How to Create Recording Effects in a Home Studio

There are many different types of effects you will use in the home recording studio. These effects may simply smooth out your audio or border on extreme transformations. Using recording effects can add dimension, depth, presence and pop to your mixes.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Listen to your track critically to decide what it needs. You can start by throwing on all kinds of effects, and you may end up with something that sounds good, but you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble if you give your track a few listens with no active effects. Make a mental list of what the track needs, lacks or has too much of.

2. Start out with some EQ. EQ is how you control the frequency characteristics of your audio. You can amplify or reduce the level at specific frequencies to accentuate the desired frequencies and cut out the unneeded ones. Having good control of your frequency spectrum will allow your tracks to cut through the mix better. On a vocal track, for instance, you can cut the low frequencies below 100 hertz, and then accentuate the presence in the high-mids.

3. Add some compression as needed. Compression reduces the dynamic range of your audio so that the quieter parts come out louder and the track becomes more controlled in the mix. For most applications, you don't need a lot of compression. Set your threshold so that you are reducing the dynamics by 3 to 6 decibels at its loudest points. Adjust as needed so that your compression sounds natural.

4. Create space and depth with reverb and delay. Ideally, you would record all of your audio tracks in the perfect space with ideal equipment to capture the room tones and nuances. Unfortunately, in the home studio you are probably limited in recording space. You can use reverb to recreate room sounds like big live rooms or small dead rooms as well as everything in between. You can also use delay to create depth to your tracks. Just be careful not to get carried away because your mix can end up muddy or washed out if you have too much reverb and delay.

5. Experiment. The home studio is the perfect place to try new things out. If a crazy idea pops into your head, try it. Run your vocals through a guitar amplifier plugin or try some phasing EQ effects. Possibilities are limitless and the only rule is to create something that sounds good.