Howtosignalprocessing
What is tape saturation?
Tape saturation plugins emulate the sound of audio recorded through tape machines. They introduce odd order harmonics, subtle compression, and non-linear shifts in frequency response. Tape saturation also rolls off high-end frequencies and creates a small boost in the lows.
What causes tape saturation?
To record the signal on the tape, the recording head of the recorder magnetize each of the iron oxide particles on the tape by varying amounts over time. This becomes a linear representation of the original alternating current and this is where the saturation occurs.
