This information is good to use for application in a DAW. To what extent you can get away with this when applying mixes within Synfire that you should try out.
MIXEN WITH INSERTS AND AUX SENDS
When using effects in your DAW, it's important to think about routing. Should you just put all the effects in sequence as inserts? Does the order matter? And what are the advantages of an aux send? In this article I will answer these questions and tell you how you can make your music sound as thick as YouTube hits. Simply by putting an effect in an unusual place in the effect chain. Much of what I discuss here also applies to mixing consoles, by the way.
INSERTS
The most obvious way to use effects in a DAW is to open a plugin in an "insert slot" on the channel where you want the effect. Here the signal passes in its entirety through the effect in question, then possibly to one or more subsequent effects and finally to the fader. If you put several effects in a row, the signal is also processed in that order. For example, if you use an equalizer to remove excess bass and put a compressor after the equalizer, the compressor will react less violently to low frequencies thanks to the equalizer. If you use the equalizer to boost a certain frequency range, then the compressor will respond more violently to that frequency range. In the latter case, it is probably better to place the equalizer after the compressor.
AUX SENDS
Effects like reverb and delay are usually used in a so-called send/return construction. With a send you split off the signal and send it to a separate channel in your DAW. In that separate channel you open a reverb or delay effect. This again you just do in an insert slot. The dry signal and the processed signal can now both be heard. With the send button you can set how hard you send the signal to the reverb or delay and how loud you hear the effect.
PARALLEL
A big advantage of aux sends is that you can send multiple channels to the same reverb or delay. For one thing, that will give the impression that the instruments are in the same room. Also, it saves your computer a lot of processing power if you don't use a separate reverb on each channel. Another advantage is that you can edit the effect separately from the original sound. For example, you can use an equalizer to reduce the layer of a reverb, while the layer of the sound source remains unaffected. Aux sends are therefore also very suitable for modulation effects, such as chorus, phaser and flanger.
PRE FADER / POST FADER
With effects like reverb and delay, "post fader" aux sends are almost always chosen. This means that when you lower a fader, the signal is also sent softer to the effect. In this way, the ratio of the dry signal to the effect always remains the same. A 'pre fader' send works completely independently of the fader of the channel in question. Even if you close the fader completely, a pre fader send will still output sound. Pre fader sends are therefore mainly used for monitoring, both live and in the studio. For effects, pre fader sends are less suitable, because the ratio between effect and dry signal changes as soon as you move the fader.
EXAMPLE: COMPRESSION WITH AUX SENDS
As you may understand by now, changing the placement of an effect in the chain can have a big impact on your mix. A strong example is the use of a compressor in an aux send construction. This is called parallel compression or New York compression, and it is a popular technique for "thickening" tracks. Because the performance of a compressor depends heavily on how loud the signal is coming in, it is best to use a pre fader send here. When setting up the compressor, forget everything you've learned about subtle settings. Use very short attack and release times and a high ratio. A gain reduction of -18 dB is not crazy at all with this technique. If you were to use a compressor with this setting as an insert, you would get a flat and lifeless sound. But by using the compressor in parallel in the above way, you retain the punch and dynamics of the raw signal and still have the sustain and detail of a hard working compressor.