help with effects

[sdeyoung]

Just wondering if someone could give me a bit of help with which effects to use as inserts and which not.. Should certain effects go before others. ie: comps before reverb or vice versa.. Getting ready to record soon and I want to learn as much as I can about mixing before that time comes..

 

[scrubs]

Just wondering if someone could give me a bit of help with which effects to use as inserts and which not.. Should certain effects go before others. ie: comps before reverb or vice versa.. Getting ready to record soon and I want to learn as much as I can about mixing before that time comes..

Really, there are no set "rules," but there are some suggestions. First off, dynamic processors, such as compression, are generally used as insert effects (meaning the entire signal is processed, and the processing occurs before the master gain and eq [aka - pre-fader]). Spatial effects, such as reverbs and delays, are generally used as send effects (you control how much of the signal gets processed, and the processing occurs after the master fader and eq [aka - post-fader]). So, in that setup, the compressor technically comes before the reverb. That's a good thing, because you generally don't want to compress the sound of your reverb, which would alter it substantially. Altering the order of plugin effects (or hardware effects) will often dramatically change the final sound, so you have to experiment to find out what works for you and your music.

Of course, for certain sound-effect type treatments, all bets are off.

There are plenty of great articles here on all aspects of recording:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

 

[sdeyoung]

thanks for the tips. I'll check out those articles as well..