What is an effect loop and how is one used?
A – Most mixing desks and many portable multitrack recorders (portastudios) feature an effects send-return loop. Put simply, an effects loop allows you to apply an effect (such as reverb) to an incoming signal or to an already recorded track. To illustrate the usefulness of an effects loop, let’s look at how you might apply an effect to a signal on a recording setup that does not feature an effect loop. One might plug a guitar into a multi fx device and then into a recording input of a recording device. This allows you to record the guitar plus effect onto a tape track. This is called using the effect ‘in line’. However, it is often the case that having recorded something, one might want to alter the amount and type of effects and a track. If the recordist has recorded with the effect it is impossible to remove the sound of the effect from the recording. This is very common in recording. One might have a different view of what effects sound right upon adding more tracks and hearing the
A – Most mixing desks and many portable multitrack recorders (portastudios) feature an effects send-return loop. Put simply, an effects loop allows you to apply an effect (such as reverb) to an incoming signal or to an already recorded track. To illustrate the usefulness of an effects loop, let’s look at how you might apply an effect to a signal on a recording setup that does not feature an effect loop. One might plug a guitar into a multi fx device and then into a recording input of a recording device. This allows you to record the guitar plus effect onto a tape track. This is called using the effect ‘in line’. However, it is often the case that having recorded something, one might want to alter the amount and type of effects and a track. If the recordist has recorded with the effect it is impossible to remove the sound of the effect from the recording. This is very common in recording. One might have a different view of what effects sound right upon adding more tracks and hearing the
