Order of Effects when Mixing

Kevin A

Differentiated Rebel
ill o.g.
This thread is for you to dicsuss what fx's you use, and in what order you use them, in the signal chain of your mixer tracks for the following instruments (Bass, Kick, Snare, Hi Hats/Cymbals, Electric GTar, Acoustic Gtar, Piano, Strings, and Horns). If there are other instruments that you love to use that I haven't mentioned, feel free to talk about how you deal with them as well. Also, what fx's you place on the signal chain of your mixers master channel might give insight to those who are just begining to learn how to mix. links to articles with professional standards/beginner templates are welcome.
 

Hypnotist

Ear Manipulator
ill o.g.
First, I add a light reverb on my drums, starting with the snare. My drum reverb is light, but depending on the track, I might bring out the snare a little more, like if there was a rim shot or a finger snap, I'd make it real wet.

With the keys, guitars, or sample, I first check if they're thick enough. If I want to thicken em up, I would send em through a voice doubler or maybe pan it all left, then send it through a delay with like 10-20 ms and pan the effect hard right.

If the melodies are short notes, I may add delays to trail em out. Sometimes 1/4 note delay on the right side, and 1/8 note on the left, with a longer feedback.

With vocals, I start with the hook. The hook should sound much wider, or fuller than the verse. Depending on my panning, I'll do a number of things with hooks, from pitch shifting to delays to reverbs, or just panning.

With verses, I tend to leave the vocals dry, as to avoid confusing the listener. If they're not thick enough, I'll thicken em up with some light reverb or maybe delay, or voice doublers or pitch shifts in a duplicate track, but usually they remain dry. The simpler the music is, sometimes the simpler the effects are. Sometimes the music is so simple that I have to do something phoenominal with the effects. And if the music is too complicated, I may back off on effects to avoid adding too much to the song.

As for bass and kicks, I only add reverb when the music is simple, and the bass notes are simple. Most likely, I'll back off on the reverb completely with the bass and kick.

Just a simple start for me... it's ALWAYS different when I mix. It always depends on the project, and what the artist (or I) want(s) to accomplish.
 

5th Sequence

Hip Hop Head, Certified
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 198
For kicks... I use a lowpass filter to take out some of the crispness, then compress it and EQ afterwards.

For Hihats.. usually use some sort of filter or EQ to take out the brightness. Sometimes i'll use a chorus effect on it to get a wider spread. Compress if needed.

Snares.. Compression then EQ.

Too lazy to keep goin ugh
 

bluchippa5

Golden Ear
ill o.g.
Hypnotist said:
First, I add a light reverb on my drums, starting with the snare. My drum reverb is light, but depending on the track, I might bring out the snare a little more, like if there was a rim shot or a finger snap, I'd make it real wet.

With the keys, guitars, or sample, I first check if they're thick enough. If I want to thicken em up, I would send em through a voice doubler or maybe pan it all left, then send it through a delay with like 10-20 ms and pan the effect hard right.

If the melodies are short notes, I may add delays to trail em out. Sometimes 1/4 note delay on the right side, and 1/8 note on the left, with a longer feedback.

With vocals, I start with the hook. The hook should sound much wider, or fuller than the verse. Depending on my panning, I'll do a number of things with hooks, from pitch shifting to delays to reverbs, or just panning.

With verses, I tend to leave the vocals dry, as to avoid confusing the listener. If they're not thick enough, I'll thicken em up with some light reverb or maybe delay, or voice doublers or pitch shifts in a duplicate track, but usually they remain dry. The simpler the music is, sometimes the simpler the effects are. Sometimes the music is so simple that I have to do something phoenominal with the effects. And if the music is too complicated, I may back off on effects to avoid adding too much to the song.

As for bass and kicks, I only add reverb when the music is simple, and the bass notes are simple. Most likely, I'll back off on the reverb completely with the bass and kick.

Just a simple start for me... it's ALWAYS different when I mix. It always depends on the project, and what the artist (or I) want(s) to accomplish.

Thankx man...Everytime u post i learn a lot...Whats your background as far as the technical aspect is concerned. Did you go to music school, intern in a studio, self-taught?...
 

Hypnotist

Ear Manipulator
ill o.g.
Self taught from 14 to 20... made 2 amateur hip hop albums that sold pretty well in my neck of the woods... went to school at the New England Institute of Art in Boston to touch up on my skills... interned at 3 different recording studios, got a job at a major recording studio in Manhattan... got laid off in april, still can't get back in to the game, and don't know if I'm willing to grin and bear the cost of living with the salary of bein a general assistant/assistant engineer. I've been mixing records on the side for small amounts of $$ but not to pay the bills. I'll probably start my own company within the next year if shit goes right.
 

bigdmakintrax

BeatKreatoR
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 123
If you use waves there is a way to use them chained according to how they recommend, I have a printout but I forgot the URL it is in Depth as hell to either use the chains for just nice processing or actual analog or digital mastering they show you how to and the order of effects along with settings that have been used by protools engineers....I need to find the sheets because I printed them off somewhere else but I think the printout has the url....its about 8 or 9 pages of instructions and graphics on properly chaining them....and the settings that would work for certain situations....you might google waves chain or something...
 
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