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Reverb and vocals

12. The order in which you insert effects can make a huge (and useful) difference to the resulting sound. For example, placing a reverb after a distortion unit means you get reverberation of the distorted signal, whereas if you put the distortion after the reverb, the reverb itself will be distorted too, which will sound very different.

13. Layering isn't just for instruments. Always try to get multiple takes of a vocal part and try layering them for a fantastic genuine chorus effect. If your vocalist is blessed with perfect pitch and you're getting phasing instead (or, as is more likely, you've only got one take to start with), try copying the vocal and detuning one or both, then layering them.

14. As an interesting twist to having a reverb inserted onto a bus channel, try also placing a gate before that reverb, so that only signals above a certain level can pass through the gate and have reverb applied. This works brilliantly well on percussive riffs, percussion and vocals - just be careful not to compress the source material before sending it or it just won't work.

15. We've mentioned that it's important to understand the varying results you'll get by inserting effects in different orders. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that it's often a great idea to stick different types of effects after your reverb to make it interesting. Chorus, delay and flanging are some particular favourites of ours.

16. While reverb can be great, it can have the effect of swamping a mixdown very quickly and making it sound messy. If your track sounds a little dry without reverb, a cleaner technique is often to use small amounts of tempo-delay. This has the similar effect of 'filling in the gaps', but in a rhythmic and more manageable way.

17. If you do want to use reverb, but it's still swamping your track somewhat, try inserting a compressor right after it. This keeps the volume of the reverb higher for longer, which means you can then reduce the reverb time - you still get thick reverb in the gaps, but a shorter reverb tail means less residual mush.

Bass and compression

18. One of the keys to music production is that two sounds are often better than one. A lot of the best synth and bass patches you've ever heard - those with tons of character and loads of weight, punchy yet drawn out - are actually multiple patches layered. So choose one bass for character and another for weight.

19. Bass cut is the pro's secret weapon. You might have heard about it before, but it's vital that you know why it's so important. Sub-bass frequencies are inaudible on most systems, but they can still trigger compressors and limiters, and they still swallow up headroom. Trimming below 30Hz allows you to raise the bass without overloading your system.

20. The best way to set up most effects is to start with extreme settings and then work backwards. So, if you're trying to set your attack and release times, start with a higher ratio than you need and plenty of make-up gain, so you can really hear how the timing settings are affecting the signal.

21. Don't be afraid to use more than one compressor on a channel. If you compress a signal to make it punchier, don't shy away from applying a second compressor later to compensate for the effect of other processing you might have applied, such as reverb, chorus or phasing. And, by the same token, try bypassing the compressor sometimes!

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