NEXT-LEVEL EFFECTS HOW WE APPLY EFFECTS TO AUDIO HAS GROWN FAR MORE COMPLEX

Modern effect target and plugins let us sequence combine, never before. audio processes sonic Here’s how like power… to harness that

In the early days of recorded music, effects processing was simple in principle, but often far more troublesome

in practice. In theory, applying an effect to an audio source simply involved sending audio in at one end, transforming it somehow, and capturing at the other end. This often involved cumbersome or highly creative processes though, from mammoth reverb tanks through to fiddly tape manipulation.

In 2021, that balance has been flipped on its head. It’s now incredibly easy to apply effects processing to audio, either through convenient, preset-packed plugins, modern and reliable rack units or compact and convenient stompboxes. The concept of how we apply effects to audio has grown far more complex though. We’re no longer content to simply treat an audio signal in its entirety, and most processors now let us target just some of, or a specific part of our signal, whether through simple dry/wet controls, multiband splitting, mid/side targeting or spectral processing.

In creative terms, this is definitely the better way round to have things, but it means that our effect options, as electronic musicians, have multiplied exponentially.

Let’s unpick some of the ways that modern software processing lets us take our effects treatments to the ‘next-level’… FILESILO

COMBO DEALS

As you’re FM readers, we’ll assume a certain base level of knowledge about effects; an understanding of what compressors, reverbs, filters and their like do, and when you might want to apply them. Beyond this though, the next step comes from understanding how these processor types interact.

When placed in serial – ie one after another, creating a chain – effects no longer exist in isolation. Placing one effect before another will inevitably alter the audio feeding into that second processor, affecting how it responds. For both mixing and creative purposes, it’s important to consider the order you’re placing effects into and how that can impact the outcome. The most obvious example is the combination of compression and EQ. If you place an EQ before a compressor, boosting or cutting certain frequencies will alter the way the compressor is triggered

– eg cutting the dominant bass frequencies from a drum loop will reduce the overall compression across all frequencies, hence why many compressors come equipped with sidechain high-pass filters. An EQ after compression, on the other hand, can re-introduce dynamic peaks to certain frequencies, or cut/ boost elements, without affecting the response of the compressor.

Distortion and reverb is another common example. Placing a distortion effect before your reverb will result in a more natural sound – a clean, realistic reverb tail applied to an already distorted sound. Switching the two will result in the reverb tail being distorted along with your original sound. This can sound far more synthetic, but in a highly desirable way – effectively compressing the source sound and reverb into a single sound, potentially adding some new harmonic content in the process, which is a great way to create washed-out, shoegaze-style walls of ambience.

Many modern effect plugins allow one or more effects to be applied within a single interface. Multieffect tools such as CableGuys’ ShaperBox 2, Kilohearts Multipass or Sugar Bytes Effectrix let users stack and reorder multiple effect types, each offering creative conveniences such as the ability to sequence exactly where effects are applied, create multiband splits or customise macros to adjust multiple parameter elements from a single control. Equally common are specialist effects that contain additional types of processor within their internal signal paths. A relatively straightforward example of this is Ableton Live’s stock Echo plugin, which allows users to apply both filtering and reverb alongside delay – in fact, the reverb can be set to sit either pre-delay, post-delay, or within the feedback loop, drastically altering the delay and reverb effects’ interaction. Sticking with delays, another common example is to find delay plugins that can apply pitchshifting to their feedback loop, such as with Valhalla’s excellent ValhallaDelay. By adding the pitch effect within the feedback loop, as opposed to before or after it, a unique effect is created where the sound of the pitch is changed each time it cycles through the delay loop, resulting in stacked, spiraling pitchshifting.

A more complex and impressive example of effects within effects come from Output’s excellent Thermal plugin. While, on the surface, this is essentially a distortion plugin, it contains an internal multieffect that allows users to combine processes such as delay, reverb, pitchshifting and phasing with each of its distortion stages.