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What order would you typically put these processors in, and why?
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| DjStephenWiley |
Compressors
Delays
Reverbs
Stereo Imaging
Tube Saturaters/Warmers
Layering
EQing
In general (vocals tend to be handled a bit differently) I always compress first and then layer. Reverbs next, then delays. Then saturation and warming and finally some stereo imaging if needed. EQ to me is almost always last unless I feel the track needs EQing at different points in it. For instance, I will usually EQ a pad before applying any FX, and I will also EQ it at the end as well. |
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| Kismet7 |
| At the moment I compress last. EQ before compress, everything else in front. |
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| Storyteller |
| It's different just about every time. When I know where I want to go I just put the effect wherever I want. If it's not quite there but close I tweak or move the effects around a bit. |
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| DjStephenWiley |
| Right. I just wanted to see if anybody wanted to stick their neck out when it comes to hard fast rules that they believe in. For me, I ALWAYS EQ after any spatial effects because I do not want verb tails and whatever else drifting into frequencies that I don't want them in. |
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| Acton |
| It totally depends on what I'm trying to achieve. I actually spend time re-arranging my effects chains, to see what results I can come up with. |
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| parafrNalia |
| lol, I EQ before everything else... maybe I should do before and after, now that I think about it. |
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| Crash |
Compressor
Eq
then fx
I never compress after reverb and delay, dont know really why anyone would do that except if you want some kind of an effect out of it. |
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| Morvan |
| Delay into Reverb makes more sense to me than the other way around. |
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| EddieZilker |
When I master, I put gain control in front of EQ, and then a multi-band followed with a limiter.
For general tracking:
1. Compressor (as needed) - because I want it reacting to the complete dynamic range of the track. EQ (particularly when shelving is employed) lowers the peak.
2. EQ - Usually for shelving but sometimes just to surgically tailor the spectrum. The EQ comes after compression because I use it subtractively - unless I'm amplifying 1-3 (sometimes 4-5) dB to the high end. I use this before any time-based effects to have control over the initial sound going into them.
3. Time-based effects (Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Echo, Reverb, et al) Come after EQ because the results are cleaner (or dirtier) than if EQ is used afterward. Beyond that I'll use any combination of these effects like stacking a phaser in between two different Delays to create additional motion in the track.
It really depends on what you want to accomplish and there aren't any firm, solid rules. This is the configuration I've found works best but I've used compressors after Delays before because I found the results to be better than when I had tried just finessing the delay's decay to achieve the desired volume. |
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| evo8 |
It depends for some stuff
Like if you compress after a reverb or delay, this can bring up the delay or reverb level - you might not want that, so you might compress before those fx instead...
I tend to eq after compression, as i find that compression can "bring up" some of the frequencies you are trying to get get rid of |
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| cryophonik |
This totally depends for me and I actually often end up EQing and compressing at two stages (track & buss). On tracks, my effects bin usually looks like this:
EQ > compress > insert FX (order of FX is totally dependent on the sound I'm after)
However, I should point out that I don't compress every track and I use send FX far more often than I use insert FX. Also, I just use my synths' onboard FX a lot (sometimes in place of, or in addition to insert FX), so they are effectively first in the chain in that case. I usually don't compress individual synth tracks, unless it's one that has a lot of movement/dynamics that need to be controlled. I'll add a compressor to some tracks for effects (e.g., ducking, squashed effect, etc.), but the majority of my ITB sounds don't get compressed at the track level.
However, almost every track gets EQ'ed and every live track (e.g., vocals, guitars, electric bass, etc.) get EQ'ed and compressed. Also, vocal tracks also get a de-esser, which I usually (but not always) place first in the chain before EQ and compression. Many live tracks also get a gate or expander to reduce background noise or hum and I also usually place that before the EQ/compressor. I use channel strips (rather than individual plugins) for many of my live instrument tracks (esp. vocals) and one nice advantage there is you can usually rearrange the chain with the click of a button - very convenient for hearing different scenarios.
As mentioned above, I usually route all of my instruments to busses and often sub-busses to group similar instruments. I EQ and compress them as a whole at this point and nearly every buss (other than FX send busses) have an EQ and compressor to shape the overall group sound and get them to gel; however, I will reverse the chain on busses (i.e., compressor > EQ) far more often on busses than I will on tracks for the simple reason that some of the "air" can be lost after compressing a few times, so I can use the EQ to add some of that back as a final step.
I have several FX busses set up and I typically have at least one reverb and one delay buss set up for general use, as well as specific busses set up with special FX for vocals or whatever else needs FX. The send FX are obviously parallel sends from tracks and/or busses, but sometimes I route one effect buss into another buss. Most often, this includes routing something like a vocal delay into my main reverb buss to put the delay in the same "space" as the other tracks using that reverb. And, other times, I'll stack several effects in one buss' FX bin. But, again, I don't have a specific order - it just comes down to what effect I'm after. And, lastly, I'll sometimes add an EQ to some of my effects busses (esp. reverbs) to shape the sound of the reverb, or use the reverb plugin's on-board EQ if it has one.
edit: I forgot to mention that I almost never use any stereo imaging plugins and I rarely use tube saturation/warmers. |
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