tracks, possibly bringing out more transients, particularly when paired with some other settings I’ll mention in a second.
Style
The 5 “Style” buttons on Decapitator each correspond to a different type of analog gear which the button is modeled after. You can check out the Decapitator manual for detailed information on each one, but simply put each different style button colors the sound slightly differently. Driving the signal with more or less drive will yield a different sound with each different style.
You’ll find a lot of recommendations out there from people arguing different styles for different audio sources, but your best bet is to test. You can always fallback on the presets for a little guidance on what the plugin and Soundtoys themselves recommend in terms of style for different types of audio/instruments.
Tone
I LOVE the “Tone” control on Decapitator and it’s one of the major reasons I call this the best saturation plugin.
Strictly speaking, this favors a darker or brighter tone in your audio, regardless of the rest of the settings.
If you just drop an instance of Decapitator with its stock settings on your track of choice, you can get some subtle saturation without touching any controls while tweaking the “Tone” dial ever so slightly to favor a darker or brighter sound.
Sometimes I do this without even using an EQ; I’ll tweak this one way or the other to just give my track that slight nudge it needs to correct it tonally and that’s all it takes.
The “Tone” dial is Decapitator’s secret sauce in many ways to me.
High/Low Cut
The other two controls for obviously pushing the tone in a darker or brighter direction are the high and low cut dials, respectively.
The low cut dial is a high pass filter, thinning out the tone by cutting out the low end which can be potentially useful for cutting low end noise or even mud.
The high cut dial is a low pass filter, rolling off the top end to darken and smooth out the tone, leaving the body.
Note that you can right click on either dial to show the exact frequency you’ve got that filter set at.
Additionally in this section, you have the “Thump” and “Steep” switches.
The “Thump” switch adds low end oomph which can sound good when added to some tracks, like some kick drum tracks for example. Others it will just clutter up the sound and won’t work as well, so make sure you can hear that low end to make an informed decision. When in doubt, leave it off.
The “Steep” switch changes that high cut to a more aggressive slope to cut more at that frequency point.
Mix
The “Mix” dial dictates the blend between dry/unprocessed audio and the wet/saturation processed audio.
Setting this at 100% exclusively lets you hear the saturated audio. If you’re using Decapitator as an aux send, set this to 100%.
As an insert, you can use this parameter to dial in just the right balance. When I feel like I’ve otherwise got the right settings but it’s a bit too much in overtaking the dry tone, I dial back the “Mix” parameter to find that sweet spot.
Output
The “Output” is simply the output gain level so that you can match the input level to maintain gain staging.
If you have “Auto” engaged (which it is by default), the “Output” dial will automatically move to attempt to match the input level as you turn the “Drive” dial as more or less drive will affect the overall volume.
I find I have better results by leaving this off and manually matching the level for what it’s worth.
As you can probably tell, the overall interface is extremely simplified which does in fact make dialing in the perfect settings that much easier.
The presets section allows you to both save your favorite presets once you find something which pairs perfectly with an instrument in your mix for next time, as well as calling on one of the dozens of instrument specific presets which come with Decapitator.
What really makes Decapitator the best saturator plugin is simply how good it sounds on virtually everything in your mix.
As I mentioned, behind Q-3 it’s arguably the plugin I use most in my mixes as a personal testament to why it’s the best.
There’s a reason Decapitator really hasn’t been updated in over a decade but so many mixing engineers still sing its praises.
If you spend any amount of time on this site, you’ll have seen my recommending it time and time again. Speaking of which, check out my overview on vocal saturation to see my favorite settings to dial in on Decapitator to fix an otherwise lacking vocal.
