Reverb basics...

[grandmatarkin]

Hi there...Can someone explain to me when I should use certain types of reverb and why? I really am just flying blind here when it comes to this.There are so many settings to choose from. So, so many. Help me, Taxi forum, you're my only hope.Humbly yours,David

[aubreyz]

David,That's a pretty broad question. Maybe if you focus on one thing at a time you'll get better feedback.Some broad guidelines. Reverb is used either to create a natural spacious or tight environment, or as an unnatural special effect.Don't worry with the equations, but here is a decent rundown and history of reverb. There are some things mentioned that will help explain some of the settings and types that are available.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReverberationThe actual use of reverb depends on what you need to achieve with it.So whatcha wanting to do?Aub

[mazz]

As Aub says, if you know what you are trying to achieve, it helps to narrow down the possibilites.Given that, a suggestion for testing out the possibilites.Assuming you have a reverb of some kind (outboard, plug in): 1. Set The reverb unit up as an aux return, however your gear allows you to do this.2. Send a snare drum sample, mabye 2 and 4 at a fairly slow tempo, from the aux send on it's channel to the reverb.3. Dial up a room sound on the reverb, listen to it closely. Does it ring? Is it bright, is it dark? How long is the reverb time? Would it work on a slow song, on a fast song?4. Mess with the parameters that you have available. Common ones are: reverb time, diffusion, pre-delay, decay, eq, etc. etc. Sometimes just playing around with the settings will teach you more than trying to understand the theory of it. Use extreme settings (turn the volume down!) to see what the limits are.5. Repeat the process with vocals, guitars, whatever. 6. Repeat again with a plate setting, then again with a hall setting, etc., etc.This is just like learning an instrument. You have to know what the parameters are and what it sounds like before you can know what you want to achieve. After you do this, you'll be way more familiar with your gear and will be the master of it.By the way, this goes for any type of processor: delay, compressor, distortion, on and on and on.Good luckMazz

[grandmatarkin]

Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking along the lines of general rules. Disregarding the many exceptions I'm sure there are, what reverbs would tend to work better with slow songs as opposed to fast songs, all in the context of a contemporary mix? Also, for example, would you use more than one type of reverb in a song (unless used as a special effect on a single track)? Would drums get a different kind of reverb than other instruments. Are there instruments that you should never use it on (I'm thinking bass here, for some reason)? I've also semi-researched this on the internet. I'm not just being lazy by asking here, I assure you But I know that you guys/gals have a lot of collective knowledge and I knew that there would be some informative answers.As a personal observation, I notice on a lot of less well produced tracks (at least by my ears), excessive reverb on the voice seems to be almost always present. So to this point, I've tried to avoid that. And Aub, what do I want to do? Good question. I guess I want to make things sound good and "current". Thanks again for the input...Dave

[ernstinen]

Quote:Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking along the lines of general rules. Disregarding the many exceptions I'm sure there are, what reverbs would tend to work better with slow songs as opposed to fast songs, all in the context of a contemporary mix? Also, for example, would you use more than one type of reverb in a song (unless used as a special effect on a single track)? Would drums get a different kind of reverb than other instruments. Are there instruments that you should never use it on (I'm thinking bass here, for some reason)?Hi David,As the others have said, it's a pretty complex topic! But here's a few ideas:Slow songs usually have a longer reverb time, especially on the snare. Sometimes snare reverbs are "gated."Kick drums and bass usually don't have reverb on them, but Prince experiments with reverbs on his kick drums. As a rule, I wouldn't.Shorter reverbs (room sound) on guitars and keys might compliment longer reverbs on vocals. Also, using short delays and panning guitars or keys Left and the delay Right is a common practice to open up a rhythm track.Basically, you can do whatever you want, but using LESS rather than MORE is a good rule. Mixes are drier these days than in times past.Here's a local (L.A.) story I always thought was funny:A session man was hired by Tom Petty to play pedal steel guitar on a song. After he set up, he asked "How much amp reverb do you think I should use?" Petty and the Heartbreakers just stared at him. After moments of awkward silence, Petty said ---- "WE DON'T USE REVERB." Good luck experimenting,Ern

[mazz]

Hi,The suggestions made by ernstinen are good rules of thumb that are pretty universal and a good place to start.Another way to learn about reverb is to listen intensely to music that you like and would want to try to emulate production-wise.This means listening on the best system you have and analyzing the reverbs used (if any) in the mix Try to hear into the mix and tease out what is being done. The more you do this the better you will get at it, and again, it is practice you can apply to your own mixes. The ear is capable of "zooming in" and the act of zooming in and back out is one an experienced mixer does all of the time. Doing this in headphones is also very educational. Try to focus on one element of the mix at a time, even down to the kick drum or the little guitar riff in the left speaker (sometimes you'll say "oh I never heard that guitar riff before and I've listened to this song a million times" see what I mean ) Listen at different volumes, you'll hear things listening very softly that get totally covered up when it's cranked and vice versa. You may end up listening to the same song 20 times in a row or more.Then go to your gear and try to imitate the balance of the reverbs on the various elements of the mix of your song.Since music is an aural language, all the forum postings in the world won't replace training your ears to hear this stuff. It's an ongoing lifetime practice. There's no magic pill that all of a sudden makes you a great mixer, listening and doing, that's the secret formula. Keep at it.Mazz

[grandmatarkin]

Thanks for the help, guys. Very useful information. I really appreciate it Now once I get this down... next up: compression!Dave

[horacejesse]

Quote:Mixes are drier these days than in times pastAin't that the truth. The vocal these days seem right up close to your face. I don't think that effect would be possible with reverb. Lately I have been mixing the voice completely dry with only some compression and saving the liquid for the instruments. Seems to modernize the sound a bit.

[normbowler]

Hey David. Here are some reverb basics.Modern reverb software is usually an emulation of a particular physical space (with the exeception of "spring" or "plate") and are named accordingly. So reverb presets like "Hall" or "Cathedral" will have long decay times and lots of diffusion, like halls and cathedrals. "Room" or "Studio" is smaller and tighter. "Stage" may have a strong slap echo like you would get off the back wall of a venue. "Ambient" could be labeled "small room with hard walls"Spring and plate presets are emulations not of physical spaces, but old-school reverb units. Spring reverb units actually used springs. Plate reverbs used a large metal plate. In both cases they had pairs of transducers (voltage-vibration converters) to put sound into the springs or plate and get it back out agin after it had bounced around for a bit.Here are some ways I use reverb --On almost every song I have a fairly big hall or plate reverb on a stereo buss for vocals, guitars, snare drums, etc. Plates are famous for being good not only for vocals but also percussion. I know this is true of real plates, but don't know how true it is of the software emulations. I will also have a separate room or ambience reverb. This is a special-purpose reverb that I will apply carefully to direct-recorded electric guitars, drum machine parts, and sometimes bass parts. This makes them sound more like they were mic'd in a real room rather than recorded direct or machine-generated.Because each reverb has its own master fader, something I almost always do is mix till it sounds right, then turn down both reverbs by about a third. I tend to mix too "wet" and have learned to correct for my bad taste.check out http://www.normbowler.com/interregnum/02-WarGames.mp3 for an example of where I used room reverb on drum machines and electric guitars to get a live room feel.nb

[mazz]

Speaking of plate emulations: the EMT 140 emulation on the UAD-1 card from Universal Audio is absolutely awesome. I'm not sure how it stacks up against a real plate but it does what a great plate is supposed to do, make pretty much anything sound very nice. It is gorgeous on horn section and piano comes alive in it as well. Drum kits gain an ambience and aliveness that really pops without the reverb having to be turned up very loud. I believe they modeled three different plates at the Plant in Sausalito.Another hint for reverb is to put them on return faders as normbowler said and then turn it down until you almost can't hear it. Remember that setting and then turn it down even more until you can't hear it at all. Then bring it back up towards the first setting and see when you can tell if it's in. You might be surprised that you haven't yet reached the first setting when you hear it.Unless using reverb for a special effect, it's useful to use it to just add the illusion of a room without calling attention to itself. I've found that mixing softly and then checking back and forth from speakers and headphones works well for me to be able to discern the desired amount of reverb.Many times sending an echo into a reverb is a great sound as well. Set up a seperate echo return aux and send the vocals to it. Also send the vocals to the reverb's aux. Then also send the echo into the reverb as well from the echo channel. You can try sending the echo pre-fader and turn the fader completely off. This way only the "wet" echoed signal goes in to the reverb (set the wet/dry mix on the echo 100% wet) and not to the main outs. This setup helps set the vocal in it's own space in the mix. Time the echo to the tempo of the song and the vocal will subliminaly feel like it's dancing in the groove.Have fun, fun, fun, fun,................Mazz