ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: Pondering reverb considerations  (Read 6027 times)

Lee Douglas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 685
  • 47.662615, -116.756954
Pondering reverb considerations
« on: July 11, 2014, 05:21:27 PM »

I was sitting around a small show pondering stuff and for some reason reverbs popped into my noodle.  When I first started out, I loved nice long bright reverbs and no doubt used them was too much and very heavy handedly at that.  It didn't take long to realize that all those tails were mucking up the intelligibility of my mix and started trying shorter reverbs and adjusting parameters within a given program.  The obvious (and very subjective) answer is that what ever sounds best to your ears, is.  But I've wondered over the years what methodology others use when it comes to reverb.  When is a very present in the mix short reverb better than a longer reverb used more conservatively?  I'd appreciate responses from big and small providers as well as live and studio guys. Thanks!
Logged
This space for rent

Mac Kerr

  • Old enough to know better
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7551
  • Audio Plumber
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2014, 05:35:46 PM »

I was sitting around a small show pondering stuff and for some reason reverbs popped into my noodle.  When I first started out, I loved nice long bright reverbs and no doubt used them was too much and very heavy handedly at that.  It didn't take long to realize that all those tails were mucking up the intelligibility of my mix and started trying shorter reverbs and adjusting parameters within a given program.  The obvious (and very subjective) answer is that what ever sounds best to your ears, is.  But I've wondered over the years what methodology others use when it comes to reverb.  When is a very present in the mix short reverb better than a longer reverb used more conservatively?  I'd appreciate responses from big and small providers as well as live and studio guys. Thanks!

Because I rarely get to work with a band more than once, I don't have time to learn what effects they like, so I use what works for me. I generally set up 2 reverbs, one with about a 1.8sec decay, and one with about a 3sec decay. I find the out of the box Yamaha Hall effects work just fine almost all the time. Music content determines which channels go to each of the FX.

Mac
Logged

Scott Helmke

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2253
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2014, 07:06:34 PM »

Last few years I've been finding myself in already reverberant halls with music that doesn't need much, so I haven't worried about adding any all that much.

But in general I try to find something appropriate, often a plate since good modern hall reverbs are a little *too* good, and I feel like I'm shoehorning a big hall into an intimate setting. Then it's a matter of turning it up until I can barely tell it's there, then turning back down a tiny bit.
Logged

Justice C. Bigler

  • SR Forums
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2794
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma
    • My homepage
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2014, 08:25:00 PM »

For live engineering, my go to is the Yamaha Rev-X Hall or Plate reverbs. I usually use the hall on vocal and sometimes plates on instruments. I tend to like something in the 2.3 second reverb time. And for whatever reason, a room size of about 19 (?). I'm a fan of plate reverbs for my own music. On the few times I have played saxophone for my own music I favor a short, but dense plate reverb. But plates sound kind of harsh for most vocals unless you are using it as a specific effect (which I have done for theatre sound design).

For my recording work things are a little different. Because MOST of my recording work at this point is live recordings of opera or symphony performances I tend to use a convolution reverb like the Waves IR-L.

In either case I find that using reverb sparingly is actually more. I usually only apply it to the vocals and either lead or solo instruments and almost never to any instrument with a baritone or lower voice.
Logged
Justice C. Bigler
Business Rep, IATSE Local 354
www.justicebigler.com

John Chiara

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1157
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2014, 01:52:50 AM »

I was sitting around a small show pondering stuff and for some reason reverbs popped into my noodle.  When I first started out, I loved nice long bright reverbs and no doubt used them was too much and very heavy handedly at that.  It didn't take long to realize that all those tails were mucking up the intelligibility of my mix and started trying shorter reverbs and adjusting parameters within a given program.  The obvious (and very subjective) answer is that what ever sounds best to your ears, is.  But I've wondered over the years what methodology others use when it comes to reverb.  When is a very present in the mix short reverb better than a longer reverb used more conservatively?  I'd appreciate responses from big and small providers as well as live and studio guys. Thanks!

You really need both. Smaller verbs with distinct early reflections can add all kinds of clarity and dimension to things without having enough noticeable decay time to scream 'REVERB!'
Larger frequency tailored and pre delayed verbs give space and air.
My normal studio setup has at least 5 or 6 'spacial' effect sends in place for vocals for different needs.
Logged

Jim McKeveny

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1454
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2014, 07:27:04 AM »

It didn't take long to realize that all those tails were mucking up the intelligibility

My goto baseline for one of my verbs always. How much depends entirely on room acoustics, but always used sparingly.

Hall/Room 1.2s-2.0s
Pre Delay up to 50ms
HPF >400hz
LPF <7khz

Logged

Steve M Smith

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3381
  • Isle of Wight - England
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2014, 08:15:36 AM »

Also you don't want reverb to be too bright.  Real reverberation in a room doesn't have much top end.

The cheaper reverb units tend to put too much top in to try to sound more impressive.


Steve.
Logged

Tommy Peel

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1468
  • Longview, Texas
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2014, 03:41:25 PM »

I mix the same church band most of the time and tend to create presets for different songs on my TC m300. I can't comment on actual settings though as the unit doesn't have a numerical readout for various settings; I lean towards  Hall type reverbs with the occasional plate on some songs. I also tend to use some tap delay on vocals.
Logged

Don Sullivan

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 39
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2014, 10:23:38 AM »

I use reverb differently in different venues. In a very dead room or outdoors I use reverb to add warmth and sustain to vocals and instruments. In bright rooms I use far less reverb as I want to maximize intelligibility (usually) or the source of music. I'm usually using a 2.3 second reverb time with a 30-40 ms pre-delay. I also use a multi-tap stereo echo set to 1 or 2 beats/measure. Only time I find myself with a short "Room" reverb time is if the band has an electronic drum kit I think needs to be snapped up.
Logged

Geoff Doane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 954
  • Halifax, NS
Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2014, 10:23:28 AM »

I'm a fan of plate reverbs for my own music. On the few times I have played saxophone for my own music I favor a short, but dense plate reverb. But plates sound kind of harsh for most vocals unless you are using it as a specific effect

That's an interesting observation, coming from a horn player.

My generic setup on my LS9s has tap delay and room reverb for vocals, plate reverb for horns, and a hall for drums and percussion.  Reverb times (and types) will get varied according to the song, but since most of what I do is one-offs without rehearsals, I've set up some scenes with different FX combinations, focused just on the FX, so the mix doesn't change when I recall them.  For even faster recall, I use a Symetrix RC-1 MIDI patch transmitter to recall those scenes with the press of one button.

And almost without exception, FX that sound balanced in the PA mix, are too wet in the recorded mix.  ::)

GTD
Logged

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Pondering reverb considerations
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2014, 10:23:28 AM »


Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 



Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.067 seconds with 23 queries.