Reverb on Kick and Bass

Nola

Nola

Well-known member
I know it's not popular to put reverb on a kick and bass, but I was reading an article by Marc McClusky where he states he puts reverb on both because in a natural room they do have reverb on them. What do you guys think?

I've always put reverb on kicks (but not on bass) so it was interesting to see him say that.
 
I put some reverb on the drum bus, so that includes the kick. Never on bass. Generally what I'm looking for is clarity in the low end.
 
It depends on the material and on the acoustic space you are trying to create. I've used reverb on both from time to time.
 
High pass the send to the reverb. No point putting it on bass unless the mix is open enough for it to cut through.
 
Actual drums in general mostly have some natural reverb so i wouldn't see why not use it slightly. But as i mostly bring some reverb up in the master i wouldn't do it that quick in the track to not get it to much.
Bad thing i confront many times is that drum samples already have some reverb (cause naturally there when recording?).
 
I always send a touch of the bass to the general track reverb. Kick gets the same amount, just a touch though. Guitars a little more, and snare/toms probably the most. Vocals have their own reverb, usually a flat plate. Obviously, that's for my tunes with my taste. I would think your tracks could use a little more verb since you like the live, room feel.
 
My favorite thing in the world (well, one of my favorite things in the world) is triggering a kick room sample with each kick hit. A throwback to the Alice in Chains type of mix. Not reverb exactly, but it's great for adding depth/size to a kick.
 
I use reverb on bass and kick as needed. For bass I'll generally try it at about 6dB lower on the send than other tracks, just to put it in something like the same space. On kick I'll only do it if it seems to need more space. Often the small amount of kick in the overheads does the trick without using additional reverb, even if the overheads don't have added reverb. My reverb is usually high-passed to begin with, so I don't need to make special arrangements for LF sources.
 
JeffroMixesYou said:
My favorite thing in the world (well, one of my favorite things in the world) is triggering a kick room sample with each kick hit.
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That is on samples then?
Cause when drums are recorded right it is done with several mics (at least 5?). And each mic will record a 'double' of the others with some electronic delay, so there is the original delay.
 
Seriously just try it and see. It'll either work or it won't or it'll sort of work but not quite and you think about what you could tweak to make it work better. It so completely depends on everything else in the production that there just isn't can't be a yes or no answer. Are you afraid it's going to cause some problem that you can't hear? How is it a problem if you can't hear it?

For most of what I do, I usually want the kick and the bass to have some of the same verb as everything else, so they share the same space, but that's just where I find myself. There are plenty of styles where it wouldn't make sense at all.
 
Another tip.
As drums and bass are the basic of most songs, start editing the drums by itself first (with slight reverb? Only if needed). Then add bass and edit. Then .....
 
42low said:
That is on samples then?
Cause when drums are recorded right it is done with several mics (at least 5?). And each mic will record a 'double' of the others with some electronic delay, so there is the original delay.
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Of course, but it is a nice little "trick" to have a sample of the room mic with *only* the kick. That way there is no cymbal bleed and you can crush the snot outta it without having a blast of cymbals. Of course, this would be used sparingly (unless you're going for an obvious effect). Just enough to add some further depth.
Whenever I would record a band, I'd always hit record on all mics and have him give me several kick/snare/tom samples in case it was needed when it got to mix time.

Again, not really reverb as was asked by the OP, but a close cousin ;)
 
Honestly, I tend to remove the room in a kick mic by replacing it. It depends on the song/band tho.

Sometimes tho a little room verb works. There is no constant ever tho.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Sorry, but those are some hideous sounding overheads.
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jimmys69 said:
I listened to them and yeah, not so great sounding.
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Yet these overheads exactly makes one hear clearly (cause overdone) what original drum reverb does over several mics, right?
This drum recording indeed needed 'some' work.

bouldersoundguy said:
I'll stick with the tracks I record myself.
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I posted that as an example for those who've never had real drum recordings, and worked with samples only. I've not posted that for the ones who already know what i'm talking about.
Would love to hear better material for examples, so....you... :thumbs up:
 
Recently (in recent times), I use a Akai analog kick with a pretty large 'verb as part of the mud component. That output can have three other drum parts and I just add in a snare for that reverb send. So, I'm building around that as way in the back of the 3D space. I have a Microbrute electricity buzz sound I send over there, also
 
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