Effects: before or after?

[jgetman]

Lets say you're recording a guitar part. Lets say you want to apply some compression, distortion or reverb onto that part.

What's the philosophy behind whether to apply the effect in the pre-amp phase (i.e., use a reverb effect on your guitar or some kind of pedal) versus applying the effect to the finished track?

 

[postalblue]

as for guitar recording, distortion should probably be applied as you lay the track. if you really like your amp's reverb, go for it, but if it sucks, record it dry, and add it later in the mix with a plugin. the same applies for compression, but you can also use stomp boxes for that, if you like their sound better on guitar. however, digital compression adds a lot less coloration than analog (which is a good thing unles your analog compressor is ace), and is more flexible than stomp boxes.
highly dynamic sound sources demand some processing (compressing or limiting) in order to control peaks and avoid clipping, which should give you better headroom. that applies to percussive instruments, and a lot of singers (very few can really control volume during performance, and others are just plain LOUD). there are as many engineers/producers who like to compress everything during tracking as those who'd rather leave almost every tweak for the mixing sessions.
whichever you choose, flexibility is the main issue here.

just a newbie's opinion, don't take my word for it, experiment.
adriano

 

[RWhite]

I agree with the distortion part, although I always prefer the sound of overdriving the amp vs. an effect, I consider it the natureal sound of an electric guitar / amp combo.
Other than that I prefer to record dry, but I sometime make an exception with delays. I like to set the delay time appropriate to the song and "play off the delay", if you follow.