Demo Doctor

A few of this month's demos demonstrate basically good effects ideas that are marred by poor execution. One example of such an idea is pre-delayed reverb applied to drums and panned to one side of the stereo image, to provide stereo interest to the listener and aid the groove. However, such effects never really come off unless the effects return level is just right. Too much and you've lost the clarity and purpose of the original dry sound; too little and the effect sounds half-hearted and pointless.

I'm also noticing that some stereo effects on the vocals aren't being balanced that well, particularly the pitch-shift and harmoniser-style treatments. Remember that the dry vocal sound will, in most cases, occupy the middle of the stereo image, being panned to centre. The two effects returns are then panned one left and one right, and should be a bit lower in level than the dry signal, unless they're being used for a special vocal effect on a phrase or two of the lyrics.

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