Setting up reverbs

[JD01]

I've got used to using Reverbs to make my tracks sit together - however, I don't think I'm doing it in particularly efficient way.

My method is to apply an impulse to my drum folder, then apply an impulse to my guitar folder and another impulse to my vocal folder. In reality I might have a couple of different guitar folders and a couple of different vocal folders so if different guitars or vocal tracks have differing levels of reverb they get a new impulse and I set the level how I want it.

I gather this isn't the most efficient way of doing it and that there's a way of setting up one track as being a reverb for the whole project but I just don't know how that works.

Can anyone give me a retards guide for efficient use of reverb impulses.

[Greg_L]

You can do it your way. There's no right or wrong way to do it. The most efficient way is to set up one or two reverbs as sends and just send the tracks to the reverb. You can mix how much each track gets sent to a particular reverb.

Open an empty track with just your reverb on it. Set it full wet. No dry signal. Then go to your tracks and "send" them to that reverb. You can set it to be series or parallel. You probably want parallel - a little of the track goes to the reverb and gets blended back in with the main track.

[JD01]

Cheers, I'm gonna have to have a bit of a fiddle with this and get back to you if I have any more questions. I've never sent anything anywhere before!

I'm assuming that when you say "You probably want parallel - a little of the track goes to the reverb and gets blended back in with the main track." this is like when you are managing an impulse in Reaverb and you set the dry to 0 and have the wet set at say -25db.

[Greg_L]

Yes, it's sort of like that.

When using reverb as an insert, you're basically doing all the send and return in the plug in. You have your main dry track, and you tailor how much of the effect gets added into it.

The send/return track method does the same thing, but the reverb is by itself on another track and you can send multiple tracks to the same reverb.

This saves you from having reverbs on every track.

[rammer24]

Yeah, I've never used a reverb as anything other than a Send. That way, you only need one instance of reverb and then send however much you want from each insturment, like Greg said.

Also, sometimes, but not always, I'll change the send so that it's "Pre-fader". You don't always want this, but what it allows you to do is turn down the fader of the instrument and not have the reverb go down with it. In other words, you can turn the fader all the way down and still have reverb, which is sometimes cool if you want to fade out an instrument and make it sound like it's fading into the distance, if you know what I mean.

[ido1957]

I use Sends for my Reverbs too, and like Rammer said it saves processing power just having the one plugin instance. Sometimes I use a couple of different ones for variety

[rammer24]

Sometimes I use a couple of different ones for variety

Yeah, I didn't mean I only use one. I almost always have 2 reverbs in a song. I'll choose the one I want on my drums, and then that one goes on the guitars, too (very little on the guitars, almost in-audible). Then, I use some kind of plate reverb on the vocals.

[rammer24]

Aaahhhh! Damn drum smiley.

[Minerman]

I've been pretty curious to hear how some of you guys are using 'verb, but it sounds to me like I'm doing about the same thing...I use a couple of 'verbs, & send all the tracks to 'em (at different levels), hoping it makes it sound like everything is in the same space/room...

One thing I don't like is a whole lotta 'verb on is a kick drum though, I usually have the send levels from the kick pretty low...

I usually roll off quite a bit of high end on my reverb tracks too, of course, every song is different, but I usually start around 7-8khz, then adjust from there, usually ending up around 6-6.5khz, depending on the song...

How 'bout you guys??? Are there any little quirks/habits you do/use pretty regularly???

[Greg_L]

I'll use them as inserts too. I'm not strict about using them only as sends. Sometimes I want the drums to have a slightly different reverb than everything else. I'll put a reverb on the drum bus only. My vocals sometimes get their own reverb and then go to the send.

[ocnor]

I use separate reverbs for each track. This way I can use different reverb types, times, diffusion, pre delay, etc. to give each instrument it's own space. Once I get the effects set I lock them so that my computer doesn't struggle.

[miroslav]

You can do it your way. There's no right or wrong way to do it. The most efficient way is to set up one or two reverbs as sends and just send the tracks to the reverb. You can mix how much each track gets sent to a particular reverb.

Open an empty track with just your reverb on it. Set it full wet. No dry signal. Then go to your tracks and "send" them to that reverb. You can set it to be series or parallel. You probably want parallel - a little of the track goes to the reverb and gets blended back in with the main track.

I guess things really are going to be different around here on this new audio BBS....Greg's giving reverb advice instead of hating on it.
Pretty soon he'll be doing Beatles covers.

I agree with this same approach.
I generally settle on the type of verb I want on a song...and then I'll create 2-3 variations...short/med/long...and just use an Aux send/return setup, adjusting how much I send from a given track, to any one of those variations.

Nothing necessarily wrong with using different types in a mix...but, IMO, if you are doing it for the "glue"...you get the best result by putting your tracks in the similar flavor space rather than mixing long halls with small room reverbs and such....but that''s just the general view. Sometimes you just try shit and find what works and go with it.

[ocnor]

Sometimes you just try shit and find what works and go with it.

That's always been my credo.

[Greg_L]

I guess things really are going to be different around here on this new audio BBS....Greg's giving reverb advice instead of hating on it.
Pretty soon he'll be doing Beatles covers.

Lol. My level of interest in helping out is totally dependent on the person asking.

[JD01]

I tried this thing yesterday afternoon where I set up a 100% wet reverb track.

So, my drums folder has a reverb on it which I adjust to taste (normally Snare trash at about -23db)
Then my guitar folder has a 100% wet guitar re-verb track within in and I set up the guitar sends to this, generally -25 to -26db for main rhythms with my leads anywhere between -23 to -25db
Then I did the same thing in my vocal folder, with a track in that folder set 100% wet and vocals going to it at about -24db.

It does make things easier and seems to make things a little easier on your PC too. particularly when I'd normally have 4 - 6 guitar tracks, and two or three vocal tracks all with different reverbs.

[Greg_L]

That's getting there. Nothing wrong with that at all. You've pared down the reverbs from one on every track to one for each group. That's good.

Now try it with one reverb for the whole mix. Set up a reverb track. No dry signal, 100% wet. Just a pick a big room reverb and stick it on a track all by itself.

Take your group tracks, send them to that all-wet reverb. In the send/return options, set the group track to "master" send so the dry signal is priority through the master buss, and then with the internal fader send a little of that track to the big wet reverb track. The dry track will be the priority, and you can juggle how much of the wet reverb is mixed in. You mix the reverb with the send/return fader. For example you can send more of the drums to that reverb, and less of the guitars. The result will be the drums will have more room than the guitars in the mix through the same reverb. One reverb, one room, very little CPU load, and a very natural sound if you do it right. Just don't listen to the reverb track by itself. Lol. On second thought, yeah, listen to it. It'll sound like your mix from far away in a gigantic room.

And for effect, you can still use individual reverbs too to taste.

[JD01]

Cheers, Greg.

This is going to need some re-reading when I'm not in the office and have time to concentrate on playing with stuff like this. I do like Snare Trash on the kit though (gives it the In Utero feel) but it sounds a bit shit on guitars. I'm making progress again at the moment though - I'd stagnated for a while.

[Greg_L]

Cheers, Greg.

This is going to need some re-reading when I'm not in the office and have time to concentrate on playing with stuff like this. I do like Snare Trash on the kit though (gives it the In Utero feel) but it sounds a bit shit on guitars. I'm making progress again at the moment though - I'd stagnated for a while.

You can still use individual reverbs if you just like the sound. A little "snare trash" on drums is fine, then send that to the global room reverb to kind of gel it all together.

You can't stagnate yet. You're just getting started grasshoppa.

[JD01]

Cheers, Greg.

This is going to need some re-reading when I'm not in the office and have time to concentrate on playing with stuff like this. I do like Snare Trash on the kit though (gives it the In Utero feel) but it sounds a bit shit on guitars. I'm making progress again at the moment though - I'd stagnated for a while.

You can still use individual reverbs if you just like the sound. A little "snare trash" on drums is fine, then send that to the global room reverb to kind of gel it all together.

You can't stagnate yet. You're just getting started grasshoppa.

You know what I mean - when you learn something new - (proper compression was my last thing) - it takes you a couple of months to work out what you're doing with it and then it clicks and you can start utilising it in your mixes.... like you using all your modal theory!

[Greg_L]

To the best of my knowledge I have yet to use any modal theory.