Created with mix engineer Manny Marroquin (Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo)

Excels at making synths sound less sterile, and fit better in mixes

Pre-distortion compressor shapes the dynamics

Release determines whether distortion lingers with note tails

Makes single-coil pickups sound less thin and more assertive

4 pre-distortion EQ stages focus on the frequencies to be saturated

Beefs up drums for a bigger, more powerful sound

Attack control determines how rapidly the distortion develops

With subtle settings, makes vocals punch more than with a limiter

The ideal fix when some sounds are just too “clean”