Reverb & Compression, should one come first?

[thedude400]

After buying and selling a schload of recording gear to see what I liked best I've finally come down to a couple Lexicon Processors, a little midi keyboard, a firepod, 2 Oktava's MC012's, an SM57, a D112, and a Rode NTK. I'm still waiting on the Firepod so I haven't actually been able to use everything in unison.

Anyways to my question, I was curious as to whether compression generally sounds better before or after reverb is applied. I would rather just use software compression but if I have to I'll pick up a compression unit.

I know it's ultimately going to just come down to "What I like Best" but just curious if one way tends to be more popular than the other. Is there a very noticable difference?

[jaykeMURD]

Simply depends on the situation. Some have a preference, but I find I mismatch them all the time.

[ssscientist]

When you compress a reverbed signal you lose some of what you (probably) worked hard to get --- in other words, you change the sound of that particular reverb setting substantially.

It's a rare situation in which I put the compressor after the reverb, but YMMV.

[MessianicDreams]

well as a general rule i always buss reverb, so the wet and dry are never on the same channel.


are you asking whether you should compress the reverb? or whether the signal you send to the reverb should be compressed?


i think its a good idea to keep the reverb as dynamic as possible to be honest...

[littledog]

I never compress reverb. Never occurred to me to do so, and would be hard pressed to imagine why I would want to.

Compression is usually applied as a processor, much like EQ - it affects the whole signal. You COULD compress reverb to change it's decay characteristics, but it seems easier to just change the reverb settings to get the exact sound you want.

Reverb is usually applied as an effect - like chorus or delay - and it is only applied to a percentage of the signal. This is achieved by either bussing the sound with an aux send to a seperate reverb channel, or by using the wet/dry mix on the reverb unit itself.