Reverb Theory and EQ theory

[reverieman]

We are currently mixing our own record and are having troubles finding the right way to use reverbs. When using reverbs in a mix do you want the same reverb on everything with different predelays, or different reverbs for each instrument. Is it smarter to record further from the mic in the first place ie backing vocals... rather than try to use reverb to back them away from the lead vocal. It just seems that everything become to full of life, and smeared I guess.. any tips?

As far as EQing goes.... what are the predominant frequencies for each instrument. I get so confused because I am trying to learn to notch out frequencies and as of now it is a shot in the dark. I know that the Bass drum and Bass share a lot, and the voice and the guitar... I am not that naive just a little wet behind the ears in all of this. Thanx for your paitience

reverieman

[LeeRosario]

Originally Posted by reverieman

We are currently mixing our own record and are having troubles finding the right way to use reverbs. When using reverbs in a mix do you want the same reverb on everything with different predelays, or different reverbs for each instrument. Is it smarter to record further from the mic in the first place ie backing vocals... rather than try to use reverb to back them away from the lead vocal. It just seems that everything become to full of life, and smeared I guess.. any tips?


reverieman

Well the idea in mixing is to create a somewhat realistic picture of the band on a stereo track (surround if you're lucky). So when it comes to reverbs, you could go any which way as long as it dosn't become a drag on the mix.

Reverb is not generally something you have in great quanities during a mix, so you find yourself mixing between the few outboard verb units you do have and the actual reverb and spacial information printed on the raw tracks.

Whatever you do in tracking can help that greatly, which is why the importance of rooms and spaces for recording always comes up.

So to answer the question directly, you can have anywhere from one to a few reverb units at your aux section with different flavors and sizes and decide which instrument gets what reverb. How you decide that is completely up to you.


The best engineers I've ever worked with can do amazing things with just one reverb on the entire mix.

As far as EQing goes.... what are the predominant frequencies for each instrument. I get so confused because I am trying to learn to notch out frequencies and as of now it is a shot in the dark. I know that the Bass drum and Bass share a lot, and the voice and the guitar... I am not that naive just a little wet behind the ears in all of this. Thanx for your paitience

Well the key to this is in the harmonic series. (I definitly recommend checking out info on that). Every instrument has what you call a fundamental note and then a multiple series of harmonics that follow it. You might hear people say, "1st, 2nd, 3rd harmonics", well that's what they are referencing. The same concept applies to that smooth distortion analog tape gives you as well as all the tube stuff in your guitar rack.

Ideally, the ears like to hear nice and even harmonics. A great singer will have her strong fundamental note, then followed by a nice and even series of harmonics. A great way to see this in action is to put a trumpet track through a real time analyzer. It creates really pronounced harmonics and it's easy to see.


How does that apply to EQ? You can use filters (using EQ) to locate your fundamental and work up from there. It's like using a hi pass on a guitar:

You set the cut off frequency at a general point where you think the lowest end of the guitar will be and then you adjust the cut off frequency until you feel you have the best sound.

I personally stopped using hi pass filters on guitars and use a wide notch filter instead. I feel it still leaves those low frequencies that we can barely hear, but that are hugely important to that beef (remember, it's beef not chicken) that I always look for.


Really, the issue is about knowing when to use it and why you want to use it. Some notch filters may be more apporiate than hi passing everything at some points. Then vice versa. Same with shelving. That might come handy at some point and it might not. The important thing to understand is all the possible features on a given EQ (parametric, semi parametric, whatever) for that "just in case" moment.