Reverb/Delay using compression

[aaronmcoleman]

Ok, this is probably a weird question, but I read an article talking about how to get a reverb/delay sorta sound using parallel compression. But now I can't find it.

Anyone have any idea how to do this? As I recall, it involved smashing one track and putting it behind a dry one. Any thoughts?

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I would just use reverb or delay when I wanted reverb or delay.

 

[Massive Master]

Depending on the space, it could simply be that the room sound is blossoming after the transient (which, again depending on the space, could sound like added verb or slap-back echo).

 

[aaronmcoleman]

I just read an article talking about using compression to simulate delay, so I thought I'd try it out but I can't remember where I read it or how it said to do it.

Of course I can use reverb when I want reverb, and compression when I want compression. I was just throwing this out there in case anyone else has heard this.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Yeah, you could bring out whatever room sound is in the recording by some form of compression, especially parallel compression because it would leave more of the upper dynamics intact. But what would be the trade off in terms of stuff happening that you didn't like? It would have to work out that you liked the effect from a dynamics point of view and the room sound point of view.

 

[texZen123]

Thanks, good advice.

 

[BrentDomann]

If you have something that has a good attack and a long but quiet tail (like a well-tuned drum or an acoustic guitar), I bet you can do it even without natural room reverb. If I were to try, I would copy the tracks that were going to be compressed or I'd run them to a separate buss. On the "to be compressed" (or "copy") track I'd set the compressor's attack as low as possible (even to 0 if I were using a plugin or other tool that could do it).

Then as part of the process I'd solo the track. Compress the piss out of it. Use a high ratio and boost the output a lot. You want to be hearing this compression to an obscene amount.

Then we get to the important part: I'd set the release to get a really good pump going. Something that fits with the style of music. It has to have an obvious bloom after the natural attack but close enough that the bloom comes from the tail of the signal (and this should work even with a dry recording if you have a good tail). This is because you want the pump to be separate from the attack.

Once you've got that, you have to revisit the compression ratio and output level. The compression ratio will be more important because you are running this in parallel, so the volume level in your mixer section for the buss or separate "copy" track will add to your level of control over the volume. The ratio is something you can only set on the compressor (duh). Get it where it sounds right to you, but remember that it might need to be a hair on the extreme side since you will be preserving a lot of dynamics with the unaffected normal track that you didn't compress.

Now also solo the regular unaffected track so you can hear both the one with the compressor and the one without. Start low and bring the level of the compressed track up until you can hear it behind the uncompressed track. What you should be hearing at this point - if you did things correctly - is a single early reflection following every natural attack.

Note: this is all just how I do it myself and how I'd hypothetically approach the problem.