Damn... do people really apply reverb to the master track of a recording?
How many instruments are on these tracks, and what style of music is it?
I'm only surprised because even with simple folk/rock music I've recorded, where there's acoustic guitars on rhythm/lead, a vocal line, mandolin and piano, I only end up applying reverb sparingly to the guitars and vocals, and even those are different amounts per instrument.
Once everything gets put together, I couldn't imagine slapping another 'verb on the end of that... in any style I've recorded.
Just curious where this might have a place, since I can't seem to think of one at the moment. As far as I can tell, there's been a place for just about every type of effect in every conceivable place in the recording/mixing chain at some point or other in the history of audio engineering, but this one isn't standing out to me
As for natural sounding reverb, why is it surprising that most aim for realistic sounding verses... not-so-natural sounds?
I've heard the occasional use of a ridiculous reverb that sounded like it came from nowhere on this Earth, but it is rare. Usually reverb is mixed in to give things a more natural sound because, as people have already said, it gets the performance closer to what someone might be hearing, and the type of reverb might dictate the feeling the listener gets. E.g. a room reverb will make you think someone is singing next to you in your apartment, whereas a lush hall 'verb will give you the impression that you are hearing a performance in a large auditorium.