Insert vs Send/Return Effects

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Starcat

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Hi folks! Many thanks to the folks here who helped me get started over the last few weeks. I have learned loads and am now happier than a pig in sh*t. Hard to break from playing and recording to eat, sleep or talk to the spouse and children I'm so excited! Work gets in the way, too.

At any rate, to the extent I use effects, which I would say is moderate (a little chorus, a little reverb, some distortion, wah occasionally) I have always used pedals or, more recently, my V-amp. Now that I am recording my material, I have new options - I can continue to record with the effects in the input path or apply effects afterwards.

I have tried the latter only once so far, using N-track, and applied chorus and reverb to an acoustic guitar backing part. I was pleasantly surprised at the results.

I am interested in what you more experienced sages think about the relative merits of these different approaches. Do you think one is inherently better than the other, they each have their own role, you never do X because Y, etc?

I'm all ears....
 
Applying effects later is safer. You can take it off if it doesn't work.

Guitar is often recorded with effects as the sound affects your playing.

Some people like the risk of printing with effects - Tony Visconti, for one, according to his intro. to TapeOp magazine.

Printing with effects was once "the British way" of doing things, adding them later was "the American way". I expect most people add them later now. Except on guitar.

I'd go with whichever way you think works best or mix and match.
 
hi,

I know the feeling of recording taking all the time and other things getting in the way!

when you use an effect as an insert on one single track, it will only be available for that track.
when you use a send/return effect it will be available to any track that you assign it to.

in other words if you have two different guitar tracks and you want the same chorus on both, you can save cpu processing power by using a send/return which has the chorus. This uses only one instance of the chorus instead of two.

This is very handy if you have quite a few tracks and you want to avoid dropouts while recording. the down side is you can not have different presets or effect settings on the single effect that your tracks are sharing.

some effects such as revalver, an amp simulator, are very power hungary and will work quite well if used as send/return. you may adjust the degree the effect is used by a track so that removes some of the generic feel.

if I want two ripping guitars and want only one instance of revalver to save cpu, I often insert an eq to one of the guitar tracks to change the tone and then send both tracks to revalver which is assigned as a send. the eq is less demanding on cpu power so a good balance of 2 different sounding guitars using the same effect is achieved.

hope this helps!

baba
 
Hey thanks for the replies, folks. I'm continuing to do some experimentation. Atwork - could point about being able to remove send/return effects if one doesn't like them - being a total noob, it's important to me to have backout procedures - lol!.

What I have found so far is that for distortion, delay, and most other guitar effects, I like to apply them in insert mode so I can hear it as I play. For EQ and reverb, send/return seems to work best 'cause I can play with the settings non-destructively. Chorus is kind of in the middle - a little of both. I'm also finding that a little goes a long way in terms of effects, so I am trying to be judicious.

Thanks much for your thoughts.
 
Keep in mind. Recording is an art form so what you create is how you want to interpret the sound. If you like it then it must be good. Gathering input from other people gives you more tools to be even more creative. There are no rules, anything goes as long as it isn't distorted. I have prefer to have the guitar work laid down with effects because usually what the guitarist is playing relates to how the effects react. However, vocal tracks and drum tracks are recorded dry so that expierimentation can take place.
Good luck in your creations !!
 
and with guitar distortion - make sure you use less than you would normally. it sounds crap on tape if you just play how you do normally. well not crap, if you want a thin scratchy tone that's good but not if you want a normal 'big' sound.

i do always try to record dry, often even with guitar but you can learn the technique if you experiment. it can come out rubbish if you add OD/distortion afterwards, but learning how to manage without opens up loads of options.
 
Yep, noisedude, I hear ya about the distortion - a little can go a long way. It's been real fun experimenting so far. One thing I have found is that for some effects I tend to adjust my guitar playing while using them - distortion and wah, for example - while others, such as chorus, phase, flange, less so. I will continue to play with it and learn, but where I am so far is that I'm more comfortable adding some effects later than others. It's all cool, though. Thanks for your insight.
 
it's cool they best part is experimenting and learning...although the one thing that's really really important and i have very little patience with is mic placement. if you're just recording you then you get to learn positions off by heart but that investment of time is so BORING it's way more fun fiddling with stuff once you've got a good track down.
 
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