Advice for beginners on Processing & Effects?

[Jamars73]

Dear Good Ableton People -

Can someone please offer any ‘basic’ information/tips on where a complete novice is to start with Processing & Effects (i.e. EQ, Compression, Delay, Saturation… etc. definitions of what they are & how to use them)? As a beginner I’m finding it difficult to find an entry point into understanding this side of things. Honestly, right now it all seems like witchcraft. Sorry if it’s a stupid & vague question but any help would be appreciated.

[yur2die4]

I would suggest learning one at a time. And sometimes you won’t get or understand a certain thing even after it’s explained. Just keep learning the others. By the time you get back to it, you may have learned things that help you to comprehend it better.

Delay is a great start.

[Jamars73]

I would suggest learning one at a time. And sometimes you won’t get or understand a certain thing even after it’s explained. Just keep learning the others. By the time you get back to it, you may have learned things that help you to comprehend it better.

Delay is a great start.

Yeah, that's like a good route forward.

Many thanks for the tip - Delay it is.

[jlgrimes]

Dear Good Ableton People -

Can someone please offer any ‘basic’ information/tips on where a complete novice is to start with Processing & Effects (i.e. EQ, Compression, Delay, Saturation… etc. definitions of what they are & how to use them)? As a beginner I’m finding it difficult to find an entry point into understanding this side of things. Honestly, right now it all seems like witchcraft. Sorry if it’s a stupid & vague question but any help would be appreciated.

It takes a lifetime to learn. But basically YouTube is your friend. There is tons of good tutorials out there.

Things like Delay/Reverb are a bit easier to get the idea of because the effects can be quite obvious (although subtle use of both is used alot as well).

Eq/compression can be difficult sometimes because in many cases great use of those effects is making it sound like they are not even there (not always the case though). But you will go a long way learning the ins and outs of EQ and compression, when to use them.

Saturation is a whole topic among itself as well. It's basically distortion but usually implies distortion that's not always immediately noticeable (as distortion) but comes across in somewhat vague musical terms like 'warm' 'fat' (eg tape saturation). Saturation can be intentional or unintentional.