how to properly add reverb to combined vocals

  • Thread starter Thread starter dontouch
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noisewreck said:
What DAW do you use? I am using Cubase.
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In Sonar (and I thought all DAWS) it is simple to make a mono track stereo. A click of the mouse achieves it. Commonly things like amp sims will prefer a stereo track if they do room or ambiance modeling.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
The signal path is something like on a stereo input of a mixing board, that is, it can act as two separate channels through to the balance control. If you plug a single source into the "Left (Mono)" it gets sent to both the Left and Right paths in the stereo channel, but you don't hear it as stereo when the balance is centered. Say you put that mono signal into a stereo reverb box before the mixer. If the box is configured to pass the dry input signal to both outputs equally and mix it with the L and R of the stereo reverb then the dry is "centered" while the stereo reverb is spread out. Now hook that up to the stereo input of a mixer. You can use the channel's balance control to move the whole stereo image left or right. This is done simply by lowering the right to move the image left, or lowering the left to move the image right.

In a software mixer you have more flexibility. What I use gives me the pan/balance option to "add channels". It's like putting a stereo signal into two mono channels panned hard left and right, then panning one over to the other side. That's different than a normal balance control which lowers one side to favor the other, losing the information in the "off" side. Using "add channels" retains all the info (except for cancellation issues). Imagine a stereo keyboard with a ping-pong delay bouncing between L and R. If you "pan" it hard left with a balance control you lose half of your ping-pong effect. In "add channels" mode the right ping-pongs (the pongs?) move across toward the left channel.
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So, if I understand it correctly, you're turning a mono channel into a stereo channel, by "adding channels". So, I wasn't that far off from the truth when I said that inserting a stereo effect into a MONO CHANNEL will make that effect mono.

noisewreck said:
You're right. It will be summed to mono.
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Thanx. That's what I thought.
 
RAMI said:
So, if I understand it correctly, you're turning a mono channel into a stereo channel, by "adding channels". So, I wasn't that far off from the truth when I said that inserting a stereo effect into a MONO CHANNEL will make that effect mono.
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No, adding a stereo effect turns that channel into a stereo channel from that point in the path, at least it does in Sony Vegas 6. The "add channels" option changes the way the pan control functions.

Normally with a stereo signal (which it is after the stereo reverb is inserted) it functions like a balance control. To move the image to one side a balance control just lowers the volume of the opposite side.

The "add channels" method of controlling the stereo image is more like putting a stereo signal into two mono channels. Instead of turning anything down, it pans one side across to the other side. The image is moved but no volumes are lowered.

The panning options in Vegas 6 are , balance, add channels, pan: 0dB center, pan: -3dB center, pan: -6dB center. Balance is good for fixing stereo tracks that are out of balance. Add channels is good for manipulating the image of stereo tracks that have important information in both channels that you don't want to lose. The 0dB/-3dB/-6dB center options are best for mono tracks and have different effects when panned actively or if your mix gets summed to mono etc.
 
G-Jay said:
In Sonar (and I thought all DAWS) it is simple to make a mono track stereo. A click of the mouse achieves it. Commonly things like amp sims will prefer a stereo track if they do room or ambiance modeling.
Click to expand...

Another way to do this in Cubase is create a stereo track and drag the audio part from the mono track to stereo. Then you can slap on stereo FX on it.

I have just upgraded to Cubase 5 from SX 2, so not sure if this is something possible with a simple mouse click :) Still learning my way through this new version.
 
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