[Joseph Hanna]

For me, small sessions, maybe four tracks or so, recording with or without FX’s, in this case reverb, is ok. I never do it personally but I don’t think it’s a terrible practice. However, this is not a just me thing, if the session starts to get above four or five tracks it’s a terrible practice to get into. As has been discussed heavily here and in other similar forums, get your raw audio recorded, period. Once one is fairly confident that the recording process is finished put on your “mixer” hat and set levels. Once you get past an initial audio pass roughly setting levels, then begin the addition of any plug-ins you choose to use. This would include front-end FX’s (compression and eq) then reverbs, chorus, etc.

In the end, the tonality and sonic character of all plug-ins change dramatically once general levels are set. What may have been a good reverb sound, tested before the recording process is closed might well be wholly inappropriate for the final mix.

For me, and it’s only me, the whole process is: Record raw. Finish all recording and close that door. Do a pass or two getting a reasonable level on all tracks. Add any plug-ins of your choice. Begin final mix.

As an addendum, I always prefer to do my first pass level settings with the same input levels across the board, preset. I do this personally with the Sonimus A-Channel plug-in. It’s a silly powerful plug-in that not only allows for simple input level settings but also can add a subtle punch to the track. It’s beyond its abilities reasonably priced and draws almost nothing from the CPU consumption. Just my two cents but it’s an easy and safe recommendation for purchase.