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[Jean-Pierre Coetzee]

Bad engineering in my opinion. Generally I'm my experience I would much rather add a subtle delay then more reverb.

My vocal effects are a 2.5s room verb, a 1/8th note delay and a 1/4 note delay. Turn the very up until the vocals are sitting where you want them in relation to the rest of the band then add the delays when they ask for more verb. Gives your vocals more body without pushing them to the back of the mix. People know what a voice should sound like, more reverb doesn't help your mix at all.

I have a slap delay as well, generally add to taste and then leave it alone, helps the vocals sit in the mix for me but also very little...

[Roland Clarke]

I would say it totally depends.  There are bands and songs where the vocal covered in reverb is exactly what it needs and others where no fx are required at all and everything in between.  You don’t know if the artist/management, has demanded that.  It depends...

[Don T. Williams]

I'll add to the point that it may be at the request of the talent that the effects are over the top.
A friend of mine was talking with Julio Eglesias' sound tech. Conversation went something like:
"So, I'm guessing it's Julio's decision that you keep the effects on his voice in between songs while talking to the audience"
"Yup"
"I hope he pays you well"
"Yes. Yes he does"

This might be the case with Julio.  When I hear the effects left on constantly, especially when the artist is talking to the audience, it seems to me the engineer isn't paying attention or is just plain lazy.  If the "artist" really request this I'd be tempted to just leave the effects on in his monitor.  Of course this might get me fired!  I don't think Julio will be seeking my services soon, so I don't need to worry.

[Art Welter]

This might be the case with Julio.  When I hear the effects left on constantly, especially when the artist is talking to the audience, it seems to me the engineer isn't paying attention or is just plain lazy.  If the "artist" really request this I'd be tempted to just leave the effects on in his monitor.  Of course this might get me fired!  I don't think Julio will be seeking my services soon, so I don't need to worry.

I still remember the joke we had about Julio Iglesias' sound from the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand show in 1984:
"Could we have more vocal in the reverb?"

IIRC, he was using a Lexicon 224XL Digital Reverberator, a 15" deep, 4 space, 34 pound rack unit which cost far more than any car I had owned at the time.  Julio was certainly "getting his money's worth" ;^).

Art

[Jon Brunskill]

I feel like over processing with FX, gates, and compression is a pretty common problem with reasonably inexperienced sound technicians. There's so many fun toys on even a cheap digital console, and some people want to use them all!

I'm in the camp of preferring using FX in a fairly subtle way, just enough to enhance and add depth. One thing I do like to do is have two vocal reverbs, one very short and very subtle room reverb, which I leave on all the time, just to give a sense of space, and then a second longer reverb which is a lot more noticeable. I add in the longer one for slow songs and always mute it between songs.

[Steve Ferreira]

Who was the band from Canada? I'm guessing Starlight.

[Mike Monte]

Who was the band from Canada? I'm guessing Starlight.

I'm not quite sure of the name...  It was in Fall River, MA at St. Michael's Feast on Saturday, August 4th.

FWIW there are a few Portuguese bands in my local area, two that come to mind are Marc Dennis and George Ferreira..

[Luke Geis]

I prefer having the FX up just enough that you can hear it, but the vocal et all are not swimming though. I will, however, resort to how the original songs were recorded. Take Purple Rain for instance; there is a fair amount of reverb and slap delay on the vocals. Pick almost any rock song from the 1980's and there will be a fair amount of reverb. Modern music is very sparse with reverb and relies more on doubling and other vocal thickening tricks.

I can't tell you how many times I have been told specifically to make the vocals swim though. I can say that probably 1 in every 5 bands I deal with ask for reverb in their monitors and more so in the house. Saxophonists are probably the most abusive of it. They seem to be the only other instrumentalists that come with their own mic and FX unit. The vocalists that bring their own FX unit also tend to use copious amounts of effect. I wouldn't say that it's a bad engineer thing to use LOTS of effects, but more that it can mask a rather mediocre performance, or at the very least try and make something that is average a little more interesting. " Too much of a good thing is still too much ", is something I coined and say a lot, so just like alcohol, FX should be used in moderation. I just wouldn't blame the engineer though, it very well may be that he was directed to do so.

[John Roberts {JR}]

Mixing and efx are subjective... arguing about such is not a good use of time.

JR

[John Chiara]

I feel like over processing with FX, gates, and compression is a pretty common problem with reasonably inexperienced sound technicians. There's so many fun toys on even a cheap digital console, and some people want to use them all!

I'm in the camp of preferring using FX in a fairly subtle way, just enough to enhance and add depth. One thing I do like to do is have two vocal reverbs, one very short and very subtle room reverb, which I leave on all the time, just to give a sense of space, and then a second longer reverb which is a lot more noticeable. I add in the longer one for slow songs and always mute it between songs.

IMO...I mix FX like I mix anything else...dynamically. I constantly ride delay return and reverbs. Different drum and vocal reverb settings per song...on the fly. I think that doing this adds the top 10% of production professionalism..that people notice even if they don't know what's going on. Once again...MIX is a verb, not a noun.

[ProSoundWeb Community]