Be careful with the use of effects. This is the single most troublesome area for most beginners. Most ppl overdo it, & it sounds cheesy & overproduced.
Best advise so far. I had a problem with this a while back, auditioned for a band, they had a nice recording setup and recorded every practice including my 1st audition (long story, but it didn't end well). Did a recording of a song I'd never heard, played guitar and sax, and did some nice 3 part sax parts during the chorus.
When I got the final mix the guy emailed me, my original clean strat through th3e Super Reverb cranked just enough to get some raunch was unrecognizable as the same guitar because of the excessive echo and he had put heavy chorus on it too. Then the 3 part sax section was barely audible in one place, only one part audible for the rest of the song and that was waaay in the background.
The whole thing had too much echo and reverb, sounded like chorus was on everything, the original really nice sounding recording was so crappy I won't play it for anyone. I've thought about doing some editing and posting part here, but I really don't want you guys to think I did that and was happy enough with it to play it in public...
Even though I'm a beginner at recording , I try to make sure I don't overdo the effects. The guy who made that recording kept chorus going on his amp all the time, no matter what, even if it didn't fit the song, so I guess that explains why he put chorus on my guitar, even though I originally played it just guitar and amp and wanted it to stay that way.
I ended up not joining the band, drummer didn't show up for the audition due to car trouble (legitimate) so I had to come back (35 miles) a couple of nights later for a second try. All 3 guys stayed on my case all night because I hadn't learned half their material already, in 4 nights, including a 3 hour drive to a gig Saturday with the band I was already in, then the drummer started telling me how to practice and learn songs. The more I thought about it the madder I got, finally decided I didn't want to get caught up in that mess, I knew I wouldn't get along with a drummer telling me how to practice when I'd been learning songs since before he was born...nor would I get along well with the other guys who knew I had an out of town gig and wouldn't have much time, I had even told them all I would be able to do was listen to the CD a few times and start to get familiar with some songs I didn't know yet.
And I didn't get a decent recording out of it either...what a waste of time...
Back on topic, be very careful to NOT overdo the effects, you can easily ruin a good recording just by using too much echo or reverb. Use effects to accent the music, not drown it.