Members Phait Posted December 21, 2007 Members Share Posted December 21, 2007 I was going to post in Phil's forum, but I figure I could get even more input here in case some people tend to stick to one forum category and never/rarely visit others. Running Logic Audio 5. I've searched the forum regarding (plugin) chains, and DAW/Logic workflow - but I'm having trouble finding here and in general online - a guide about using plugins efficiently in chains. What's the right way? I've never used sends/aux/buses all that - I just drop inserts on each channel. Because I've never entirely had a nice example of their use. I know this isn't the proper way of doing things if you want an efficient mix session but I've never found examples to experiment with. Another thing I'm thinking of doing - I've already got an autoload environment that I use, but the tracks aren't named and I don't have a standard layout with bypassed-and-ready key effects inserted (say track 1 is bass, track 2 is guitar... track 5 drums with a compressor - whatever). But before I do that I just need to know what kind of effects routing is a good place to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted December 21, 2007 Members Share Posted December 21, 2007 Ow my Gawd,....the Carbonflaw,....he's back!!!! Welcome man!!!Booshy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted December 21, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2007 No thats dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 21, 2007 Members Share Posted December 21, 2007 What's the right way? I've never used sends/aux/buses all that - I just drop inserts on each channel. Because I've never entirely had a nice example of their use. I know this isn't the proper way of doing things if you want an efficient mix session but I've never found examples to experiment with. I'm not sure I understand the question, so I'm going to answer more generally. I also don't have Logic, another reason I'm going to try answering generally (I have Pro Tools). If you wish to affect just that one channel, then using the Insert is fine. An example of this is applying an EQ plug-in to your kick drum, where you only want the kick drum to be EQ'd in a certain manner. If you wish to affect more than one channel (and save on your CPU's resources), you may choose to use the Send Channel. Now, on my system, the Send Channel offers two different ways to route the signal:1. Busses: this is an internal virtual pathway to route signals from one place to another2. Aux Sends: This is probably what you are wanting to talk about. You can use these to split off a potion of your track's signal to send it to a reverb plug-in or an external (hardware) effect. Now, obviously, if you send something somewhere, you have to receive it. So you have an Auxiliary Return. This should, hopefully and happily, correspond with the Auxiliary Send. They should be the same. So you can create a track that is an Auxiliary Channel. Then you set that to receive the signal that the Auxiliary Send is outputting. So, let's say you want to use reverb - something that is frequently used on more than one channel AND something that is very CPU-intensive - you may choose to send it to an Auxiliary Channel. That Auxiliary Channel would have the reverb plug-in. So you would send it to the Auxiliary Channel, which would then process any audio with its reverb plug-in. You can control the volume in two ways: - One would be on your Auxiliary Send. You may control the volume of the track that you are sending to the Auxiliary Channel (the one that has the reverb on it). - The second way is simply to adjust the Auxiliary Channel's fader (which would obviously affect ALL the tracks' reverbs that you send to this channel). I truly hope this is what you're asking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted December 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 Yeah that clears it up a fair amount actually. As for volume I'm finding automation/hyperdraw is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 22, 2007 Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 Yes, I use automation (drawing in the volumes, pans, etc.) very handy. I use this from everything from controlling the volume of the singer so I don't have to use compression as much to the usual volume adjustments. What's funny is that my mixes sound so much more "organic" and breathe so much more now that I get to use automation because it's essentially like me doing a mix only I now have eight hands like an octopus...AND it does it consistently every time. How cool is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted December 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 I guess where this all came up was reading some articles online and there being mention that so-and-so had this particular chain, and someone else had this particular chain... so I started to think: there must be a reason for them setting up unique chains - and maybe there is something to learn here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 22, 2007 Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 I've never thought about setting up typical chains, actually. Having the EQ before the compressor sounds different than the EQ after the compressor, etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted December 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 Having the EQ before the compressor sounds different than the EQ after the compressor, etc. etc. That's precisely what I'm wondering about. Which way is good/bad and why? Not just for EQ/compressor but general effects and helpers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 22, 2007 Members Share Posted December 22, 2007 That's precisely what I'm wondering about. Which way is good/bad and why? Not just for EQ/compressor but general effects and helpers. I don't know that one is better than the other. It's one of those things where it depends. For instance, if you don't want your compressor to react to specific frequencies, you EQ beforehand. By EQing before the compressor, you change the way the compressor responds to the audio. So before, after...what sounds better? Most people would use flange or phasing before reverb. But it's not incorrect to flange or phase the reverb returns (in other words, flanging or phasing the reverb itself, not what's going to the reverb). I do this occasionally, and it adds this bizarre, otherworldly swirly quality to the reverb (or utter ridiculousness if done to extremes). It's odd and unrealistic, but it sounds amazing in the right context, such as a psychedelic-tinged song. So which is better often depends on what you are trying to do. There's not really any specific right or wrong chain, just what's most appropriate for the application at hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted December 23, 2007 Moderators Share Posted December 23, 2007 Try these for aux chains: Distortion into delay EQ (LP set to 4k, HP set to 150Hz) into delay, set up a send on the aux and send this signal back into itself for feedback. All of these controls are on some delays but this chain will sound cooler. Each regeneration degrades nicely into a lo fi mess. Cool. Small room gated verb into a large hall verb. The small room acts like an awesome and complex sounding predelay. Set the small room to a time value in sync with your tune. Of course the hall won't wait for the gated room to finish before it starts revererating but the gate will bounce around in time but smoothed greatly by the hall. It's wacky fun and not at all 80's gate like. Distortion into sync'ed filter into ping pong delay. Are these the types of things you're asking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 23, 2007 Members Share Posted December 23, 2007 Small room gated verb into a large hall verb. The small room acts like an awesome and complex sounding predelay. Set the small room to a time value in sync with your tune. Of course the hall won't wait for the gated room to finish before it starts revererating but the gate will bounce around in time but smoothed greatly by the hall. It's wacky fun and not at all 80's gate like. That works well and smooths out the gated reverb (if you want it to) and can create greater definition while still getting the impact of a gated reverb coupled with the smoother hall reverb, if I'm understanding you correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted December 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 23, 2007 Try these for aux chains: .. Are these the types of things you're asking for? Yeah those are interesting examples of tricks I never thought about! Must experiment now, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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