how much reverb on rock rhythm-guitars?

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First of all: is it better to record the guitar-amps reverb which will lead into a mono-reverb or should I add reverb when mixing?
... and how much? I just have this problem: adding only a few reverb to the guitars it ends up sounding unprofessional and somehow unfinished. adding a bit more they move back in the mix and I'd like to have my guitars a bit upfront. furthermore I then have to put more reverb on the drums which ends in a washed out sound.
I also had to discover that adding reverb to heavily panned guitars puts them closer together - something I don't want either.

so where should I start from to get something like motley's "hell on high heels"?
short reverb and really drown it or a low long reverb?
 
Yo Six of Eleven: [Startrek?]

You ask a very tough question because I don't know what gear you are using.

But, with all the stuff I've read about reverb it amounts to this.

The less you use and get a good sound, the better you are.

It's the same with vocals; if you drown the vocal in reverb, mud slides slide in and the diction and articulation of the vocalist is lost in a booming bath of bounce and bounce and vodka.

Now, the quality of your reverb box means a great deal too. Like a 99 dollar reverb will give about 23 dollars worth of reverb. The Lexicon models are pretty darn good without going to the high end model.

I have taken a finished tune, with vocal, and mixed it 15 different ways with many reverb changes and combinations. So, if you want to really get the idea, take one of your mixes and work it
until your ears drop off with different reverb combinations or go into the reverb unit, if you can, and create/modify a patch and see what happens.


Green Hornet
 
Watch this ;)
Did you ever try to increase pre-delay time ? Doing this increase separation between sound and its reflections. Try 50-100 ms values, and if you have tempo to time ( BPM to ms ) conversion chart, you can put reverb in tempo sync with song.
Which type of reverb you are using ? Big halls tend do smear details an sounds boomy without equalization ( cut high shelf from 6 - 8 kHz up ). For rock guitar try plates, for metal short room. If guitar reverb narrow your stereo image, use 2 reverbs and pan them L-R.
Like this: Guitar1 reverb - left return pan hard left, right return pan 11 o´clock, Guitar2 reverb - left return pan 1 o´clock, right return hard right. Now you will have increased separation and width, and center free for drums.
 
1. Try the low long reverb.

2. Try the short reverb.

Your ears will tell you which one you will like.
 
just another opinion spinning your way...

I use only the absolute minimum reverb for rhythm guitar tracks that are distorted.. just enough to let the track breathe.. i've noticed that too much reverb may also interfere with the lead guitar solo's reverb.. especially if that solo is played on the same guitar as the rhythm tracks.. too much reverb and the solo is awash in two different colors of mud.. and the only way out is to raise the lead's track in the mix.. generating even more noise along the way..

I tend to let the drums have most of the reverb for rhythm tracks.. but hey.. opinions are like those dank, dark, orifices..
 
123

very little, or none. Try to use the same verb you use for drums and stuff, for consistency.
 
If you can basically hear or makeout the room that the guitars are in, you are in a good starting position.

A good short verb 1.6 seconds with about 60ms predelay should rock. Apply generously for polish
 
thank you for your help, guys.

so far I've been using reverbs of 600 to 800 ms... which seems to be way too short.
with a longer reverb of about 1.5s - but at a quite low level - the sound gets much wider.

what do you think of a delay used with rhythm guitars (in a not obvious "special-effect-way").
 
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