Effects and Workflow Theory...???

Chew_Bear

New member
A little confused about something...When using effects such as reverb and delay on any instrument, sample or track...

Generally...Are you considered working in mixing mode/workflow...or...sound design mode/workflow...?

My original train of thought and what I always assumed was that...effects were strictly for when its finally time to mix the song. But...I just recently found out that I really like to put effects (reverb, delay, chorus, flanger etc.) on my tracks from the start/get go because it makes the instrument/sample sound that much better and therefore makes me feel more 'creative' and helps me start ideas and melodies. It feels more intuitive and just makes the sound more pleasing to work with and not so dull/plain jane. Therefore...even in sound design...I will also put a lot of effects on my tracks/instruments.

Do most people feel the same way...? Do most producers work like this also...or do they strictly wait until mixing time in order to put effects on their tracks/instruments...?

I know what people will say...That it does not matter and that most people will just do what ever feels right at the time and not give too much thought as to which workflow they should be in. But I am just a little confused because it seems like I am all over the place when it comes to my workflow and I want to 'streamline' my workflow to make things a lot simpler and efficient.
 
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That it does not matter and that most people will just do what ever feels right at the time and not give too much thought as to which workflow they should be in.
Well... yes :) I think if you're alone (no other musicians, players) you can do what you want, strict approach is kinda restrictive
 
Doing 'whatever feels right' is a terrible approach to creativity. "Doing what you want" sounds easy.. but for that you still need to know what it is you want.
I'm very much on the opposite, where I constantly try to conciously and critically think about my workflows:
-Is it getting the results that I want?
-Are they worth the hassle and time put in?
-Is there a better, faster or smarter way to achieve those results?
-Is there a way to achieve 'better' results (whatever better may be? One man's trash, right?)

And I set myself goals like, I'm gonna focus on my hi-midrange mixing. I'm gonna learn this effect or instrument or I'm gonna find another way to mix a kick.
You can't improve in every direction all the time, but you can improve in some little way every time. I completely overhauled my kit with streamlining in mind. Everything I have and use now is great and has a purpose in my kit.
No filler allowed. It works so much better. It's quicker, more fun to do and the results.. well just check one of my year old tracks against what I'm doing now :P

So effects... not sure how you can manage any sound design without them? Unless your concept of 'sound design' is flipping through a library of pre-made sounds.
I use them extensively and brutally in the sound design stage. I'll happily boost or attentuate 30db with my EQ, squash the living shit out of a synth with a compressor and liberally sprinkle time/delay based effects everywhere (reverb, chorus, flanger, delay, echo). But I make a hard distinction when I get to mixing. If I don't make a separate project for this, I'll at least use separate effects on my channels. So the first 3 or 4 are maybe sound design effects and the later ones used for the mix. Those effects I treat more like precision tools, and I love all-in-one channelstrips for this because it has everything I need in one screen. If I'm troubleshooting a harsh snare, I know the issue is somewhere in that window and don't have to flip through a bunch of separate effects to find out what did what again. In short you could say: it's totally fine to use effects whenever and however you want, as long as you yourself are conscious about what you're doing and why. It definitely helps to break a project up in stages like sound design, arrangement, mixing and finalizing.. or whatever works for you.
 
i do feel the same way , and i think everybody does... u can be so much more creative and inspired with a great sounding instrument than with a dry ass piano ( for example )
 
I'd say to use the 'FX while creating' approach only when you know the FX will be very apparent. For example for a very evident delay. In other words, when the FX is part of the composition. When the FX just makes it sound better, stay away from it until it's time to mix. This way you will 'force' yourself to make things interesting because of how they are composed and not because of the FX, and when it comes the time to mix and add the FX...

Boom. Amazing results ;)
 
As you can probably already gather from the answers, drawing the line on a general level is going to be extremely difficult - sometimes the sound design & fx are integral to the composition, and sometimes it's just the icing on the cake. In other words, the answer is the phrase nobody ever wants to hear - it depends.
 
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