Explain Reverb to me please!

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aaronmcoleman

aaronmcoleman

The truth is out there!
Ok, I don't use a ton of reverb anyway, but lately I've been using Stillwell's Verbiage.

What the hell do all these things mean: dampening, early reflections, pre-delay?

Basically I usually just mess around with room size, wet/dry, and that's about it because I don't really understand the rest.




Now, what I'm looking for is some general idea of what each will do to the sound I want to be able to set up my own acoustic, electric, vocal, and drum reverbs...what I'd specifically like is a way to set up my reverb for a really warm vocal sounds.

Thanks for the education!
 
If you can notice the reverb in the mix then you have used too much of it.

Actually, I'll just shut up and let the other guys do the talking, but thats one piece of advice I noticed.:D
 
To the OP: Try this for an explanation of reverb parameters:Audio effect - Reverb


Drumrookie is not the first to make the observation that
DrumRookie said:
If you can notice the reverb in the mix then you have used too much of it.
Click to expand...

I've heard it so many times that I've even repeated it myself as if it was a part of natural wisdom, like "don't swim straight after eating". Neither are true.

The problem with the advice is that it is often interpreted as "use reverb sparingly", and sometimes, more extremely, "don't use reverb".

But it all depends on musical context. Gregorian chants, for example, are swimming in reverb. What's more, they are composed for an environment with big reverbs (e.g. cathedrals): long slow notes are pretty much the only way of dealing with the length of reverb in big old stone buildings.

I went through a 'dry period' a while ago, but these days I have been much more lavish with reverb. You can still use heaps of reverb without it getting in the way of intelligibility, clarity and credibility.

It's a bit like salt. If I put salt in my food (because it makes it taste better), then I want to be able to notice it. Otherwise, why bother?

I do agree that you can kill a meal with too much. But reducing it doesn't mean eliminating it.
 
Just play with the setting on a duplicate track and see what they do for yourself... that is the best way to figure it out..
 
Dampening refers to the absorption of highs by the surfaces in the room making them decay faster than the mids and lows.

Early reflections are short echoes that occur when the sound bounces off nearby surfaces.

Pre delay is the time that passes while the sound is going out into the room, bouncing around then reaching the listener.
 
Here's a few tips I've learned from the few years I've been studying this...

1.) Reverb is typically used to create an idea of space for things you've recorded. When you aren't using it as a long-tailed, lavish wash effect, you're typically using it to create a sense of space. Think about how much you notice reverb in a place like your room or a concert hall. Contrast the two; try and figure out what makes them sound like they do. Then try to apply those sounds to your tracks to get the feeling the music is being played in a space like that.
2.) If you're using reverb for that purpose, I've heard people simply bring up the send fader for the reverb until it's noticeable, then back it off a few dB. Try muting the reverb effect and see if you can tell a difference. If you don't notice anything different until you mute it, you're on the right track.
3.) You don't have to use reverb on everything. Heck, if you don't think your track needs it, don't use it on anything. My favorite quote I've heard from an engineer is this: "Just because you have 700 plug-ins (of which you bought 3) doesn't mean you need to use all of them on every track."

As to the actual questions you asked in the OP, Bouldersoundguy did a good job answering those... I just figured I'd input the information I assumed you also wanted to hear. But you know what they say about assuming...
 
I like ReaVerb in Reaper because you can add 'room' files that are named for the spaces they represent (long conical hall, for example). Latest song I recorded starts out with piano, and when I listened to the first mix, I thought there was way too much reverb on the piano, sounds like its in the middle of a large empty room. My wife listened and said it sounded good that way. Once the other instruments come in, its not noticeable, but I could animate it lower if I thought it needed it.
 
Thanks guys.

That article gecko posted will be helpful. And thanks boulder, that's what I was looking for.

I know more things have been ruined by reverb than helped, but I do like to hear it. I was listening to some old Neil young and the vocal,reverb was awesome and very prominent.
 
I'm not looking for some hard and fast settings, I'll play to get those, but where's a place to start with getting a nice warm vocal reverb like a lot of those mellower 70s singers?

I don't want some preset I'll just plug in, but I feel like its like when I learned to use compression, I just needed the parameters and a starting place for a few sources.

Thanks!
 
DrumRookie said:
If you can notice the reverb in the mix then you have used too much of it.
Click to expand...

gecko zzed said:
But it all depends on musical context.
Click to expand...
I think it totally depends on the musical context.
So often, when I listen to music on headphones, regardless of the decade, I can hear the reverb on voices. I'm sometimes surprized just how much, actually. But coming out of the speakers, with all the other instruments and whatnot, it's not something I zero in on.
In the past as a newbie, I would use what I now consider to be too much reverb on voices. That was primarilly because my ears weren't sufficiently sharp to minute changes in the volume of effects {or much else !}. In other words, unless I whacked up the volume to overkill, I couldn't hear the effect.
It's all part of the learning but though I've really backed off on effects generally, I do quite like reverb~y vocals.
 
Yeah I've been listening carefully to a lot of stuff I like from the 60s-now and I can often hear a lot of reverb. You're right, it doesn't jump out at you (usually) but if you listen for it it's there.

Even on recordings I've done that I've liked, when I turn off the reverb I can hear it's missing even though I can't hear it well when it's on. I just stumble upon good settings I don't really know what each thing does. Actually, I've really liked delay on vocals, but I hear a lot of really nice reverb lately so I thought I'd explore that.

Thanks for the links and videos. I'll check them out.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
I'm not looking for some hard and fast settings, I'll play to get those, but where's a place to start with getting a nice warm vocal reverb like a lot of those mellower 70s singers?

I don't want some preset I'll just plug in, but I feel like its like when I learned to use compression, I just needed the parameters and a starting place for a few sources.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

One thing you can do if you don't have a lot of control over your reverb plug-in directly is if you're using the reverb as a send (as you should be), then you can have an Aux track with the reverb insert, and then put an EQ plug-in after it. This'll let you do some EQ on JUST the reverbed sound, which you can then send back to the vocals. This is perfect if you like your settings, but it's a lot brighter than you want it to be, so you can mellow it out and warm it up by rolling off some of that high end.
 
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