- Effects basics
- Using the Effects Rack
- Effect categories
- Amplitude and Compression effects
- Delay and echo effects
- Filter and EQ effects
- Modulation effects
- Noise reduction/restoration
- Reverb effects
- Special effects
- Stereo imagery effects
- Time and Pitch effects
- Third-party effects (VST and AU)
- Using the Effects menu
- Presets and favorites
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using the Effects Rack
Begin by choosing Window > Workspace > Default, and then reset the workspace by choosing Window > Workspace > Reset To Saved Layout.
Choose File > Open, navigate to the Lesson04 folder, and open the file Drums110.wav.
Click the Transport Loop Playback button so the drum pattern will play continuously. Click the Play button to listen to the loop, and then click the Stop button.
NOTEAlthough you can’t see any graphical connection among effects in the Effects Rack, they are in series, meaning that the audio file feeds the first effect input, at the top of the stack, the first effect output feeds the second effect input, the second effect output feeds the third effect input, and so on until the last effect output goes to your audio interface. Effects do not have to go into consecutive inserts. You can leave empty inserts between effects, and then place effects in these inserts later.
Click the Effects Rack panel name to bring it to the front of the frame. Resize the panel as necessary to be able to see several, or even all 16 “slots,” called inserts; each can hold an individual effect and also includes a Master Power On/Off button
. A toolbar is located above the inserts, and meters with a second toolbar are below the inserts.To add an effect to an insert, click the insert’s right arrow and choose an effect from the menu. For the first effect, choose Reverb > Studio Reverb. The Rack Effect − Studio Reverb effect window opens.
Inserting an effect turns its Power button to On (green) and opens the effect’s window. Move the window to one side for now, so you can see the Effects Rack.
For a second effect, choose Delay and Echo > Analog Delay. Once again, move the window to one side so you can see the Effects Rack.
Turn Off (bypass) the Analog Delay effect by clicking its Power button. Press the spacebar to begin playback, and then turn the Studio Reverb effect’s Power button on and off to hear how reverb changes the sound.
Click the Studio Reverb window to bring it to the front. If it’s not visible, you can always double-click the effect in the Effects Rack. Press the spacebar again to stop playback.
TIPEach effect dialog box has an additional Power button in the lower-left corner to make it easy to bypass/compare the processed and unprocessed sound. Clicking this Power button also toggles the Power button for the effect in the Effects Rack.
When playback is stopped, you can choose an effect’s preset. Open the Studio Reverb’s Presets menu, and choose Drum Plate (Large). Begin playback.
You’ll hear a more pronounced reverb sound.
Click the Analog Delay effect window to bring it to the front, and then turn on its Power button.
You’ll hear an echo effect, but it’s not in time with the music.
To make the delay follow the rhythm, click in the Delay parameter’s numeric field, type 545 in place of 200, and then press Enter (Return). The echoes are now in time with the music. (Later in this chapter you’ll learn how to choose rhythmically correct delay times.)
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Keep this audio file open as you continue.
Removing, editing, replacing, and moving an effect
Rather than stepping through a structured exercise, try the various bulleted options that follow to see how they work. After each action, restore the project to its previous state by choosing Edit > Undo [name of action] or pressing Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (macOS):
To remove a single effect, click the name of the effect in the Effects Rack and press Backspace/Delete. Or, click the insert’s right arrow and choose Remove Effect from the menu.
To remove all effects in the rack, right-click anywhere on an effect insert slot, and choose Remove All Effects.
To remove some effects in the rack, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) each effect insert containing an effect you want to remove to select them. Then right-click anywhere in any selected effect, and choose Remove Selected Effects.
To edit an effect when its window is hidden or you have closed it, double-click the effect in the Effects Rack. You can also click the insert’s right arrow and choose Edit Effect from the menu, or right-click anywhere on an effect in the Effects Rack and choose Edit Selected Effect.
To replace an effect with a different effect, click the insert’s right arrow and choose a different effect from the menu.
To move an effect to a different insert, click the name in the effect’s insert and drag to the desired destination insert. If an effect already exists in that insert, Audition will push the existing effect down to the next insert below.
Bypassing all or some effects
You can bypass individual effects, groups of effects, or all effects in the Effects Rack by doing any of the following:
Click the Master Power button in the lower-left corner of the Effects Rack’s panel
to bypass all enabled rack effects. When powered back on, only effects that had been enabled prior to bypassing are turned back on. Bypassed effects remain bypassed regardless of the Master Power button setting.Right-click any effect’s insert, and choose Toggle Power State of Effects Rack.
To bypass some effects, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) each effect’s insert you want to bypass, right-click any of these inserts, and then choose Toggle Power State of Selected Effects.
“Gain-staging” effects
Sometimes inserting multiple effects in series causes certain frequencies to “add up” and produce audio levels that may exceed the available headroom. For example, a filter that emphasizes the midrange could create distortion by increasing levels above acceptable limits.
To adjust the Input levels (the level going into the effects), or Output levels (the total level coming from the effects), use the controls (with associated meters) in the lower part of the Effects Rack.
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Remove the existing effects from the Effects Rack using any of the methods described earlier. You can also select each effect and press Backspace/Delete to remove it.
In any effect insert in the Effects Rack, click the right arrow, and choose Filter And EQ > Parametric Equalizer.
You’ll explore the Parametric Equalizer effect in detail later in this chapter. For now, try a simple but powerful adjustment.
When the Parametric Equalizer window opens, click the small box labeled 3 in the middle of the Equalizer (EQ) graph and drag it to the top of the graph. Close the Parametric Equalizer window; you don’t need it taking up space.
Caution: Turn your monitoring levels very low, and then press the spacebar to start playback. The excessive levels will trigger the Output meter’s red overload indicators to the meter’s right. The red marking indicates that the signal is so loud it is distorting—the signal is greater than the system’s capacity.
TIPOnce triggered, the red distortion indicators stay lit so if distortion occurs while you’re not looking at the screen, you’ll know that distortion occurred. Click anywhere in the Output meter to reset the red distortion indicators. To reset the Effects Rack Input or Output knobs to +0 dB, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (macOS) a knob.
TIPYou can toggle the display of the meters and controls in the Effects Rack panel by clicking the button
to the right of the master on/off switch in the lower-left corner.Turn up your monitoring level enough to hear the distortion. The Effects Rack Input and Output level controls default to +0 dB gain, which means neither the signal coming into the Effects Rack, nor the signal leaving it, is amplified (increased) or attenuated (decreased). However, the massive EQ boost from the Parametric Equalizer effect is overloading the output.
Reduce the Input level until the peaks no longer trigger the red distortion indicators after the meters have been reset (see the tip on resetting the indicators). It’s generally good practice to keep the Output control at +0 dB and compensate for the excessive levels by trimming the Input level. This may require reducing the Input to −8 dB or lower.
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Keep this project open for the next lesson.
Altering the effect’s wet/dry mix
An unprocessed signal is called dry. A signal with effects applied is called wet. Sometimes you want a blend of the wet and dry sounds rather than all of one or the other. The Mix slider adjusts the mix of wet and dry sound, which is an easy way to make an effect more subtle.
With the Drums110.wav file still open and the levels set properly to avoid the distortion created by the Parametric Equalizer effect, drag the Mix slider (located below the meters) to the left to increase the amount of dry, unprocessed sound in the mix. Listen carefully to the impact on the sound.
Drag the slider to the right to increase the amount of wet, filtered sound.
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Applying effects
Inserting an effect doesn’t change the original file. Instead, the original audio plays through the effect. This is called a non-destructive process using a real-time effect, because the original file remains unaltered.
However, you may want to apply the effect to the file, or a selected part of a file, so that saving the file (with File > Save) saves the processed version, replacing the original.
Close the Drums110.wav file without saving. You can close the file by selecting it in the Files panel and pressing Backspace/Delete. With the program open, choose File > Open Recent, and choose the file Drums110.wav again.
Closing a file without saving changes then re-opening it is a way to be certain you have a “clean” unmodified version of the file to work on.
In any effect’s insert in the Effects Rack, click the right arrow, and choose Reverb > Studio Reverb.
In the Studio Reverb window, choose the preset Drum Plate (Small) from the Presets menu.
NOTEYou can insert additional effects into the Effects Rack to change the sound further, and then apply those effects. The file will reflect the changes caused by all the effects you’ve applied, but the changes will become permanent only when you save the file (using either Save or Save As). At that point, Audition permanently embeds the effects in the file.
The Process menu, located in the toolbar at the bottom of the Effects Rack panel, allows you to apply the effect to the entire file or just a selection. For this exercise, choose Entire File.
Click the Apply button. This not only applies the effect to the file to process it, but also removes the effect from the Effects Rack so the file isn’t “double processed” by having the effect embedded in the file and also processed in the Effects Rack.
You can combine and preview up to 16 effects in the Effects Rack, and when you click Apply, the combination of effects and settings are merged into the waveform, clearing the Effects Rack.
Close the file without saving by choosing File > Close All.
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