How Do You Do Reverb?

[Electriclight]

Originally Posted by whomper

i prefer accurate recordings that reflect the live performance

dont really care for something that can only be cooked up in the laboratory

I'm with you! And of course, we certainly never use compression, EQ, limiting, electric guitars or any of that other synthetic hocus-pocus that is sooooo 2008ies.

One band, one mic, let 'er rip. No overdubs, no comping, tape only please.

Yeah, that whole "sing in a cathedral thing", that will never catch on. Too many artificial reflections. I prefer only open air performances, with no solid objects for 100 yards in any direction. Purity, that's the name of the game!

[garageband]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but this the "Home Recording Forum". Whomper, perhaps I explain what's going on here.

Most of us have small (not an accidental word) home studios. Some of the work that goes on there is for hire, most for the musical gratification of the operators and their immediate circle of friends, family and musical associates. Space and other facility limitations dictate multi-tracking and complete the artistic vision. Sure, a fabulous room with heaps of nice mics, lots of input channels, someone trained to run the equipment, well-rehearsed and disciplined musicians would be ideal. Frankly, that shit costs money. And who really has a grand or so to record one song professionally. Not most of the people that frequent this forum. And that's not the goal, anyway. This is all about doing yourself with the tools available. We're trying to help each other get the best result and learn a lot about to make that possible.

Perhaps this is why your purism seems out-of-place. BTW, I don't get the Les Paul comment. There's as much and as varied levels and styles of reverb when compared to the other very popular records of the same time. I just spent a moment and listened to a couple dozen on my iTunes. If you couldn't enjoy any records made in recording studios after the early 50s... well, that sounds like a personal problem.

[TonyB]

Wow! This is turning out to be a Reverb 101 lesson. The purpose of reverb... and there are many flavors of reverb for specific situations....not just the cathedral (big room, long decay time, etc) reverb that some folks on here keeping referring too.

There is reverb in practically every mix in today's music. No, it's not the cathedral reverb that seems to be the only point of discussion on this thread.. It's inconspicuous reverb that adds depths to the sonic space.

There's more to reverb than slapping it on a vocal or on a guitar. You need to know what the purpose of the reverb is for that particular instrument in the mix, then purposely dial in the appropriate settings using a mix of EQ and delay to get the instrument (yes, the vocal is an instrument too) to sit where you want it to sit in the mix. You want the rhythm guitar to sit back in the mix? Put some reverb on it (no, not the cathedral setting). Don't want to wash out the kick drum, toms, and bass guitar? Well, put a high-pass filter (maybe around 300hz) on your reverb so the low end doesn't muddy up? Want to reduce the effect (i.e., reverb less conspicuous)? Well, put a low-pass filter (maybe around 8Khz?) on it as well. This way, while you're tweaking the reverb on the guitar track, you're minimizing what you may be doing to the entire mix.

Yes, today's music.... rock, pop, screamo, country, etc, tends to be more inconspicuous (i.e., yeah I know I'm using this word alot but I can't think of a better term; you know, reverb is good if you can't really detect it until you turn it off and you notice it's not there). But there is reverb on all that music.

The trick is to set the reverb so that it's not too audible, but helps drive toward a more cohesive mix.

I haven't even touched on how to use delays, especially pre-delays that come with most (not all) reverb units/plugins. I typically use the pre-delay to reduce the obvious effect of the reverb (I'm probably not explaining that right). I sometimes use it on vocals to ensure intelligibility (sp?) because the pre-delay delays the onset of the reverb.

Okay, I babbled enough, but I had to chime in after hearing this "no never should use it, never, ever" conversation. Okay, back to my milk and cookies now....oh, it's late, back to my beer and nuts now......

[garageband]

Between the milk and cookies and the beer and nuts, I'm surprised you're not the size of a house by now!

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by garageband

Between the milk and cookies and the beer and nuts, I'm surprised you're not the size of a house by now!

Skim milk
sugarless cookies
fried peanuts (eat the entire shell; now this is the killer)
and Coors Light (which can be argued is not really beer, but water).

[Penniesfromheaven]

Moving steadily on, to where musicians of old picked places to perform based on the natural acoustics of the environment, in a canyon by the camp fire, etc. It wasn't all about the visual beauty so much, because that could be found all around, but because of the acoustics! And what made these places special? Reverb.

How many places can you find now and even imagine it is like what the old masters knew?
Ahead now. Hendrix mind games, etc., Reverb. How can we hope to experience such? Electronics!

[chillowack]

Originally Posted by Electriclight

I apologize for the rough treatment you got for asking a very simple question. Audacity accepts VST plugins.

Audacity: How do I install VST plug-ins?

So you should go find some and experiment with them. S.I.R.1 is a free convolution reverb so you can recreate the acoustics of some natural spaces if you care about assuaging these ultra purists who suddenly seem to be patrolling the forum. For less realistic and more interesting effects you might try Glaceverb. The Classic reverb is very useful. All these and tons more can be found at
KVR: Audio Plug-in Database (Search Page) - VST, Audio Units, DirectX, LADSPA, DSSI

Thanks, ElectricLight! I appreciate your friendly help.

By the way, your name isn't a reference to ELO by any chance, is it?

[chillowack]

Originally Posted by Penniesfromheaven

While all this debate about whether electronic reverb is good or bad is interesting, has anyone stopped to answer the question? To Chillowack: what version do you have?, because it IS on the drop down menu I have, and I just downloaded the latest in order to answer someone elses question on a different forum.
effects>delay effects>reverb. But if you get there you will find it is not worth it.

I have version 1.2.6, what version do you have?

[Electriclight]

Originally Posted by chillowack

Thanks, ElectricLight! I appreciate your friendly help.

By the way, your name isn't a reference to ELO by any chance, is it?

Yeah, big Jeff Lynne fan.

[chillowack]

Originally Posted by Electriclight

Yeah, big Jeff Lynne fan.

Me too!

Does your music have a strong ELO influence?

If so, I would be interested to hear your stuff, if you have a link or something.