Need Help In Understanding Effects

[Ronniejm]

Hello Everyone,

this is going to seem such a dumb question, but here goes anyway.

I have absolutely no idea of the whole effects thingy.

I mean I know how to switch them on and adjust them around, but it's all guess work as to what the outcome will be, I have no idea beforehand why I'm adjusting any effect I have selected.

I follow discussions on here with interest and someone will comment for example "could do with a bit more compression", my thoughts are whats compression? and why? what difference would you expect?.

so does anyone know of a website that will give me an idiots guide to effects, one that rightly assumes I know nothing.

as an example here is a couple of verses of a song, Fields Of Gold, as far as i can tell I had ALL effects OFF during recording.

Puting aside the quality of the guitar playing, What effects would you use to improve the sound, and more importantly why would use any particular effect?

I realise that the use of effects is a subjective thing, but I would just like to get my head round what each effect does to the sound.

I appreciate any help here....thanks

Ronnie

[Greeny]

First up, you play beautifully. As Ronh and Hooper (amongst others on here) have shown, when you play as well as this on an acoustic guitar, it really doesn't need any effects to enhance it. In fact, it becomes all the better for it's clean purity.

It all depends on what you want the effect for. When I'm recording an acoustic guitar, I use the in-built mic, and this has it's own bank of effects. I tend to use 'Onboard1' for this, but as you say, it's all subjective. Using effects does make the sound warmer and rounder though. Sometimes I'll record my electro acoustic through a lead at the same time. My own preference for this is to use 'BassCrnch' to help add a little depth to the sound. Again, it's just a personal preference.

The best way around the effects is to plug an electric in and just have a blast trying out all the sounds. There are too many heavy / distorted / rock effects for my liking, but there are some other real beauties that quickly became favourites. I like using the 'Nashville' and 'Jazzy' effects for relatively clean rhythm cleaning on my tele or Hofner.

Seriously though - you should leave your acoustic tones as they are. Really lovely!

And do you want some vocals added to that?! 

[Ronniejm]

Thanks for your quick reply.....and kind words.

I guess the way to go is as you suggest, by trying different effects out and seeing what the outcome is.

I discovered recently how to record dry by setting the location to INPUT REC DRY, I think this means I can then add any effects to the recorded tracks, for comparison, am I right here? is this the correct/normal way to do it?

Before I was selecting an effect then recording, not liking the result, picking a different effect and repeating the process. you can really get to not like a song after a while doing it this way.

as you can probably tell by my music choice, its a warm rounded acoustic sound that I am after.  I think as a start I would add some reverb to this, it had none on this recording, but I guess reverb is a naturally occurring effect for any acoustic instrument, so its not really cheating.

Thanks again for your help.....

BTW, If your serious about adding vocals, I would be chuffed to bits, listened to a lot of your stuff on here, very impressed, I could record a fuller version for you to have a play with.

cheers

Ronnie

[Greeny]

BTW, If your serious about adding vocals, I would be chuffed to bits, listened to a lot of your stuff on here, very impressed, I could record a fuller version for you to have a play with.

I was definitely serious, and would love to do this song as a simple acoustic / vocal arrangement 

You can add reverb to each track individually. Press 'Track 2' on the main screen, and press the arrow buttons to scroll through 'Volume' then 'Panning' then 'Reverb'. You can then use the '+' and '-' buttons to increase or lower the setting.

Don't worry - there's a lot to learn, but it does get a lot easier the more you use the BR.

[Ronniejm]

heres a fuller version of fields of gold.

intro
verse1
verse 2
verse 3
bridge
instrumental break
bridge
verse 4
verse 5
outro

feel free to cut and change as you feel fit, I know it feels too long when I sing it, but thats more to do with my singing I reckon.

I've recorded it with no effects so again if you think you can "enhance" it at all, or add more guitar, or whatever, go for it.

I'm not sure if i should have posted this here or on the collab board,  if you think the finished result is up to it you'll post it there?

Thanks again for doing this for me

cheers

Ronnie

[Ronniejm]

woops..just read that last post i sent  "if you think the end results are up to it"......how cheeky does that sound?....my apologies if it came across wrong.  you know what I meant

i'll stop digging now.....

cheers

Ronnie

[Greeny]

woops..just read that last post i sent  "if you think the end results are up to it"......how cheeky does that sound?....my apologies if it came across wrong.  you know what I meant

i'll stop digging now.....

cheers

Ronnie

I'll work on this at the weekend - and that hope my flu / cold recovers enough to do some decent vocals. And yes - I'll post it on the collaboration thread if it comes out ok 

I won't add any guitar, as my playing isn't up to your standard (nowhere near!). But I think some mandolin might add something. I'll see how it goes. I think it would be equally nice just kept simple.

I'll make sure it's mixed down with some nice, 'warming' effects.

Thanks for posting... I'm hoping this will turn out nicely!!!! 

[Greeny]

Hi Ronnie... I worked really hard on this. There's a bit of emotion in the vocal, but it was a bit low for me. And I had no idea how difficult this was to sing! Incredibly hard - mainly because the vocal is so pure, and there's nowhere to hide. Anyway - here it is to see what you think. I haven't put it on the 'post your work' thread, as I'm not entirely sure about it. But your playing is absolutely perfect!

I added some keyboard strings to the bridge and instrumental part too.

[Flash Harry]

Nice piece chaps.

[AlchemyMN]

Nice work.  The tempo and vocal range really make this standout as an original arrangement.

Only suggestion is to bring up the vocal or bring the band down a touch.

Regards,

Michael.
\o/