Track FX

Track FX are generally simpler versions of some of the other effects available from Sonic Foundry, such as the XFX series of plug-ins. Some types of effects work better on a project level, such as using Reverb to create a room atmosphere for an entire song. Some effects are best used at the track level, such as using a Noise Gate to remove the hum of a camera motor in the soundtrack of a video clip. Track FX are optimized for ease of use on tracks but can be used at the bus and project level as well. Likewise, there is no reason not to use ExpressFX or XFX on the track level either. 

Track compression is another excellent way to emphasize a track in a song, but it differs significantly from equalization. Equalization and Compression can be used in concert to improve the sound of a track. Compression is extremely widely used and is a primary tool in any engineer s toolbox, especially in popular music. Almost all popular music you hear has had some compression applied to it, most commonly at the track level. Many people now feel that compression is overused nowadays. In reality, it is bad compression that is overused. Compression is a powerful and useful tool that should be intelligently used where needed (for example, to cover for musicians who cannot control their own dynamics). Compression is an excellent effect to use early in a chain of plug-ins (see Chapter 8). 

Be cautious about using compression since it takes away some of the dynamic range. By making the loud parts softer, the total expressive range of the track is more limited. While this can be (and is) used to bring a part out, it can also harm the overall quality of the track. Compression may not be useful on most commercial loops, which are usually high-quality, professionally recorded and mixed files. 

The best place to use compression in ACID is at the track level. The danger of squashing a song into dynamic oblivion increases greatly when compression is used at the bus or project level. Sonic Foundry Track Compression is the simplest of the compression plug-ins. Using it usually results in an increase in the loudness of a track, although this isn t necessarily the case. To apply Track Compression  

Click the Track FX button. This opens the Audio Plug-In dialog. 

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More than one effect can be used at a time on a single track, bus, or project. FX are applied in a particular order in an FX Chain. The order of plug-ins can be important in the final sound. Some FX belong very late in the chain (such as EQ and Reverb) and some earlier (Compression). Others shonld be used in a particular order. Track FX plug-ins are usually applied in this order Compression, Noise Gate, and, finally, EQ. This is not a hard and fast mle, and there may be creative reasons why you d want to alter this sequence. FX chains and ordering are discnssed in more detail in the next chapter. 

All Track FX are included in all but the XPress (promotional) version of ACID. These basic effects are some of the most important and fundamental filters that you need when sweetening and cleaning np a mix. Although they are optimized for the track level, there is no reason these FX cannot be nsed at the bus or project level. All three Track FX plug-ins have XFX counterparts. Track FX are specifically discussed at the end of the previous chapter. 

Track FX are not the same as Thack Optimized FX, which are a subset of plug-ins that are recommended for use at the track level by Sonic Foundry and are contained in a separate folder in the Plug-In Chooser dialog box. These are a subset of all of the FX available from Sonic Foundry. You can use any FX at the track level, not jnst the Track Optimized FX. 

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Audio Plug-ins and FX are used to modify the sound of a project. They can be used to fix, clean up, sweeten, or otherwise improve the audio or they can more used more artistically to radically change a sound. Each audio plug-in or effect has its own individual array of controls (see Figure 1.19) and is displayed in the Audio Plug-in window. The Audio Plug-in window is used for track and project level FX control and can be accessed by pressing the FX button wherever it is found in the workspace. 

Number of additional stereo busses— Determines how many busses are available to group tracks together or for Assignable FX. This number depends on your hardware setup (such as the number of sound cards) and on how many groups of tracks you d typically like to create. Don t worry if any of this is mysterious at this point additional busses are easy to create and can be added at any time. (More information on busses and why you might want to use them is available in Chapter 7 on Mixing. More information on Assignable FX and how they work is available in Chapter 8 on FX.)... 

The way tracks are mixed together is determined by the combined volume of all of the tracks in a project. Each track has a fader called the Multipurpose Fader that controls the volume by default (see Figure 2.29). Dragging the slider left and right controls the volume (gain) of the track. The precise volume is indicated numerically to the left of the Fader. Since this is a Multipurpose Fader, it can be used to control not only the volume but also the panning and FX volume of the track. 

In Figure 2.32, to make the illustration more clear, no events are visible in the track. In an actual project, an event would also be inserted somewhere in this track to take advantage of this rather artificially complex tangle of envelopes. Without an event, there is no output from a track and therefore no reason to automate the volume, panning, or FX with envelopes. To use envelopes, right-click on a track and, from the context menu, select Insert/Remove Envelope. Then select the type of envelope to insert or remove (e.g. Volume). 

Volume and Pan envelopes (as well as FX envelopes) are track-level envelopes— that is, they run across an entire track, affecting every event in that track. Individual events can also be quickly faded in or out using event fade envelopes, otherwise known as Attack-Sustain-Release (ASR) envelopes. To create an event fade, move the mouse cursor over the upper (left or right) corner of an event. The cursor changes to the special event fade cursor (see Figure 4.4). Drag the fade envelope in towards the center of the event. 

As with real-world mixers, each track in ACID has a fader that is used to control the volume and panning. ACID tracks also have an FX button for effects and EQ, Solo, and Mute buttons, just as boards in the real world often do. 

There are many other sometimes-surprising ways to create space in a song. Many of these are plug-ins and effects (FX) that you can add to a track or to a final mix. The following list contains a few ideas, with more information on each contained in the relevant section in Chapter 8. 

In the Audio > FX folder, double-click the Sonic Foundry Track Compressor item (or select it and click the Add button). 

In the Plug-In Chooser dialog, locate and double-click the Track EQ plug-in. If an FX has already been added, click the Edit Chain button to open the Plug-In Chooser dialog. 

Isolate the target of the FX, either a track or a bus, by clicking the Solo button. 

There are two places that FX can be added in ACID into a track or into the Mixer window. Within the Mixer window, there are three places where FX might go into an Assignable FX, into a pre-existing bus, or into the Master bus (see Figure 7.1). 

There are two distinct purposes for busses to group tracks and to route tracks to hardware devices. Within the context of tracks, bus FX would most commonly be used to group tracks and apply the same effect to all of them with identical settings. Perhaps one example would be to apply equalization to a group of tracks to bring them out of the mix as a unit. This is also a more appropriate location for a Reverb effect, where the grouping of the tracks ensures the instruments sound like they are in the same virtual space. 

To use effects at a bus level, you must first insert a bus into the project by clicking the Insert bus button in the Mixer window. Then assign specific tracks to the bus by clicking the Bus button (initially concentric squares and assigned to Microsoft Sound Mapper) in each track and assigning it to the bus (for example, Bus A). Finally, click the FX button on the bus in the Mixer window and select a plug-in. 

One great advantage to using busses this way is that you can use envelopes on the track to animate the level of the effect over time in the project, much like you use Volume or Pan envelopes. Assignable FX also share this advantage as well. 

To use Assignable FX, click the Insert Assignable FX button in the Mixer window. Then select an effect from the Plug-In window that automatically opens. Paradoxically, you do not need to assign tracks to the Assignable FX bus the way you would a hardware or group bus. Instead, the Assignable FX is available to all tracks and you only need to click the Multipurpose fader mode button and select the FX from the list to adjust the volume of the effect in a particular track. 

The main track Volume fader and the FX fader can operate as another set of Dry/Wet faders to control the mix of the effect. By default. Assignable FX are applied after the track volume is set (Post Volume), which means that if the track volume is set to —Inf., nothing leaves the track to be processed by the Assignable FX. Right-click the Multipurpose Fader and change when the Assignable FX is processed by selecting Pre Volume. 

To use envelopes to animate the mix of the effect over hme, right-click the blank area of the timeline in the track you want to use envelopes in and select the Assignable FX from the list (for example, FXl). Double-click the envelope to add a node and then drag the node up or down to adjust the gain. The plug-in effect is mixed with whatever the Volume is set to, so use a Volume envelope to further adjust the total mix. 

Some FX are better used at tbe track level and some are better used in the Mixer window, but all ophons are possible for maximum flexibility. Specific recommendations are given after a brief discussion of FX chains in the next section and in the descriptions of the actual plug-ins. 

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