Understanding components of mixing

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EnigmaticHipster

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i understand EQing but what is the point of reverbs, delays, compressions, chorusing, flanging, etc. like what is it specifically mean to do
 
but i mean specfically what do all those fuctions do. ok you know what just give me the low down of reverbs, delays, compressions, chorusing, flanging, and any other plug-in you use for mixing. because right now i can't mix for my life and its really killing my work flow
 
EnigmaticHipster said:
but i mean specfically what do all those fuctions do. ok you know what just give me the low down of reverbs, delays, compressions, chorusing, flanging, and any other plug-in you use for mixing. because right now i can't mix for my life and its really killing my work flow
Click to expand...

Reverbs are about
  • initial sounds (pre-delay) - point of origin,
  • early reflections (earliest points where the sounds start to bounce back to your ears) - listeners position in the environment,
  • room/environment size (the overall density of reflections heard in the current environment) - overall environment,
  • die-away time (how long before these reflections fall beneath your current level of perception) - overall environment plus listeners perception limits

Echo/Delay is discrete one-off or many repetitions but with a discernible break between repetitions, and therefore discrete direction cues, unlike reverb

Compressors are used to do one of three things
  1. Tame transients - high energy spikes in initial hits of percussion or other instruments
  2. Reduce overall dynamic range
  3. make-up for low levels without compromising overall dynamic range (I know some folks will argue this one, but it is relevant nonetheless)

Gates are used to do amongst others the following
  • Eliminate high noise floors that cannot be avoided when recording some instruments (i.e. distorted guitars, spillage in drum mics, etc)
  • Allow for triggering of an instrument by using a side-chain key audio track to clean-up messy articulations in some parts, particularly guitars but also other areas)

Chorus is a term used to describe combining several multi-delayed signals with the original signal - you can set
  • rate which is how fast or slow the delay time is
  • depth - how much of the delayed signals get combined back in
  • pan - L/R positioning
  • wet/dry - how much original signal vs effected signal is fed out (useful for insert vs send effect control)
  • resonance - the extent to which the effected signal is fed back to the start of the process

Flanging is similar to chorus but uses much shorter delay times.

Both are implemented as digital comb filters, as these are the most useful models that have been found so far...

Phasing is also based on digital comb filters but the rates are even slower and the idea is to shift certain frequencies by 90[sup]o[/sup] or more in relation to the original signal. You may find
  • Rate
  • Depth
  • Resonance
  • Pan

as options for these.

Anything else is simply some combination of these or eq afaik
 
thanks for the explanation bandcoach, but can you like dumb the down the definitions a little bit like in lay man terms, i am getting kinda of lost here. also when will you know to use each one, or is just a matter of choice. can i combine some of these effects or should i just use it one at a time
 
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EnigmaticHipster said:
thanks for the explanation bandcoach, but can you like dumb the down the definitions a little bit like in lay man terms, i am getting kinda of lost here. also when will you know to use each one, or is just a matter of choice. can i combine some of these effects or should i just use it one at a time
Click to expand...

Happy too, but I'm not sure where you want it down to or which ones, as some are already "downed" as it were...

  • pre-delay: how much time before the reverberations early reflections begin, measured in ms
  • point of origin: where the sound is in the sonic environment
  • overall environment/sonic environment: room/venue/chamber/dungeon/open air/etc
  • listeners position in the environment: where the sounds are first heard
  • minimum level of perception: everything has a level below which it cannot be perceived, whether this related to
    • vision,
    • sound,
    • taste,
    • smell,
    • touch
  • discrete: single event
  • discernible break: obvious in yo face time between
  • direction cues: left/right, up/down, in front/ behind, in another room/environment
  • transients: snare drum hit has a set of high initial energy spikes: these are transients, as in they occupy a small space of time
  • dynamic range: difference between softest and loudest sounds, measured in db/m or as spl
  • rate: how short or long the delay time if referring to a delay; otherwise how fast/slow the LFO is running
  • depth: how much of the delayed signals get combined back in
  • pan: L/R positioning
  • wet/dry: how much original signal (dry) vs effected signal (wet) is fed out
  • resonance - the extent to which the effected signal is fed back to the start of the process
  • insert: part of the processing chain for a channel
  • send: a bussed FX channel used by the entire mix
  • comb filter: a filter that has an effect at multiple freqs, so that the the filter response looks like the teeth of a comb
  • Phase shift: delaying a signal by a partial amount of the wave cycle. This can be all freqs or a particular set of freqs from 1 to many
  • distortion: deliberate or accidental cutting off of the highest amplitudes in a signal so that there are either:
    • flat lines (harsh square-wave like) or
    • rounded edges (soft tube/transformer-like emulation)



combining these is a matter of choice and taste.

Reasons' Alligator is a combination HPF/BPF/LPF setup with gating on each filter channel and distortion added to each filter channel with the output of each filter mixed back into a single signal per stereo channel:


. . . . . . .{HPF -> Gate -> {Optional distortion} -> }
signal in -> {BPF -> Gate -> {Optional distortion} -> } Combined effect -> Output ->
. . . . . . .{LPF -> Gate -> {Optional distortion} -> }
. . . . . . . . . . . . ^
. . . . . . . . . . . . |
Sidechain Gate Key. . . +

 
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As a side note, remember that these tools are not just meant to be used for fixing things, but also to create a feeling that you want a listener to experience.
 
Well, in short, reverb and delay are there to create space/room/depth, chorus and maybe flanger I'd say it's good to achieve wideness and compression is about saving headroom.

Of course you can use this for effects too, if you want them in your track. Like BrokenScythe just said! :)
 
And of course, the easiest way to get a feel for what these effects do is to simply take a sound, put one of those effects on it and see how it sounds and what happens when you turn the knobs. Granted, something like compression isn't exactly easy to figure out, but at least you get some basic insight on it. Try things out, man.
 
bandcoach gave some awsome info here but you can check out this guy on youtube: BlueEclipsePro1 - YouTube
BTW it's not me.I learned a lot from him.He does a good job of explaining the basics in a way that anyone can understand.
 
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