Effects abuse?

[the edzell]

I was reading an interview with Eddie Van Halen about the new tracks he recorded at 5150 for the new disk. His take was if you get the sound right you don’t need to use all the EQ and effects in the mixing and mastering phase. How right on is this?

Just wanted to see what the posters takes were. I know most newbies tend to overuse effects to try and cover mistakes.

What effects are a necessary part of the mixing and mastering phase and which ones tend to get overused?

 

[Massive Master]

The effects part is somewhat arguable - It depends on the final results. If a heavy stereo chorus is part of your guitar sound, there's nothing wrong with recording a stereo setup with the heavy chorus on it.

Verb, that's harder... Reverbs can stack up quickly and argue with each other easily.

However, the "raw" point - Getting sounds absolutely drop-dead wonderful BEFORE hitting the "RECORD" button is crucial. Bands that have *truly* excellent sounds almost mix themselves. It turns from "making everything fit together" to something more like "gee, which direction can I go in with this" in an instant.

When you listen to really great recordings, imagine them with the bass a little lower or higher or the guitars "closer" or "further" sounding - It still works, because the sounds are working together by themselves.

Mixing bad sounding tracks is like doing body work on a car - Mixing great sounding tracks is like creating art from raw materials.