But if you’re a less experienced engineer working with sources that could be drastically different in terms of volume, frequency content, and dynamic range every time, then there is no settings sweet spot. Some mixing engineers may say something like “oh I like the the soft clip saturation around 10%” but they are making sure that the level going into the plugin is always the same or at least always clipping the transients around the same amount to get that desired effect. Every source material will be different and will require a different treatment. It should be noted that there is no “sweet spot” in a plugin ever. But again if you push anything too hard it won’t sound good. When you have the clip button off it will technically let you pass the digital 0dB without actually clipping in your DAW. If you push it too hard it will sound shit though. When the clip button is engaged you can drive it but it will never pass the digital 0dB. The Inflator should be considered similar to when mixing/mastering engineers are purposely clipping very high end AD/DA converters to get the extra harmonics and perceived loudness out of a track.
IMO David is the best teacher on YouTube, and he does a lot of work in modern genres too even though he looks like a really metal guy.
This video will help you understand it a lot more. Yeah it’s a super magical plugin, and you’ll get a lot of use out of it.
