Tips and Tricks (Where and When To Use Effects)

[Creativemind]

Hi Everyone!

So I'm going to ask a question I was asking myself today...

What is your thought process when applying effects on tracks?

What makes you decide to use it as an insert over a send or vice versa?

Do you have any tricks, tips or rules you use for deciding where and when to use effects in your track/s?

The only time I tend to use a particular effects chain is on vocals on guitar tracks. I always firstly slap a Selig De-Esser as an insert on the audio track I'm going to use for the vocal and don't touch any settings on it as it already seems perfectly set up to my needs of removing a subtle amount of D-S, then some Reverb, usually the RV-7000 and turn the dry / wet down to about 9 o'clock. I always add it as an insert and I know that you shouldn't do that really with reverb, you should add it as a send effect. I must get into the habit of doing that.

Then I'll EQ the vocal after using the spectrum EQ. I will then (if needed) add a DDL Digital Delay Line (or The Echo but the DDL more often than not) on a duplicated track and delete the audio clip and then just slice and move down the part/s of the vocal I want to delay onto that track rather than go through the hassle of automating the bypass as that doesn't always apply quick enough to effect what I need decently.

Thanks!

[NekujaK]

The best advice I've ever gotten is to only use an effect when you have a specific reason or purpose for it, otherwise don't. Always let the sound be the guide.

Having a boat load of plugins available makes it tempting (and fun) to pile them on every track, but I find in nearly all situations, the resulting sound is better with no effects, or with just one or two specifically targeted at solving a particular problem.

But in the end, there are no hard and fast rules. Do whatever it takes to get the sound you want!