Effects chaining

Greenie

Curious about Effects, assuming a DAW or something similar,whilst recording does one add effects pre.or post or both? . I personally had a tendency using post, however since the advent of Audiobus,dropping in say,Crystalline over Guitarism for instance is a wonderful sound and I would record it as is and I would not normally apply say FAC Chorus AU or perhaps Maxima AU in the recoding of that track but add it post if and when needed however there are perhaps pros.and cons so I would really be interested in some feedback.I have asked a few engineers and producers but their answers were vague,like if that-then this. So it might be unanswerable. thanks in advance. greenie

Greenie

Obviously unanswerable.

McDtracy

There are some generalizations that guitar players apply to their effects chains:

1. Wah / Phaser (or any filters)
2. Compressor (to adjust input volume)
3. Overdrives (Distortion, Fuzz, Gain, Crunch)
4. EQ
5. Pitch (Vibrato, Whammy Pedal, Pitch Shifters, Pog, Octaver)
6. Modulation (Chorus, Flanger, Envelope Filters)
7. Level Pedals (Volume, Tremolo, Noise Gate, Limiter, Compressor)
8. Echo (Delay, Digital Delay, Analogue Delay)
9. Reverb

You can find many YouTube videos on this question for guitar.
For IOS FX it's fun to use and break the rules until you hear something special.

The right order is up to you. That's what makes you the creator.

Hmtx

Hmm, or maybe too complicated of a question.

I think Audiobus and AUM are designed for a live performance work-flow, so recording will be live with effects.

In a traditional DAW workflow it makes more sense to record the dry signal whenever possible, even if playing with effects. That leaves more room for tweaking fx in post-production. That’s how I understood it, as an amateur.

PhilW

If using the effect will change the feel of how you play something - distortion on guitar for example - I’d include it in the recorded signal. But mostly record dry and add effects in the mix so that you have more creative control.