Signal Processors

Delay, originally called echo, is one of the oldest artificial effects, yet it can still be one of the most impressive — if used with care. Paul White explains the potential problems and how to avoid them.

Chorus, phasing and flanging are very common processes, but they don't always achieve the effect you hoped for. Paul White offers a few tips.

Paul White explains why a great reverb doesn't always make a mix sound better.

Paul White concludes his series with an exhortation to unleash your creativity...

Last month Paul White covered gates and compressors; this month it's up to enhancers to justify their existence...

Paul White looks at how MIDI can be used to turn static effects into dynamic ones.

Paul White offers a little practical advice on the application of signal processing during recording and mixing.

Having looked at the various types of effects available, Paul White explains the importance of the order in which these effects are applied.

Modern multi-effects units provide all sorts of useful processors in addition to the more usual reverb and delay-based effects. Paul White discusses the extras you might find inside your effects box and how best to use them.

To start off this short series on multi-effects programming, Paul White explores the key building blocks found in today's versatile units.

Paul White looks at the different ways in which the leading enhancers produce their results, and offer some practical advice on where the various types work best.

These days a compressor is pretty much an essential purchase if you're recording vocals or non-keyboard instruments. Paul White looks at how they operate, and how they can be used both to control levels and to fatten sounds.

Craig Anderton explains how you can use your multi-effects unit to create contemporary short delay treatments.

Paul White goes into economy mode and tries to coax an extra degree of realism out of a budget studio reverb unit.

What would modern popular music be like without effects? Can you imagine rock without distortion? Ambient techno without delays? New age without reverb? Effects are second only in importance to the instrument needed to produce the music in the first place. Over the next nine pages, Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser present their guide to what's on the effects market today...

Paul White explores a few ways of taking nature's most common audio phenomenon and manipulating it to create special effects.

Paul White looks at the many parameters which govern compression, how to improve your recording technique, and how not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

You might think that EQ is simply a tone control, but as Paul White explains, it's really a powerful mind-manipulating tool inextricably linked to the survival of the species!

There's more to gating than just getting rid of unwanted noise: the humble noise gate is capable of truly creative studio trickery. David Mellor reveals some of the unusual uses for your Drawmer DS201, but if you don't own a DS201, don't despair: these tips can be adapted for most good quality gates.

With so much interest in vintage synths, it's easy to overlook the fact that many classic sounds owed just as much to the tape delays being used at the time as to the instruments themselves. Paul White shows you how to fake the effect.

Digital delay tends to be taken very much for granted, but the majority of today's studio effects would be impossible without it. Paul White describes how to set up your own DDL effects from scratch.