Producing Space With Reverb

If you don't hear anything wrong with the reverb then there probably isn't much wrong with it. You'll only find out by trying different amounts and types of reverb.
Nothing wrong with using two reverbs at all, it's not uncommon. I used to do the same thing, but found that using a single room reverb gets the sound I want better.

Without a specific track/arrangement/mix in mind it's really hard to reccomend anything specific. From memory (a couple of weeks back mind) - you use more reverb than I have been doing recently, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing if thats the sound you want.
 
Jake_JW said:
If you don't hear anything wrong with the reverb then there probably isn't much wrong with it. You'll only find out by trying different amounts and types of reverb.
Nothing wrong with using two reverbs at all, it's not uncommon. I used to do the same thing, but found that using a single room reverb gets the sound I want better.

Without a specific track/arrangement/mix in mind it's really hard to reccomend anything specific. From memory (a couple of weeks back mind) - you use more reverb than I have been doing recently, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing if thats the sound you want.
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thanks Jake. Isn't "flat plate" the thing nowadays for vocals? what is it about that style of reverb that ppl like so much? I haven't been around long enough to notice many differences between these types. The decay is so hard to hear in a mix to begin with, and it seems that the tail is the biggest variation between them.
 
I think you need not worry about what "the thing is nowadays" and do what you want to do. If that involves 10 different reverbs, then fine. Just make it not suck and it's all good.
 
Greg_L said:
I think you need not worry about what "the thing is nowadays" and do what you want to do. If that involves 10 different reverbs, then fine. Just make it not suck and it's all good.
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thanks. i'm wondering "why" it is, not "what" it is. just some conversation, i don't have ppl in person that can talk these things...so yeah, i'm just wondering what it is ppl like so much about it. thnx
 
I always thought plate was more of an old fashioned thing - it has quite a recognisable sound and tends to work well for blues/soul vocals and giving things a bit more of an old fashioned sound. They can be really nice on soul/blues vocals and ballads as the smooth tail can sometimes sit behind the main vocals and give them an impression of extra size.

It's a classic sound but I don't hear it much in Rock/heavier stuff except when done for effect, for high tempo tracks the decay times can be a bit much as plates tend to be quite long by default (so, for example the presets REVerence comes with in cubase start at 2 seconds long). You can shorten them but the impulses I have tend to sound overly dense when you truncate them that much.

IDK if you've read this (its nearly 10 years old) but might be relevant:
Choosing The Right Reverb
 
Jake_JW said:
I always thought plate was more of an old fashioned thing - it has quite a recognisable sound and tends to work well for blues/soul vocals and giving things a bit more of an old fashioned sound. They can be really nice on soul/blues vocals and ballads as the smooth tail can sometimes sit behind the main vocals and give them an impression of extra size.

It's a classic sound but I don't hear it much in Rock/heavier stuff except when done for effect, for high tempo tracks the decay times can be a bit much as plates tend to be quite long by default (so, for example the presets REVerence comes with in cubase start at 2 seconds long). You can shorten them but the impulses I have tend to sound overly dense when you truncate them that much.

IDK if you've read this (its nearly 10 years old) but might be relevant:
Choosing The Right Reverb
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This. ^^^^^

Modern reverbs are very clean and quick and most commercial pop/radio rock mixes are relatively dry and punchy. They're not swimming in long decay reverb like old Spector recordings used to be. A plate is usually a pretty big reverb sound. Very dated...unless you want to sound dated.
 
there we go! lol. that's exactly what i was looking for. sheesh. :thumbs up: i'll check that article out too. thnx Jake and Greg
 
andrushkiwt said:
there we go! lol. that's exactly what i was looking for. sheesh. :thumbs up: i'll check that article out too. thnx Jake and Greg
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The speed, texture, and space in a mix allows you more flexibility with reverb style. A blazing fast thrash song with tons of nonstop super heavy guitar riffing and rapid fire bass drumming has no room for big dated reverbs. Reverb makes a mess in a mix like that. A sleepy ballad, even a modern rock radio friendly foo nickleback fighters ballad, can get away with bigger reverbs because there will probably be more open space in the mix.
 
so, here's a good example. watch this vid, listen closely, and tell me why i can't notice the differences much! lol.

i mean, i hear the ways that the reverbs are changing the tone of the original sound, and slight differences between the EQ of the decays...but i cannot see how one is "better" than another or what makes it worth $500 rather than free. in a blind test, would you really be able to tell how "worthy" one is over the other?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6fm0_0KHPs
 
That's really hard to answer. Plugin manufacturers use the same sales rationale as ever - The old 'if you use this on you'll find that your mixes fall together quicker and tend to sound more pro' line.
With convolution reverbs they'll include a bunch of proprietary impulse responses (possibly from famous live rooms/studios etc), and with algorithmic reverbs they'll try and out algorithm each other and possibly base things on one of the "Iconic" sounding reverb units with a certain sound.

Reverb is a subtle thing in most cases, so noticing the subtle differences between subtle ambience added to tracks in a mix with a bunch of other stuff going on is always going to be tricky. It's more important to know where/how much reverb is apropriate and which type will works best than to worry overly about which actual plugin you want to use - in much the same way that fancy compression plugins are great tools but not 100% necessary most of the time.
 
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