Things I’ve found online
I work mostly with recording vocals over purchased tracks. In the days before the Internet, I bought an ART SGE multi-effects unit and attempted to find instructions or training on how to get a good vocal mix, including effects. Other than a few generic things like, EQ a little here and a little there and add reverb to taste, most books provided nothing in the way of some specific settings to try, particularly for reverb.
Over the years I have developed some reverb starting points like, set the predelay for a quarter or eighth note timing, use a decay of .5 to 1.5 seconds depending on the tempo and style of the song, set the reverb acoustics to either match, or contrast with, the backing track acoutics. Of course, I have progressed from hardware units and tape recording to n-Track and plug-ins. I have also developed a good ear for getting the settings just the way I want them. But, I am always open to learning more.
I recently checked to see if the Internet would provide some good recording tutorials and did find some very good articles, along with an abundance of audio samples of how those effects or mixes would sound. Click on each link below to check these out, particularly the Pandora podcasts where they cover a lot more than vocal recording:
How To Mix A Vocal
Tracking And Mixing Vocals
Pandora - Music and Recording Podcasts
You can spend a lot of time on the Pandora podcasts, they have a lot of audio examples of the points made in each podcast.
Enjoy!
Looks like some great reading - thanx!