Reverb Depth Struggles

[In Tune Audio]

I need some help. I'm currently mixing two songs of a small trio, piano (digital, but nice), voice and violin.

I'm trying to get a really close intimate vocal sound. Violin was recorded in a large room, and I've added verb to make it sound more in the background. I'm very happy with the sound of the violin, (so was the player).

The vocal was recorded in my vocal booth, using a K2 through an Avalon 737. I got a really close sound during tracking, and am happy with the tone. My problem lies in keeping the vocals as tight and up close to the listener, while not having a completely dry track. I just can't get the reverb dialed in the way I want. I'm using the Realverb pro on the UAD1, and also tried with the Waves Rverb.


I'll try and put up a sample, (I know that would help, but my dial up makes that a bit of a pain), but any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Farview]

Find a good sounding reverb with the type of tail you want, the one that makes it sound far away that you have already found. Add a pre delay of about 30 to 70 ms. Subtract the pre delay time from the decay time (or else it will be too long) and you should be good to go.

[In Tune Audio]

Cool. So if (I'm just making these numbers up) I have a reverb time of 150 ms. Add a predelay of 40ms. Then change my reverb time to 110ms

Is that right?

Thanks for the help

[Farview]

That's right. It is more of a rule of thumb, you have to listen to it to make sure that the tail isn't too long or short. The pre delay gets the reverb away from the vocal just enough so that it doesn't blend together. The longer the pre delay, the longer the reverb tail seems (because it starts later)

[Be Loveless]

I'm going to try that out tommorow! Great tip.

[bdemenil]

are you saying predelay gives a more intimate sound?

I tend to reflexively use 15 to 20ms delay on all my verbs - my mixes are pretty dense. What kinds of applications shouldn't have predelay?

Someone once told me to send to two verbs - 1 with a big long tail, and another with a smaller sound... by mixing the two you could get it a closer / more personal sound without getting too dry.