wet vs. dry

[SoundGoddess]

I originally learned that "dry" meant an audio signal that was unprocessed by an effect, and that the "wet" level is how strongly the effect is applied. Which makes sense.

Where I get really confused is when there are both wet and dry sliders/knobs...if "dry" is equivalent to "unprocessed" and "wet" is the degree that the signal gets processed then what is an independent "dry" slider actually supposed to do?

[trance_lucent]

"Wet" is just represent fully processed signal, not the degree of processing.

[Timfonie]

When there are two knobs they represent the level of the dry signal and the level of the fully processed signal respectively. When there's only one dry/wet knob you can mix between those two signals with a single knob which is easier.
As trans-lucent said it's not about the degree of processing. It's about how much of the dry signal plus how much of the wet signal you'd like to output.

[Keith99]

Like cold and hot water taps as opposed to a single combined tap

[SoundGoddess]

Like cold and hot water taps as opposed to a single combined tap

Thank you, that just made it "click" for me!

[Quietinthedark]

You might wonder why every plugin wouldn't just have a single wet/dry knob.

Wouldn't that be simpler?

Yes

but in a lot of cases it is handy to have the ability on any plugin to adjust the output level because the next plugin in the chain might be level dependent. For example, amp sims, tape sims, compressors.

There are even simple 'gain' plugins to insert for plugins without this option.

http://www.gvst.co.uk/ggain.htm

[SoundGoddess]

You might wonder why every plugin wouldn't just have a single wet/dry knob.

Thanks, I was wondering that, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the basics of mixing...the logic behind why such an option exists helps me understand better in what way it would be useful to me in my productions.

[BertKoor]

It depends on how an effect is used. For example a delay or reverb. If that is put in the chain directly after the source of the audio, then the user probably wants 100% wet mixed in. But if it is used on a send bus, then you'd want 0% dry and only the effect output. Having a control to flip dry on/off makes sense.

Any way, this is often the result of careful design, offering freedom to use a plugin in as many as possible situations.

[martygras]

It's helpful on tracks where you are already pushing the gain pretty high and adding reverb on a bus could push it into distortion, and still not give the balance you want between dry and wet.

Also gives you more control when automating wet/dry levels.

[psychoxkps]

its parallel processing what u mean:)