1950's style reverb

J

jpb123

New member
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can help me.

I am trying to re-create that 1950's style crooner vocal sound. Like Dean Martin's Volare etc etc

I'm using my GAP R1 Active MK3 ribbon mic and have got the sound realistic but I'm having trouble with the reverb , I have Waves R-Verb and the stock Cubase reverbs but just can't seem to get it. I've sent it to a delay first with 120ms slap on it then to the reverb but I don't think that's it. I've tried pre-delaying the reverb ( Hall ) but that doesn't seem to do it. The reverb is like a cushion or a halo on these records and there's loads on but it never detracts from the intelligibility or the emotion of the song !!

I know everyone is going to say get a great singer but the guy I'm recording can really sing in that style and for a cabaret artist is pretty damned good , that's why I want to get this in the ball park.

Can anyone point me in the right direction ??
 


That was probably done in a large ambient studio or an actual echo chamber was used at Capitol Records.

In September 2006, EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for US$50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures. The studio claims that it is threatened by noise from construction of a condominium and underground parking lot by building firm Second Street Ventures that would have heavy equipment working within 18 feet (5.5 m) of its renowned underground echo chambers, which are themselves over 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground level.[10]

According to the CBS Evening News on July 31, 2008, Second Street Ventures deny this, and the developer's co-owner David Jordon says that they have arranged construction work outside the hours of Capitol's recording schedules; he also claimed that they have arranged for soundproof materials to be placed between the underground parking lot and Capitol's echo chambers. A senior record producer in the recording industry, Al Schmitt, says it would be "heartbreaking" if the company could no longer use the echo chambers, which he says are, "the best in the business."
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I have the Impression that the predelay is rather big on the 'volare'-verb. To me it sounds like a rather Long and narrow room. High damping seems to be quite strong, while the low damping is rather low. But I may be wrong, anyway...
 
You need to get familiar with convolution reverbs. Impulses. I bet there's a plate or room impulse that can do that all day long.
 
Yeah, you can find someting in most any digital reverb box or DAW that will get you pretty close to the Volare vibe....but most of the stuff Dean and Frank recorded was done at Capitol Records, and they have purpose-built echo/reverb chambers that (as I quoted above) are known for their quality.
 
working within 18 feet (5.5 m) of its renowned underground echo chambers, which are themselves over 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground level..
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Ahey I did pretty good then! 'Clicked on the tune before I read.. guessed chamber', maybe plate.
That is what you could call a fairly linear sounding verb. I.e not the variations simulating the 'reflections in a hall for example. To borrow from Lexicon speak 'Chamber - even, relatively dimensionless, little change in color as the sound decays. Chambers, plates as a starting point more or less.. until you begin playing with shapes which can get back to sounding like room cues'.
 
I'd be looking for Plate sounds, and a slap echo. Also remember that the reverb was usually done on an Aux send and return rather than smacked on the actual track. So you had both reverb and also analog equipment sculpting the sound. It also wouldn't shock me given the sibilance of the vocal if Dean wasn't recorded with a U47 rather than a ribbon mic on the track linked by Miroslav.
 
There really is a wealth of knowledge on this forum !!

I've gone with Reverance Reverb with a ballroom impulse put the predelay up to 120ms and put a mono delay with the highs rolled off before the reverb and it's good enough for me !!!
 
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