2.2 Effects
Audio effects can help you control the feeling and impact of a sound. Early effects came from natural spaces like big rooms or echo chambers, later evolving into tools that create reverb, delay, and echo electronically. Today, audio effects are essential for shaping the mood of a track and are used across all styles of music production.
Terms
Audio Effects: Tools that transforms sound to change how it feels.
Reverb: An effect that recreates the sound of a space, making audio feel like it’s in a room or hall.
Delay: An effect that repeats a sound after a short period of time, creating an echo-like quality.
1 | Overview & Plan
Listen to your beat, solo each track, and use your imagination to think about how you might change each sound.
2 | Kick EQ
Turn the bass up on the two band EQ to give it more power. Adjust the treble to make it brighter or darker.
3 | Snare Reverb
Add a reverb effect to the snare track. Choose a room size and adjust the amount of the mix.
4 | Hihat Effects
Add an autopan effect, a flanger, and optional reverb to the hihat track. Adjust the controls to shape the sound you want.
5 | Crash EQ & Reverb
Remove all of the bass in the EQ. Add the Reverb Pro effect, then turn up the Room and Width controls, and set the Mix control to a low level.
6 | Add Delay To Percussion
Add the Echo Filter to create delay. Sync the delay to the project tempo at either the eighth note or dotted eighth note. Adjust the Mix and Decay controls as needed.
7 | Add Distortion To Fill
Add the Classic Distortion effect to the fill track. Adjust the distortion amount to make the sound bigger, and use the tone control to make it brighter or darker.
8 | Vocal Transform
Try out different vocal transformations and add delay and reverb to the vocal track. If the vocal volume is too low, use a volume effect to give it a slight boost.
9 | Arrange
Create both a low-energy and a high-energy section. Duplicate your samples into both sections, then remove elements from the low-energy part.
10 | Automate Sweep
Click the Automate button on the vocal track. Select ‘Sweep’ and draw an automation curve that gradually builds throughout the low-energy section.