Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, all audio was processed without DAW’s.
::GASP::
It’s true. There was a time before Logic Pro and Ableton and the likes were so easily accessible. Much of what is done in the digital realm of audio is paying homage to the analog world.
This is where we get sends vs inserts.
Certain audio effects were entirely separate units that audio needed to be “sent” to. See what I did there?
A General Rule of Thumb
Sends are to be used when you are adding to the original sound
Insert effects are to be used when you are shaping and transforming the original signal.
Simple enough, right?
Now let’s look at this in a bit of context.
The most typical audio effect used as a send is reverb. What does reverb to? It adds the sound of a particular space back into the original sound. The keyword here being “adds”. That’s why it’s not typically used as an insert effect.
The most typical audio effect used as an insert, though there are many others, is an equalizer. This is used to shape the sound before it reaches your ears. When you are using an insert effect, you don’t want ANY of the original audio to pass through.
There are always reasons to break these rules, and with the use of Modern DAW’s and wet/dry knobs the lines can sometimes get blurry. That being said, sticking to the traditional way of using send and inserts is likely to get you into less trouble than reinventing the wheel.
Common Send Effects
- Reverb
- Delay
- Parallel Dynamic Processing
Common Insert Effects
- Eq
- Compression
- Saturation
- Transient effects
To test out the difference so you can really hear what I am talking about lets set up a test.
Test #1
Step 1: Load the instrument of your choice into Ableton Live.
Step 2: Turn Send A (reverb by default) to 100% and play a little bit
Have a good detailed listen to that sound. Listen to how the original signal still pokes through before being joined by the sound of the room.
Step 3: Add a reverb plug-in after your instrument and turn the Dry/Wet knob to 100%
You will immediately notice that your original signal is completely gone, and you are left only with the washed out sound of the reverb.
Test #2
Step 1: Add an EQ 3 after your Instrument, and turn the low end off y clicking the L
Pay attention to how drastically that shapes the sound. Now, you probably wouldn’t EQ most instruments this way, but for the purposes of our test, I am going with an extreme example so you can really hear why EQ is typically done as an insert rather than a send.
Step 2: Move the EQ three to Send A.
Step 3: Now turn up your send and listen to how the sound is affected.
There is not nearly as drastic a change in the case of the send, because you are still getting 100% of the clean signal coming to your ears.
There you have it, folks! The different between sends and returns.
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Happy creating.
-Brett