We sometimes receive "dry" audio tracks (choir accompaniment) from certain publishers that sound like the old am radio. What effects should I start with to liven them up a bit?
Hi Andy,
This seems like one of those rare instances where inserting "aural exciter" or "sonic maximizer" processing on the input channel may help. They generally attempt to add artificial harmonics to the source signal to simulate a wider frequency response.
If the dynamic range is too compressed, you could try inserting an expander to give it more apparent range, but it's tricky and might not sound natural.
If the tracks are mono and you're mixing in stereo, try splitting the signal to two input channels, pan them hard left and right, and experiment with delaying one side by 5 to 20 milliseconds. This can sometimes really work well. If you can slightly pitch shift or detune one side, it can get huge sounding. Just don't make it extreme or it'll make everything else sound out-of-tune.
These delay and pitch tricks can sometimes have amazing results, even with limited bandwidth from the source. BTW, they are the basis of flanger and chorus effects, so experimenting with those is also worthwhile. Beware, though, that all of this can be very destructive to the signal if the stereo mix is summed to mono.