Using effects in Waveform 11

[davethekeys]

Hi there. Is there any way I can apply effects just to part of a track? For example, let's say I want to apply reverb just to the chorus of my vocal? Thanks!

[whyterabbyt]

You can apply effects to clips, so you could just make your chorus a separate clip.

Or automate the mix level of your reverb so that its 100% dry except at the chorus.

Or even just separate out your chorus sections onto a separate track

Or send/return to a track with the reverb on it, and automate the send level.

[Watchful]

The first of Whyterabbyt's tricks is probably what you need. Drag an effects plugin (the gray cross) right onto the clip in question. I generally would use tricks 2 to 4, but for a one-off, trick 1 is really easy.

...unless of course your clip is longer than the chorus. Then tricks 2-4 are easier.

[davethekeys]

Thanks both! I've recorded the song vocal in one take. What's the process of making each section (e.g. Verse, Chorus, Versus, M8 etc) separate clips? Sorry for the questions but I'm new to this! Thank you.

[Watchful]

Well, it takes a little practice.

1. Click on the clip to highlight it
2. Position the playback cursor (the vertical line that scrolls as the song plays) exactly on the spot you want the different song sections to be...in your case, the chorus.
3. Press the slash (/) key to split the clip.
4. Position the playback cursor at the point you want that section to end (again, for you, the very end of the chorus).
5. Press slash to split the clip.

Now you have the chorus as a separate clip you can do anything with! You can repeat these steps for the other chorus sections, or go all-in and divide your song up into verses, bridges, middles, and so on.

Tip: if you like, you can change the color of the clips to help identify the sections at a glance.

[Watchful]

By the way, to save yourself time in the future--depending on what you're recording, of course--you might want to look at vocal comping for future projects. This, for those not in the know, lets Waveform loop over the same section of the song (say, Verse 1) repeatedly. Sing verse 1 about six times: Waveform will save each loop as a separate take. You can then mix and match the best parts of each take, and then merge them down to a single perfect take.

This prevents you from having to re-do a whole take just because of a single error or off-note deep into the track. And, of course, once you nail the bridge and chorus once, you can copy the perfect clip everywhere you have a bridge and chorus, saving yourself a lot of effort in recording vocals!