Effects Chain Orders

[JTMMusicuk]

It was deadmau5 with a few other big producers sitting making a tune on webcam, i think it was kill the noise (i might be wrong) who showed how 3 compressors off th trot can make a synth with mad LFOs on it make a really nice growl

the thing is that can be done even easier with just 1 distortion plugin.
i still think using 3 compressors in one chain is retarded. i dont care if mau5hax, deadmau5 or aliv3mau5 says its useful.

No it cant mate, they didnt just say it they proved it and i have used the same technique and its very usefull. Fair enough you can say you can make growls in other ways or whatever but your being very naive
Im just trying to stop the spread of misinformation

[fv2k]

It was deadmau5 with a few other big producers sitting making a tune on webcam, i think it was kill the noise (i might be wrong) who showed how 3 compressors off th trot can make a synth with mad LFOs on it make a really nice growl

the thing is that can be done even easier with just 1 distortion plugin.
i still think using 3 compressors in one chain is retarded. i dont care if mau5hax, deadmau5 or aliv3mau5 says its useful.

Do it then

here's a wav of the unaltered patch:
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/40722693/file.html

here's a wav of the same sequence but run through 3 multiband compressors the same way they did for reference's sake:
http://www8.zippyshare.com/v/18204593/file.html

Work your magic


and it hardly gets any easier than slapping on three compressor presets in series

[JTMMusicuk]

http://www.mediafire.com/?quwxb2rl3cgzydx
uncompressed

http://www.mediafire.com/?p3444fylf0j63l5
compressed 3 times

im not sure the exact synthesis behind it but it deffinitly brings out the growl movement

[MoonUnit]

Here's something that could use addressing... [INSERT SALAD JOKE HERE]

When utilizing the haas effect (20-30 ms delay on a sound for fattening/broadening the sound), is it better to place the delay at the beginning of your chain or towards the end? It makes sense to me to put it before reverb, otherwise you may land yourself with a wet fart, but that's about the only thing I'm sure of.

I've also come across on this forum that phasers very early in FX chains can yield some great results. Layering it with other FX starts to 'hide' the phaser and incorporate the movement of it better into the end product. Personally, I haven't had much luck with phasers in general... the one I've tried in Reason is dinky and yet it still baffles me, dat shit all sounds similar

[fv2k]

Here's something that could use addressing... [INSERT SALAD JOKE HERE]

When utilizing the haas effect (20-30 ms delay on a sound for fattening/broadening the sound), is it better to place the delay at the beginning of your chain or towards the end? It makes sense to me to put it before reverb, otherwise you may land yourself with a wet fart, but that's about the only thing I'm sure of.

I've also come across on this forum that phasers very early in FX chains can yield some great results. Layering it with other FX starts to 'hide' the phaser and incorporate the movement of it better into the end product. Personally, I haven't had much luck with phasers in general... the one I've tried in Reason is dinky and yet it still baffles me, dat shit all sounds similar

depends on whether you want the reverb tail to delay

[MoonUnit]

just did a comparison of reverb before delay, versus reverb after delay and here's what I noticed.

Reverb after delay produced a fatter/bigger sound.

Reverb before delay produced a less powerful sound, but the spatial image was nicer sounding and it sounded a bit more clear.

[Fauster]

It was deadmau5 with a few other big producers sitting making a tune on webcam, i think it was kill the noise (i might be wrong) who showed how 3 compressors off th trot can make a synth with mad LFOs on it make a really nice growl

Maybe I was just being close-minded and ignorant but it seemed like a dumb idea to me. Care to explain how I would set this up?

When utilizing the haas effect (20-30 ms delay on a sound for fattening/broadening the sound)

I was under the impression the haas effect was usually between 10-20. I thought 30 ms was the threshold for the delay, where your ear starts hearing the delayed signal as a separate sound. Am I incorrect?

[JTMMusicuk]

Its literally as easy as slapping three brick wall compressors on a synth with alot of filter movement, if you use massive you get the best results from using two band pass filters in a chain rather than parrallel

[Dy-nasty]

then if this multiple comrpessor chain works...perhaps someone can post a chain that they have had success in creating a great growl sound using this multiple compressor technique.

[Fauster]

then if this multiple comrpessor chain works...perhaps someone can post a chain that they have had success in creating a great growl sound using this multiple compressor technique.

I'm gonna try to get this to work later today. If I have any success I'll post the results. Although I really don't understand how 3 brickwall limiters in a row would do anything.

[Shum]

those compression heavy chains at the start are very interesting indeed.

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

then if this multiple comrpessor chain works...perhaps someone can post a chain that they have had success in creating a great growl sound using this multiple compressor technique.

Why don't you just experiment with the concept?.....

[Attila]

Soundcloud

This is a song I'm messing around with with that effect chain (2-3 instances) with a bunch of automation. Only tried using it with a growl yesterday and the result was pretty immense. I look forward to ironing out the intricacies of it over the next few weeks. Basically just adds a lot of grit and movement, and once you start dropping other shit in it and playing around, the sounds you get are very nice. But in the case of this song, it just created a really funky sounding saw haha

[NinjaEdit]

I discovered last night night that instead of using an effect once, try using it a number of times until the sound doesn't improve.

Eg, Parallel multiband compressor improves sound
use that plugin a few more times until it doesn't improve sound

Also works with EQ (I use it in parallel), reverb, chorus, parallel compressor, delay etc.

[narcissus]

that compressor chain sounds exactly like shoving a wave into a limiter. which incidentally is what i often do.

for any gritty/dirty/growly sound, i shove a clean waveform hard into ableton's limiter, usually turn the release down to about zero (which is responsible for distortion) then do EQ/filter cuts as needed. when you adjust the filter going into the limiter, you can get many pleasing timbres. adding in slight amounts of varied oscillators will also give you subtle changes that i like to take advantage of.
that's basically what i do when i want something basic like a saw or a square sound, but A) i want it upfront and gritty B) i don't want it to sound so 'out of the box'
limiters are also very useful on a sound that has filter movement that is going into a saturator, so that it distorts it basically the same amount no matter where the filter frequency is

need it to have dynamic range? automate volume or use another filter afterward

[subfect]

my usual effect chain for basses is

synth -> distortion -> compression -> brickwall limiter -> distortion -> distortion -> reverb -> distortion -> delay -> distortion -> tube saturation -> brickwall limiter -> gate -> EQ -> distortion -> multiband compressor -> multiband compressor -> multiband compressor

gets that nice growling diarrhea wobble bass. make sure to set compressors to 1:1 ratio. this step is very important.

Reverb at that point? I assume it's a really short, plate reverb or something? Also the gate in there surprises me.

[narcissus]

i thought it would be obvious i was taking the piss. who the hell would put reverb into distortion, then delay it, and put it into like 4 more distortion units?? the gate after brickwall limiting is part of the joke

[narcissus]

altho i got kinda curious....



http://www.mediafire.com/?06si3fzp5ya1ia1

[Mexztah]

wait, so what started as a joke turned into people making some crazy noises using multiple compressors and the like
Dear god
Or have i got the wrong end of the stick?

[dubesteppe]

http://www.mediafire.com/?quwxb2rl3cgzydx
uncompressed

http://www.mediafire.com/?p3444fylf0j63l5
compressed 3 times

im not sure the exact synthesis behind it but it deffinitly brings out the growl movement

do all three compressors have identical settings?(i think that would do very little) so if its being brick walled, your ratio is set towards infinity, but what are your thresholds set at?