Electronic music producers, how do you progressively add effects in your session?

basal

New member
I know this is a very open ended question however I would like to clarify that I'm a newbie indie-electronic producer and I wanted to hear some different perspectives from electronic music producers on how they progressively add effects over time to their session.

When I produce, I generally I start with tracking of drums, perc, bass.
I then go on to add harmony and melodies based on how I'm arranging the song.
Once I feel I have made a solid song I start with the "mix".

Now to elaborate on my question: Are there certain effects that should be only used during tracking phase and are there effects that should only be used during the mixing phase?

I would think that during the tracking/arrangement phase one can use effects like reverb, delay, distortion, filters (among others?) to create interesting sounds, but should there be a limit on their use before compromising on the overall mix/balance of the song?
I have had the idea of using effects like EQ, Compressor/Limiter, Noise Gate only during the mixing phase (and perhaps during mastering).

I appreciate any perspective. Thank you!
 
I'm not really sure anymore what is included in these genres, but for anything I do, things that change a sound's character so it inspires how you play it I treat as something part of the sound, so I add them to the destination track at the start, before I hit record. For my music, it tends to be big reverbs, gain make-up in a compressor not doing compression, delays, modulation and spreading plugins that thicken. Anything that I know for certain I won't need to change. EQ, and then 'sitting in the mix' effects then get added in the usual way when I mix. If I have spent ages messing with a sound, to prevent accidental changes, I'll take the recorded track with it's effects and route that to a group and add mix effects to that.

I know that as I recorded the native sound naked, I could easily tweak it after, I very, very rarely do - because I crafted the new sound and my experience is that I never improve it afterwards by changing parameters that created it - if you get what I mean.
 
If I read Rob's reply correctly, I do the same. The sound that I am tracking, whether raw or with an effect on it is what I usually build around. Rarely do I record something raw and then figure out what I will do with it.

Example would be guitar, when I start to play it I begin looking for a sound to base if off of. That is not to say it won't change, but usually it doesn't or it doesn't change drastically. Same with a synth. I find that sound (dumpster diving as I call it) that I want for the song. All the while I am mixing, but there is still always a final mix.

In summary, and we say it here all the time, your work flow will always change depending on the song and there is no right/wrong. But one thing to remember, you will have to do a final mix so make sure when you hit record you always keep that in mind so you don't have a bunch of chaos to fight. In other words, clean as you go :) or else you have a mess when you try to finalize.
 
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Thanks Rob and DM for elaborating on your workflow, I have a much better idea of how to progress my work.
 
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