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Over-engineered signal chains - Who's guilty?
I am sooo guilty of going down the signal chain rabbit hole, but it's easier said than done finding that balance between interesting, unique, fine-tuned sounds and efficiency (of both workflow and system resources). I'm not even talking about hardware elements btw - just the chaining of apps in AUM channels or tracks in whatever DAW (at least Cubasis 2 limits you).
Thing is, adding progressively more FX / processing to a track = fun experimentation and can eventually get you to a voila! moment but afterwards I can’t help but think "could I have got there with fewer apps?". Especially when DSP is close to max 
. Then there is the whole thing about squeezing value out of the apps you’ve spent your hard earned cash on - makes you bloody determined to use them!
This has surely got to be a pretty common dilemma?
Comments
Guilty as charged. I’m loving it! Just starting a session to do exactly that is magnificent fun. Almost randomly swiping the list and say ‘oh let’s see what this will do to the sound, haven’t used it for a while’ Play with the settings, automate some. Repeat. Pure bliss. And one of the things that amazes me it’s so easily done from the couch.
I think the more difficult problem is not efficiency but ending up trying to put too much into the sound chain so you end up with too many frequencies and rhythms— the audio equivalent of mud. Of course some eq and gating can clean that mess up.
Listening throughout the construction of your effects chains helps you develop an intuitive sense of how they modify your input audio so over time you’ll improve your efficiency and creativity. Most importantly, make sure you monitor volumes so you don’t damage your hearing.
Fair play, good on you!
Some really good points. For me its often just a sprinkling of this and a smattering of that but I’ve definitely crafted plenty of mud pies! Dissecting the chain to understand the individual components better sounds like top advice. Getting to know your apps well, if not intimately, can only help.
@wired2moon
“ Getting to know your apps well, if not intimately, can only help.”
Exactly that is the result for me from trying to abuse the apps in a sound mangling session. Not to get super sophisticated sounds, but to get intimately up close and see what’s inside 😆
What I love about AUM is the ability to essentially save a complete sound as an instrument - effects included - and import that creation into another project instantly. That workflow should be a part of every iOS daw. Treat the whole channel as an instrument to be saved.
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Yep certainly very handy to have repeatable rabbit hole fx chains
Does AUM have channel save now?
You can import individual channels from saved sessions - very nifty
Interesting, thanks. Not as good as channel save, but it gets you to the same place.
Totally guilty.Especially on my own vocal tracks. I think for me it comes from not learning the use eq, compression, level and spatial effects very well. I often end up with multiple comp, eq, modulation effects on a vocal track.
Every vocal I’ve ever put on iOS, and most guitars. The more apps I get, the more I’m forced to tweak (to justify my buying the apps of course)
This is one of the best things I got out of migrating to the iPad.
On desktop I had a habit of putting compressors, eq, and other effects on everything. I find that I use a lot less effects on the iPad. Because of cpu but also cos it’s more “cumbersome”.
I noticed in my desktop mixes I got into habits like always cutting some eq just cos “you’re supposed to” and in the end it made it sound more unnatural and over processed. I’m liking that about iOS, feels more naive and natural.
Exactly. This goes in line with my previous post. In Logic you have all this chains that you automatically resort to. Compression, eq, saturation... they end up on every single track which tends to over processing in idle hands.
This used to be a huge problem for me until I discovered one truly magical technique that instantly fixes every vocal track I ever attempt. It's called "Mute". Game changer if there ever was one.
I have a quick question...? Slightly off topic but close enough, should I at all be using mid/side balance, inside of a AUM, I’m speaking of the AUM built-in FX, Mid/Side Balance? I know there is mid -side compression but I’ve always been slightly confused about the difference between typical Mid/side and what the AUM built-in Mid/Side Balance FX does?
I obviously put panning on basically every track in AUM, However I also usually put a Mid/Side Balance, before the Pan to start chain. I’m not sure I’m using this effect properly, and have wanted to clear this up for awhile. Should I be using the stereo balance instead of Mid Side Balance. the main reason I use this is to set each track in a different three-dimensional space, like a good mix should be, but I fear I’m using the M/S balance too much, or misunderstanding it’s use case. Any help would be appreciated. I’m finding some slight confusion in my initial research.
The beauty of limitations is at it's finest with the 2018 standard ipad. I can hardly over engineer signal chains if I can only load 5 or 6 before the CPU overloads!
That nearly made me spit out my Guiness but for some reason I can't help it. I am really a guitar player but I'd give it all up for an amazing voice.
Start practicing. Singers are made, not born.
I’ve never understood the difference between the two mid-side thingies in AUM either. Suppose I should rtfm.
I use the one of them all the time though. It’s great for making big fat sounds.
I’ve never really tapped into the mid-side stuff (never properly understood what it does or adds).
Another big factor in whether the whole rabbit hole fx chain is a good or bad thing is bound to be whether you even need repeatability. Maybe your music / workflow requires reproduction of same chains across different songs (eg for vox, guitars) but on the other hand maybe you go full on exploring with each new track/song you make. I’ve certainly read folks on this forum saying how all the music and sounds they make are ephemeral. Hell, some don't even care about capturing the live performance in a file - truly ‘in the moment’.
Big issue with the fx chain rabbit hole is that you might end up with a big hole in the sound because of eq.
Many presets aim to reduce “boomyness”. A main reason for “boomy” sound is that it happens where instruments overlap, causing a buildup in that range. Vocals, bass, guitars, snares, etc they all have significant content in the 200-400hz zone. So you cut it in tracks to avoid that buildup, many presets will include a cut there. And sure it sounds “nicer” on its own, it sounds more “pro”. Which means at the end you are cutting in every track and if that fundamental frequency range is cut too much it sounds unnatural and hollow, which is actually worst than boomy.
A band in a rehearsal place will sound boomy, not hollow. We’re more tolerant to “boomyness” it’s friendlier and happens naturally. So I try to be careful now about over eq.