buss compression, buss reverb, sequence

antichef

pornk rock
If you use a compressor and reverb, say for a subtle effect, on the stereo output buss, which order do you put them in?

(or does it depend on which reverb, which compressor, what the settings are, what the desired sound is, etc.?)

btw, not that it matters for the question, but I'm using UAD software plugins - the Realverb and the 4k Buss compressor. With the settings I have and the song I have, I think I like the compressor after the reverb because it tones down the reverb some.

If this is a silly question, then I'll take my beatings now, but I'm hoping it'll make for some interesting (and enlightening for me) answers.
 
If you use a compressor and reverb, say for a subtle effect, on the stereo output buss, which order do you put them in?

i NEVER add reverb to a stereo buss, but if i did it would always be compression>reverb. Unless it sounded better with reverb>compression. On those instances i would go with reverb>compression.
 
i NEVER add reverb to a stereo buss, but if i did it would always be compression>reverb. Unless it sounded better with reverb>compression. On those instances i would go with reverb>compression.

Truer words have never been spoken . . . unless someone said a more true thing once.




I guess it depens on what your looking for. The general idea of reverb is to simulate a room. Typically you would put a compressed sound in a room (I would think) so it makes sense (to me anyway) to go compressor > reverb. But like Willis said, if it sounds better to go the other way, do it.

But if you like it one way because it tones something down (i.e. the reverb) you might try toning it down yourself then reversing the order to see what you like.
 
Let me pour some gas on the fire before it starts smoldering...

(A) I agree with it being a very, very rare occasion that you'd put verb over an entire sum (while some plugins, which will not be named, make you think it's actually typical - and dare enough to call it "Mastering Reverb" of all things).

(B) You'd think that the choices (both solid choices to be sure) would be to either compress a reverberated signal or reverberate a compressed signal.

There's more -- Reverberate the non-compressed signal and mix it in with the compressed signal (pretty simple with some basic bussing). That would allow the reverb to react to the original dynamics without being subjected to the same post-compression.
 
For mastering, once in a while I'll use reverb to elongate the last bit of a fade or tail of a song if it was abruptly cut off, unless that was the original intention.

That's about the only time I would use a verb on a whole mix, usually the Lexicon 300L brought up and automated pre fader on an aux send.
 
I'm surprised to hear all of you are against putting reverb on a bus. Is there a technical reason for this?

While I don't think I've ever put a reverb on a master bus or anything, I'll occasionally use a bus to sum, say, a pair of mics on a single acoustic, panned hard left and right, into a single stereo channel, and then just add reverb there. Is there a disadvantage in doing it this way (in situations where you don't want a fundamentally different reverb on your left mic than on your right)?
 
it'll muddy up a mix right quick.

But, any bus in general, or just a master bus?

I mean, if I'm bussing together a couple tracks of a single performance for convenience, do I lose anything by putting a verb on the bus rather than creating a FX send for each track and then adjusting them all to match?
 
Grouping to make a "single instrument" - or even a small group of similar instruments (I tend to buss toms to a group and apply verb to the group) isn't a problem. But subjecting an entire mix to reverb (unless that entire mix is simply "a guitar" or something) is pretty unusual...
 
Is it not the case that (and I'll admit i'm going back a bit here) that a stereo master would sometimes be put through a studios echo chamber (reverb room) in order to gel a mix. eg Quincy Jones Big Band Bossa album?
 
Is it not the case that (and I'll admit i'm going back a bit here) that a stereo master would sometimes be put through a studios echo chamber (reverb room) in order to gel a mix. eg Quincy Jones Big Band Bossa album?

That would most likely be done at mixdown.

A good example of reverb done in mastering would be the Pearl Jam - Ten album. And a good example of remixing would be when they re-mixed the album recently to get rid of the damn reverb that was done in mastering.
 
One other thing to add is that if you put compressor AFTER the reverb, it will bring up the reverb and make things sound farther back. Can be cool in isolation, but I wouldn't do this to the entire mix/master bus.
 
Weirdly, I've just remastered an old song and put the entire mixdown through a nice roomy Breverb setting. Specifically to get a washy, muddied overall wall of sound type thing...
 
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