So yeah, there are a million things you can do with a send and FX return. But, I’m guessing you’re looking to do the most common type of use: sending tracks to a reverb, delay, or modulation FX.
Looks like you’re OK with setting up the FX send and returns. I’ll skip that.
FX Level In your FX Channel’s plugin:
You want the FX to be 100% “wet”–no dry signal
Send level:
With the track playing, start sending to the FX. Stop when it’s wet enough. This is usually far below 0dB.
Audio Channel Fader:
Track Sends default to being sent “post-fader.” So as you change your track’s gain with its fader, the amount being sent to the FX Channel decreases accordingly, without having to change the actual Send level. This way, you can make any gain changes, but the track will keep the same level of “wetness”. Super-handy!
This is the most common way sends are used for FX. Perhaps one of the best reasons to do it this way is that a quick glance at the mixer will show you how wet each track is: wetter tracks will be sending more to the FX. Your track sends will show you visually how wet tracks are.
There is, of course, no right way! For instance, you could set all your sends to 0dB, and turn down the output of your FX return–but you wouldn’t be able to see how wet tracks are. No rules, only preferences. [emoji5]