Adding noise to a track

[thekrynn]

This sounds a little counterproductive, but here it goes:

I have a synth track in a instrumental beat that sounds too... digital. When I play it in the final mix, everything sound perfect except for that one track since it gives it a very unnatural smooth sound. I was wondering if there's any possible way to add some grit to it?

As of right now, the closest I've gotten is duplicating it and adding Air Fuzz-Wah to one and Eleven to the other to give it some texture, but haven't been super happy with the rolloff reverb from the eleven plug and haven't been able to get rid of it properly with an expander.

Any ideas? I'm running HD 8 with waves gold.

[necjamc]

You could try the demo for analog channel from McDSP. It smooths out nicely. It's a full functioning 14 day trial. I don't have waves so I can't help you there.

[thekrynn]

That looks pretty solid, thanks for the rec! Can always process on a copy before it expires, would work nicely.

Any other rec's anyone?

[woodsdenis]

Originally Posted by thekrynn

That looks pretty solid, thanks for the rec! Can always process on a copy before it expires, would work nicely.

Any other rec's anyone?

Massey Tapehead/Sansamp

[thekrynn]

Many thanks as well Denis!

[nst7]

You may want to try the demo for Izotope Alloy. It has a harmonic exciter in it that may enhance the track.

[thekrynn]

And thanks as well!
I have a lot of stuff to try out.

[Craig F]

Izotope Vinyl, it's free, it's adds noise
also BF Funk Logic Mastererizer is free and adds noise (is may be in your unused folder)

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by Craig F

Izotope Vinyl, it's free, it's adds noise
also BF Funk Logic Mastererizer is free and adds noise (is may be in your unused folder)

Izotope Vinyl is what you want. It's great for adding exactly this type of grit. I often wack it on very pure soft synth type sounds to smooth out the somewhat harsh/brittle tones.

Back in the day, I did use to sample all types of weird hiss from cassette, the end of a vinyl record looping on the lock groove, noise from my Mackie mixer with all faders up etc. etc. and would mix this in to my tracks and add a gentle lowpass filter to the synth sounds. Worked great, but obviously a lot more work than using a plugin.

Massey Tape Head and the the other suggestions are also great. I use them more for saturation and thickening as opposed to intentionally grunging up tracks.

[Andi R]

You could also send it thru some analog stuff, Pedals, guitar amps etc!
Endless fun awaits!