wet or dry...why?

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bluidlust

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When making initial recording,what effects,if any,should be used?Or,should everything be recorded sans all effects and add fx later in mixdown?Also,if fx are added in mixdown how to make sure it is possible in live application?
 
Effects should be added during mix-down. Not during tracking. Sometimes it is unavoidable because of equipment limitations and creative vision, but it is not generally done.

You will not be able to exactly re-create a live mix as it sounds on a recording. There are too many variables and you have no control over the house acoustics.
 
so you're saying track totally dry?just eq?no reverb,compression,nuthin'?
 
There is a difference between dynamic effects processing and spatial effects processing such as reverb and delay.

Some like me will track with compression, other will not.

Most do not track with EQ. Folks with EQ challenged setups may track with EQ so they are able to make two adjustments to the recorded sound. One while tracking and one while mixing the same recorded track within two different frequency ranges. If this is the case, better mic placement or an amplifier adjustment may be in order to eliminate this.

Just because you are not tracking with a spatial effect doesn't mean you can't listen to what you want that effect to sound like in the mix while you are tracking.

Monitoring a totally dry mix would be rather boring to me depending upon the music.
 
I don't think there is a "rule of thumb" concerning this at all!

If a guitar player has a specific chorus, flanger, phaser, tremelo, etc....I see no reason to not track it that way.

Things like reverb and/or delay, well, I usually wouldn't track with it on, unless it was intregal to the performace itself. Such as, if I was tracking a "surf" style guitar player, the reverb is part of his sound, and it should be tracked that way. Sometimes, a delay is just part of the part (if you know what I mean).

Compression. Hmmmmmmmmm...depends if it helps record just the right sound. I am tracking a guy right now who has little dynamic control of his vocals. Luckily, his voice is way too bright for the music, and the music calls for a sort of thickish, meaty, almost distorted voice. I am compressing the hell out of some of his parts via a Drawmer 1960 mic pre/compressor. It is actually helping his tone quite a bit. I will sometimes track clean guitar parts with compression too. I don't mind also a tad bit of limiting on drum overhead, snare, and kick while tracking if it is doing something cool to the sound.

EQ. I will not hesitate to apply eq while tracking if it helps get just the right sound to tape!

No rules of thumbs at all. If it helps get the right sound to tape, and you don't feel what you are applying while tracking will make you regret later putting it on there, then by all means, go for it! But if you DO think you might regret the effect later, better to play it safe while tracking. Only your experience and vision of the recording will guide you to the right choice.

Ed
 
Sennheiser said:
Welcome back. Everything up and running?
Click to expand...
Good god, no!

I'm working on getting contractors now to implement John's design -- the new Blue Bear Sound is at least several months away from being a reality!

Guess I'll be hanging around the forums more - talking instead of "doing"! ;)
 
If you don't have a bevy of effects to route via an aux send during mix down then use them during tracking. You have to make DAMN SURE you have the right mix for the overall feeling.

If you can avoid using effects during tracking, do so. You never know how much needs to be used plus if you have a great initial snare tone or whatever you might even find that you don't need effects.

It's easier to add effects later and impossible to remove them once they go to 'tape'. Imagine a band you're recording, even if it's your own, and someone says, "There's too much reverb on the snare can we back it off a bit?"

Obviously your face would turn red and you'd try and come up with an excuse why it should have that much effect. I try to stay away from effects as much as possible. To my ears, after recording for as long as I have, outboard effects sound false to me; even effects that cost $10,000.

Use them subtly unless you're going for an off-the-wall effects heavy part/song/feel. It also will help you as a recoding engineer to try and capture the raw sound. These days that's a big advantage for both you and a listener.

--AdamLazlo
 
I'd rather track with effects than depend on all plugins in the mix.
Besides,doing things that way I have gotten pretty good at using the right amount of salt...ahh I mean reverb.
 
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