Reverb without the decay - choir recorded too close

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lfstudios10

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I don't even know if what I'm looking for is reverb. We recently recorded a concert of a choir with generally close micing. The conductor and director would like a further sounding sound as the whole point of the choir is not to be able to hear each of the individual voices. Simultaneously I'm not looking to make it sound like they were in the world's biggest concert hall. My problem is that there is always a long decay with reverb which makes sense. I need something (could be a reverb plugin or otherwise) that would accomplish what I am looking for. I am using Studio One to edit and have tried the built in verb plugins plus Waves IR-1.
 
This is kind of a fundamental when recording choirs - you need to blend the voices on the mics or it'll be too late to fix afterwards, as you found out.

You will find that most reverb plugins have a control for the decay time, labelled something like "Duration", "Time", "RT", "length" etc. You can reduce this to bring the reverb time down.
"there is always a long decay with reverb" - not true, try smaller presets, look for 'small room' or 'drum booth' or something similar.
 
You should work closely with the choir director to lay out the choir into a proper miking situation. I have miked the UT choir for 15 years for graduation ceremonies. The choir director doesn't understand that instead of layering front to back he should set the voices left to right so you can properly mike then. I AM ROBUTT!
 
mix the different harmonies so they sit well in the mix. your frequency ranges should be balanced before you worry about reverb. that should help. when you are ready choose a verb thats right for what you want. a medium wooden room would be a good algorythm to try. mess around with the diffusion and decay. som reverbs lete you control the early and late reflections. if you use 2 different sends you can adjust your reflections parameters to create more depths from the vocals you want to be deceived more in the distance. let it breathe. hope that helps.
 
oh, and i would put more verb on the higher harmonies and less to none on the bassier harmonies
 
oh, and i would put more verb on the higher harmonies and less to none on the bassier harmonies
Presuming multi tracked in sections?

One thing to look into ('OP) with your verb might be use of patches that have their early reflections (the shorter delay portions) prominent, and/or not using the pre delay function. This sort become attached', blended and mix in with the source. A lot of verbs are set where the effect is happening after and behind and around the source leaving the source 'front.
Consider and pick what might be an appropriate Size factor (play with it, it may work smaller than expected.
That's for your 'blur/'set back' factor, then look at your decay time as a separate final function.

..I just thought to add, some verbs have a 'Distance function (guess that's what it's typically called :) that sort of packs this all under 'one knob.
 
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