Home Studio Clinic: A Musicians Guide to Professional Recording (Music Pro Guides)

They are also built into amplifiers , tabletop units designed for DJs and record producers , and rackmounts , and are widely used as software VSTs. Musicians, audio engineers and record producers use effects units during live performances or in the studio , typically with electric guitar , bass guitar , electronic keyboard or electric piano.

While guitar effects are most frequently used with electric or electronic instruments, effects can also be used with acoustic instruments, drums and vocals. An effects unit is also called an "effect box", "effects device", "effects processor" or simply "effects".

In audio engineer parlance, a signal without effects is "dry" and an effect-processed signal is "wet". A pedal-style unit may be called a "stomp box", "stompbox", "effects pedal" or "pedal". A musician bringing many pedals to a live show or recording session often mounts the pedals on a guitar pedalboard , to reduce set-up and tear-down time and, for pedalboards with lids, protect the pedals during transportation.

When a musician has multiple effects in a rack mounted road case , this case may be called an "effects rack" or "rig". When rackmounted effects are mounted in a roadcase, this also speeds up a musician's set-up and tear-down time, because all of the effects can be connected together inside the rack case and all of the units can be plugged into a powerbar.

Effects units are available in a variety of formats or form factors. Stompboxes are primarily used units in live performance and in some cases studio recordings. Rackmount devices saw a heavy usage during the later 20th century, due to their advanced processing power and desirable tones. However, by the 21st century, with the advant of digital Plug-Ins and more powerful Stompboxes for live usage, the need and practicality of rackmounted effects units went down, and as such, prices of rack effects have diminished due to lower usage.

During a live performance, the effect is plugged into the electrical "signal" path of the instrument. In the studio, the instrument or other sound-source's auxiliary output is patched into the effect. Stompboxes are small plastic or metal chassis which usually lie on the floor or in a pedalboard to be operated by the user's feet. Pedals are often rectangle-shaped, but there are a range of other shapes e.

Typical simple stompboxes have a single footswitch, one to three potentiometers "pots" or "knobs" for controlling the effect, and a single LED that indicates if the effect is on. A typical distortion or overdrive pedal's three potentiometers, for example, control the level or intensity of the distortion effect, the tone of the effected signal and the volume level of the effected signal. Depending on the type of pedal, the potentiometers may control different parameters of the effect. For a chorus effect , for example, the knobs may control the depth and speed of the effect.

Complex stompboxes may have multiple footswitches, many knobs, additional switches or buttons that are operated with the fingers, and an alphanumeric LED display that indicates the status of the effect with short acronyms e.

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An "effects chain" or "signal chain" is formed by connecting two or more stompboxes. Effect chains are typically created between the guitar and the amp or between the preamplifier "preamp" and the power amp. When a pedal is off or inactive, the electric audio signal coming into the pedal diverts onto a bypass , an unaltered "dry" signal that continues on to other effects down the chain.

In this way, a musician can combine effects within a chain in a variety of ways without having to reconnect boxes during a performance. The switches are usually organized in a row or a simple grid. When using many effects, unwanted noise and hum can be introduced into the sound. Some performers use a noise gate pedal at the end of a chain to reduce unwanted noise and hum introduced by overdrive units or vintage gear.

Rackmounted effects are typically built in a thin metal chassis with metal "ears" designed to be screwed into a inch rack that is standard to the telecommunication , computing and music technology industries. Rackmounted effects may be one, two or three rack spaces high.

When purchased from the store, rack-mounted equipment is not equipped with the rugged chassis features used on stompboxes and amps that are designed to be transported as standalone units, such as corner protectors. Rackmounted units are typically mounted in a rack, which is housed in a road case , a tough plastic case with removable front and rear covers that can be latched on during transportation to protect the knobs and switches and then removed during performances. A rackmount unit may contain electronic circuitry identical to a stompbox's, although its circuits are typically more complex.

Unlike stompboxes, rackmounts usually have several different types of effects. Rackmounts are most commonly used in recording studios and "front of house" live sound mixing situations, though professional musicians who play electric bass , electric guitar , or synthesizers may use them in place of stompboxes, to create a rackmounted head unit for their speaker cabinet s. Rackmounts are controlled by knobs, switches or buttons on their front panel, and often by a MIDI digital control interface. During live performances, a musician can operate rackmounted effects using a "foot controller".

Shock mounts help to protect electronic devices from bumps during transportation. A multi-effects device also called a "multi-FX" device is a single electronics effects pedal or rackmount device that contains many different electronic effects. Multi-FX devices allow users to "preset" combinations of different effects, allowing musicians quick on-stage access to different effects combinations. The most expensive multi-effects units may also have looper functions.

Pedal-style multieffects range from fairly inexpensive stompboxes that contain two pedals and a few knobs to control the effects to large, expensive floor units with many pedals and knobs. Rackmounted multieffects units are typically mounted in a rack. Guitarists and bassists may mount their rackmounted multieffects unit in the same rack with their preamplifier and power amplifier.

A tabletop unit is a type of multi-effects device that sits on a desk and is controlled manually. One such example is the Pod guitar amplifier modeler. Digital effects designed for DJs are often sold in tabletop models, so that the units can be placed alongside a DJ mixer , turntables and CD scratching gear. Effects are often incorporated into amplifiers and even some types of instruments. Electric guitar amplifiers typically have built-in reverb and distortion , while acoustic guitar and keyboard amplifiers tend to only have built-in reverb.

Some acoustic instrument amplifiers have reverb, chorus, compression and equalization bass and treble effects. Vintage guitar amps and their era reissued models typically have tremolo and vibrato effects, and sometimes reverb.

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The Fender Bandmaster Reverb amp, for example, had built-in reverb and vibrato. Built-in effects may offer the user less control than standalone pedals or rackmounted units. For example, on some lower- to mid-priced bass amplifiers , the only control on the audio compression effect is a button or switch to turn it on or off, or a single knob.

In contrast, a pedal or rackmounted unit would typically provide ratio, threshold and attack knobs and sometimes "soft knee" or other options to allow the user to control the compression. Since the s, guitar amplifiers began having built-in multi-effects units or digital modeling effects. Instruments with built-in effects include Hammond organs , electronic organs , electronic pianos and digital synthesizers.

Occasionally, acoustic-electric and electric guitars will have built-in effects, such as a preamp or equalizer. The earliest sound effects were strictly studio productions. In the mid to late s, recording engineers and experimental musicians such as Les Paul began manipulating reel-to-reel recording tape to create echo effects and unusual, futuristic sounds. Microphone placement "miking" techniques were used in spaces with specially designed acoustic properties to simulate echo chambers.

This device produced a tremolo by passing an instrument's electrical signal through a water-based electrolytic fluid.

The original stand-alone units were not especially in-demand as many effects came built into amplifiers. The first popular stand-alone was the Watkins Copicat, a relatively portable tape echo effect made famous by the British band, The Shadows. Effects built into guitar amplifiers were the first effects that musicians used regularly outside the studio. From the late s onward, the Gibson Guitar Corp. Fender began manufacturing the tremolo amps Tremolux in and Vibrolux in Distortion was not an effect originally intended by amplifier manufacturers, but could often easily be achieved by "overdriving" the power supply in early tube amplifiers.

In the s, guitarists began deliberately increasing gain beyond its intended levels to achieve "warm" distorted sounds. In Pat Hare produced heavily distorted power chords for several recordings including James Cotton 's Cotton Crop Blues " , creating "a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound," [36] accomplished by turning the volume knob on his amplifier "all the way to the right until the speaker was screaming.

The electronic transistor finally made it possible to cram the aural creativity [ when defined as? In , Univox began marketing Shin-ei's Uni-Vibe pedal, an effect designed by noted audio engineer Fumio Mieda that mimicked the odd phase shift and chorus effects of the Leslie rotating speakers used in Hammond organs. The pedals soon became favorite effects of guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower.

Upon first hearing the Octavia, Hendrix allegedly rushed back to the studio and immediately used it to record the guitar solos on " Purple Haze " and " Fire ". In the s, digital rackmount units began replacing stompboxes as the effects format of choice. Often musicians would record "dry", unaltered tracks in the studio and effects would be added in post-production.

The success of Nirvana 's album Nevermind helped to re-ignite interest in stompboxes. Some grunge guitarists would chain several fuzz pedals together and plug them into a tube amplifier. Effects and effects units—stompboxes in particular—have been celebrated by pop and rock musicians in album titles, songs and band names. Distortion effects create warm , gritty , and fuzzy sounds by " clipping " an instrument's audio signal , which distorts the shape of its wave form and adds overtones.

Distortion effects are sometimes called " gain " effects, as distorted guitar sounds were first achieved by increasing the electric power supply, e. Distortion and overdrive units re-shape or "clip" an audio signal 's wave form so that it has flattened peaks, creating "warm" sounds by adding harmonics or "gritty" sounds by adding inharmonic overtones.

In tube amplifiers , distortion is created by compressing the instrument's out-going electrical signal in vacuum tubes or "valves". Much like tube amps, overdrive units produce "clean" sounds at quieter volumes and distorted "warm" sounds at louder volumes. Distortion and overdrive pedals may either be transistor -based or digital. Distortion and overdrive effects: A fuzz pedal or " fuzzbox " is a type of overdrive pedal that clips a sound-wave until it is nearly a squarewave , resulting in a heavily distorted or "fuzzy" sound.

Effects unit

Also called volume and amplitude effects, dynamics effects modify the volume of an instrument. Dynamics effects were among the first effects introduced to guitarists. A boost or "clean boost" pedal amplifies the volume of an instrument by increasing the amplitude of its audio signal. These units are generally used for "boosting" volume during solos and preventing signal loss in long " effects chains ".

A guitarist switching from rhythm guitar to lead guitar for a guitar solo may use a boost to increase the volume of his or her solo. Treadle-based volume pedals are used by electric instrument players guitar, bass, keyboards to adjust the volume of their instrument with one foot while their hands are being used to play their instrument.

Treadle-style volume pedals are often also used to create swelling effects by removing the attack of a note or chord, as popularised by pedal steel guitar players. This enables electric guitar and pedal steel players to imitate the soft swelling sound that an orchestra string section can produce, in which a note or chord starts very softly and then grows in volume. Treadle-based volume pedals do not usually have batteries or require external power.

Compressors make loud sounds quieter and quiet sounds louder by decreasing or "compressing" the dynamic range of an audio signal. A compressor can also function as a limiter with extreme settings of its controls.

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Noise gates attenuate hum, hiss, and static in the signal by greatly diminishing the volume when the signal falls below a set threshold. Noise gates are often used by electric guitarist who play with vintage amps, which can have unwanted hum in the tone, and by guitarists from heavy metal who use high distortion levels, which add noise to the signal even when no notes are being played.

Noise gates mute the signal when it falls below a certain threshold. This means that during bars of rest for the guitarist in a song, the hum or noise from the amp or distortion pedal will not be heard by the audience. Noise gates are expanders —meaning that, unlike compressors, they increase the dynamic range of an audio signal to make quiet sounds even quieter. Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor.

Filter effects alter the frequency content of an audio signal that passes through them by either boosting or weakening specific frequencies or frequency regions. An equalizer is a set of linear filters that strengthen "boost" or weaken "cut" specific frequency regions. While basic home stereos often have equalizers for two bands, to adjust bass and treble, professional graphic equalizers offer much more targeted control over the audio frequency spectrum.

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A talk box directs the sound from an electric guitar or synthesizer into the mouth of a performer using a tube, allowing the sound to be shaped into vowels and consonants with movements of the mouth. The modified sound is then picked up by a microphone. In this way the guitarist is able create the effect that the guitar "licks" are "talking". A wah-wah pedal creates vowel -like sounds by altering the frequency spectrum produced by an instrument—i.

Wah-wah pedals are often used by funk and rock guitarists. Modulation , in general electronics, means the altering of signal strength. In audio devices, modulation is a control feature that varies the strength of some effect over time to alter tonal properties. Some modulation effects mix " modulate " an instrument's audio signal with a signal generated by the effect called a carrier wave. Chorus pedals mimic the effect choirs and string orchestras produce naturally, by having slight variations in timbre and pitch, by mixing sounds with slight differences in timbre and pitch.

A chorus effect splits the instrument-to-amplifier audio signal , and adds a slight delay and frequency variations or " vibrato " to part of the signal while leaving the rest unaltered. A flanger creates a "whooshing" "jet plane" or "spaceship" sound, simulating a studio effect that was first produced by recording a track on two synchronized tapes and periodically slowing one tape by pressing the edge of its reel the "flange". When the two tapes' audio signals are later mixed, a comb filter effect can be heard. Flanger units add a variably delayed version of the audio signal to the original or signal, creating a comb filter or Doppler effect.

A phaser or "phase shifter" creates a slight rippling effect—amplifying some aspects of the tone while diminishing others—by splitting an audio signal in two and altering the phase of one portion. A ring modulator produces a resonant, metallic sound by mixing an instrument's audio signal with a carrier wave generated by the device's internal oscillator. The original sound wave is suppressed and replaced by a "ring" of inharmonic higher and lower pitches or " sidebands ". Moogerfooger MF Ring Modulator. A tremolo effect produces a slight, rapid variation in the volume of a note or chord.

The "tremolo effect" should not be confused with the misleadingly-named " tremolo bar ", a device on a guitar bridge that creates a vibrato or "pitch-bending" effect. In transistorized effects, a tremolo is produced by mixing an instrument's audio signal with a sub-audible carrier wave in such a way that generates amplitude variations in the sound wave.

The guitar intro in the Rolling Stones ' " Gimme Shelter " features a tremolo effect. Vibrato effects produce slight, rapid variations in pitch , mimicking the fractional semitone variations produced naturally by opera singers and violinists when they are prolonging a single note. Vibrato effects often allow the performer to control the rate of the variation as well as the difference in pitch e. A vibrato with an extreme "depth" setting e.

In transistorized effects, vibrato is produced by mixing an instrument's audio signal with a carrier wave in such a way that generates frequency variations in the sound wave. A so-called "vibrato unit" in a guitar amplifier actually produces tremolo, while a " tremolo arm " or "whammy bar" on a guitar produces vibrato.

Pitch shifter and harmonizer: A pitch shifter also called an "octaver" for effects that shift pitch by an octave raises or lowers e. For example, a pitch shifter set to increase the pitch by a fourth will raise each note four diatonic intervals above the notes actually played. Simple, less expensive pitch shifters raise or lower the pitch by one or two octaves , while more sophisticated and expensive devices offer a range of interval alterations. A pitch shifter can be used by an electric guitarist to play notes that would normally only be available on an electric bass.

As well, a bass player with a four string electric bass can use an octave pedal to obtain low notes that would normally only be obtainable with a five-string bass with a low "B" string. A harmonizer is a type of sophisticated pitch shifter that combines the altered pitch with the original pitch to create a two note harmony based on the original pitch, or even with some pedals, three note harmony. Some hamonizers are able to create chorus-like effects by adding very tiny shifts in pitch.

Time-based effects delay the sound signal, add reverb or echos, or, if a long delay is possible, enable musicians to record "loops". The effect can either be a single echo called a "slap" or "slapback," or multiple echos. A looper pedal or "phrase looper" allows a performer to record and later replay a phrase, riff or passage from a song. Loops can be created on the spot during a performance live looping or they can be pre-recorded. Zen and the Art of Mixing: REV 2 Item No. Composed by — written by Mixerman. A product from Hal Leonard.

In his first book, The Daily Adventures of Mixerman , the author detailed the frustrating and often hilarious goings-on during the process of recording a major-label band. Musicians, engineers, and producers laughed and cried at the crazy goings-on they'd never imagined — or recognized all too well.

Now in his REV 2, fully updated edition of Zen and the Art of Mixing , Mixerman turns his razor-sharp gaze to the art of mixing and gives followers and the uninitiated reason to hope — if not for logic and civility in the recording studio then at least for a good sounding record. With a firm commitment to art over technology and to maintaining a grasp of each, Mixerman outlines his own approach to recording success, based on his years mixing records in all genres of music for all kinds of artists, often under trying circumstances.

Regardless of what those pressures are, it's important to identify and recognize them, if for no other reason than so you can learn to completely ignore them. Product Details Reviews 0. Technical Reference Product Type: