PROCESSING AND EFFECTS

INSERTING AND CHAINING EFFECTS

Effects can be inserted into console channels individually or chained together in different combinations.  Imagine plugging a snare drum into a large Reverb that in turn was plugged into a Harmonizer set to lower it very deeply.  Plug the Harmonizer into a Phase Shifter to give it a curl.  Finally, put that whole sound into a Gate so that it begins and ends abruptly.

Some effects can be controlled externally.  Compressors and Gates can be triggered from “external keys” in which case the sound that has to approach the threshold is NOT the sound being controlled by the effect but rather a whole other sound.  You can even take a sound, make a second version of it that has an extreme effect to help isolate something specific (such as very sharp “ssssss” sounds) and then use that second version to trigger the threshold of an effect on the original sound (such as a Limiter).  This is basically how a “De-esser” works.