15. Adding Effects to a Mix

Adding effects can help you transform a flat and lifeless rough mix into a spacious and exciting sound production. Effects let you shape a mix in many ways: You can balance track levels with compression or open up frequency ranges with equalization (EQ). You can even place tracks inside spacious sonic landscapes with reverb and delay.

Pro Tools lets you use both internal software effects, called DSP plug-ins, and external hardware effects. Third-party vendors offer numerous RTAS plug-ins, many of which use the same algorithms as their hardware ancestors. And if you have a roomful of vintage gear that you’re aching to use, it’s a snap to patch in external hardware.

Think of this chapter as a primer on effects. We’ll ...

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