# Effect resources



## Soundguy1 (Dec 3, 2008)

I have been asked to provide some information on different effects, and when to use them during live events. Does anyone have any good resources I can pull some info from. they would really like to know when to use effects and my answer of you just do what sounds right doesn't fly with them. What things have you learned about effects that you know you like and things you have learned that are terrible. 

Josh


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## immortalgropher (Feb 16, 2010)

I'll give you the most simple answer.

No effects on anything unless specifically requested by musicians.

The only thing that gets effects are vocals, a little verb and a little delay.

gate the kick, bottom snare and toms, comp top snare, keyboards.

If you're doing a large show you might have delay speakers.

Otherwise, no effects unless asked.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Not sure of any sources you can refer to, but a smidge of delay can really “fatten” up a lead singer. I don’t care for reverb because you typically get way more of that than you want for free at most venues. But at outdoor gigs, reverb can be nice. I’ve even used it for bass guitar solos – surprisingly nice.

Regards,
Wayne


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## chonc (Jun 9, 2009)

maybe it's a given... but wouldn't you use EQ on almost everything?


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## immortalgropher (Feb 16, 2010)

chonc said:


> maybe it's a given... but wouldn't you use EQ on almost everything?


Only if it's needed.


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## chonc (Jun 9, 2009)

AstralPlaneStudios said:


> Only if it's needed.


don't you need it in pretty much everything when you are dealing with different venues (little or no control over the acoustic space)?

I have done very little live sound in my career... but find it very interesting:T


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## Soundguy1 (Dec 3, 2008)

chonc said:


> don't you need it in pretty much everything when you are dealing with different venues (little or no control over the acoustic space)?
> 
> I have done very little live sound in my career... but find it very interesting:T


A lot of the room should be taken care of with the main EQ. At least in a perfect world that is.

Thanks for the help guys, I was hoping to find something that helped explain density, reverb time, decay E/R that kind of thing. 

Anyone know of any good recordings that you think did a great job using effect. Mainly vocals, we do have some freedom in using vocal effects since our room is fairly dead. I do run less reverb on the lead vocals if any to give them a little more presence, but it depends and being in a town with a lot of engineers they like to when A happens you do B, I would hate doing my job if it worked that way though.


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## immortalgropher (Feb 16, 2010)

Density is just how "full" it is. It's similar to wet/dry mix.

Reverb time is simply how long the reverb lasts. Also, don't forget to EQ your verbs exactly the same as the vocal channel's EQ in a live setting.

Are you wanting live recordings or just anything with vocal effects? A lot of black metal uses vocal effects. Dimmu Borgir, Crystal Abyss, darkthrone, etc.


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## chonc (Jun 9, 2009)

just elaborating on density:

Reverb is made of a lot of reflections of a sound arriving at slightly different times to your ear. Density means how many of these little reflections are there (in a natural reverb that would depend on how reflective is the surface and how many surfaces are on a room). So, the more dense a reverb is the less presence the original signal has. If you want a long reverb but want to keep some presence, then adjust the density knob.

Basically the reverb is made of two components Early reflections, and the reverb tail. When a sound is generated in a room the first thing that arrives to your ears is the sound itself, the second thing would be the early reflections (which are the strongest reflections that bounce of a surface and then to your ears). The early reflections give you a sense of the "color" of the room. The reverb tail is made of all the other reflections that come after (which are made of de original signal bouncing off various surfaces and arriving at your ears at slightly different times). The longest the tail is (decay) usually the bigger and reflective the room is. Again, if you want presence, you should keep the decay short. You also have a control named Pre-delay which basically means how long will your reverb tail will take to be heard after the original signal. The longest time it takes, the bigger the room is perceived.

If your live venue is fairly dead, you can take advantage of all these controls, but as Wayne pointed out before, in most venues you get lots of reverb for free. In such cases you're better off using just delay to fatten the signal as Wayne also pointed out.

Hope this info helps with your engineer friends:T


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## 0bazooka_joe0 (Mar 22, 2010)

chonc said:


> don't you need it in pretty much everything when you are dealing with different venues (little or no control over the acoustic space)?
> 
> I have done very little live sound in my career... but find it very interesting:T


As was stated before, if you dont need it why use it? Perhaps what youre talking about or somewhat alluding to is the system EQ which is designed cut out resonant frequencies that will cause you feedback.

If it aint broke, dont fix it!


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