Good stuff once again...

Tunerman
N=Natural
S=Subtle
A=Agressive

Thanks Tunerman - useful way to remember it!

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Anderton

fitzj
Craig can do some tip on reverbs, delays, compression and EQ?

Sure, but can you be a little more specific? What is it you want to know?

Thanks Craig. You have a wealth of  knowledge  on mixing and mastering  and I am sure you have picked up some great tips  over the years in these areas.
1. How do you use re-verbs and delays in the mix to start off with. 
1. Different re-verbs long and short on vocals or maybe delay instead of reverb or even both.
2. How do you determine  the attack and release times on a compressor or what compressor to use.
3. With eq how do you determine what  should be cut as you sweep. For example  do you cut everything that sounds not so good and boost all  the good sounds. Do you use small amounts of reduction and gain?
Once again thanks for your wonderful contributions to this forum. It's well above the call of duty.

Craig has already done many of the tips on all these subjects and more. Use the search function, not only in this forum, but Google & the Cakewalk Blog, etc. Many, many great Tips from Craig Anderton & other audiopeople & musicians. 

I thought Craig asked me the question??
 

Although it's true I've covered quite a few topics over the years, there are still many I haven't covered. Topics like when/how/if to include reverb are admittedly very subjective, but I have some thoughts on the matter. As mentioned previously, I'd like to include some more production-oriented tips as well...so reverb might make a good topic for next week. BUT - be forewarned - my opinions are only that, opinions and not rules. If they can inspire people to develop their own styles, though, then those opinions will have been of value.
 
As an aside...it's always interesting to see which tips garner interest and which fall flat. Last week was a tough week, lots of traveling, being behind on some very important deadlines, snow delays, and a horrible sleep schedule. But I thought the tip about Console Emulation might be of interest, even though it wasn't exactly a spectacular topic, and it seems like it was well-received. If it did nothing other than encourage people who hadn't tried the CE to check it out, then it was a valid tip. The CE is one of SONAR's most underrated features IMHO. When applied properly, it can make a mix really come to life in a way that no other processor can. I attribute it to the input transformer emulation 

Yeah, Craig.
 
Do you ever skip reverb for the bass?
 
Do you do any crazy reverb compression?
 
Flip polarity and cancel reverb sometimes?
 
Do you ever use a different verb on every channel, or prefer a bus?
 
The RME UCX has Reverb and followed by Echo <delay?> in it's only bus FXs. Should Echo be regular considered with reverb? Should it be reserved for vocals? Why does RME presume they go together yet no other verb I own does?
 
Have you ever recorded a track then bounced 100% reverb and used it as a pad?

Easy Button(s).
 
Thanks for this one.

Week 134: SONAR’s Secret Time-Based Guitar FX
 
If you thought the VX-64 was only good for vocals—well, it’s great for vocals. But for guitar, it’s another “SONAR Secret Weapon” that can produce time-based effects with a character that other plug-ins can’t offer.
 
The Chorus
 

 
The Doubler is more subtle than most guitar chorus effects, but also gives a fine stereo effect from a mono guitar signal—and if you play it back in mono, there’s no funny phasey stuff or loss of quality. My favorite chorus setting with this module is Presence at 3:00 o’clock and Stereo up full, but you can also have mono chorusing if you turn Stereo full counter-clockwise and Presence all the way up. Try the Doubler, and see if it doesn’t become your go-to chorus / mono-to-stereo converter to guitar.
 
The Amp Animator
 

 
Here’s a simple way to make a distorted amp sound more “alive.” Place the VX-64 before the amp, and use the Doubler to create subtle time-domain changes (the settings in the above screen shot work well). This helps emulate what happens when you play through a physical amp in a room: you’re going to be moving around, so you’ll hear waveform cancellations and additions that result from reflections. This effect does something that while not the same, has much of the same psychological effect by creating a more animated amp sound.
 
The Echoplex
 

 
The Delay module has a filter in the feedback loop that can morph from high shelf, to peak, to low shelf, all with a variable cutoff frequency. The screen shot shows the type of response that gives a tape echo-type response where the sound becomes more “midrangey” with each repeat. But another favorite of mine (that I also use with vocals) is setting the Filter Mode full clockwise, bringing the Cutoff down a bit, and adding echo to only the higher frequencies so that the echo doesn’t “step on” other instruments.
 
Doubler Meets Echoplex
 
One of the coolest VX-64 features is you can alter the order of effects. For a more accentuated echo effect, place Delay before the Doubler. For a subtler stereo image on the delay, place the Doubler before the Delay.
 
But Wait—There’s More!
 
The VX-64 also has a compressor, expander, EQ, and Saturation. You may not find these as useful as similar effects dedicated to guitar, but of course they have their own character. The Expander in particular can soften attacks if you turn up the attack time, and the Compressor is good for subtle lifts (don’t expect super-squeezed sustaining sounds).
 
But the stars here are the chorus and delay effects. Try them on guitar, and I suspect you’ll be dragging the VX-64 into more and more guitar tracks.