mcmd said:
Nameless,
...you mentioned that reverb was an area that you can spend alot of effort with.....what is your strategy?
Depends what I'm doing (isn't that a common answer?
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mcmd said:
Q. Do you apply reverb to a main buss and then dial in the aux on each track?
Sometimes, you can do it like that if you want. It can make it easier with a lot of tracks.
mcmd said:
Q. Use different reverbs on different tracks / instruments?
Of course. In a live setting, I may not use reverb at all if the room was setup properly for that recording. Otherwise, if I feel it needs a 'polished' sound, I may apply a very
slight reverb to the entire mix! And possibly the same reverb with a little more 'wet' and 'room size' on the vocals. When I say little, I mean
little.
In a situation where it's a 1-track-at-a-time, I try and move some gobos around the room and setup the mic at the right position for the instrument (again while monitoring through headphones while the musician plays). In an untreated room this is not possible, because for the rhythm instruments, like acoustic guitar, I like to mic from about 2-3 ft. away. In a small, untreated room this will sound like a pile of shit. But this is really how most 'open', '3D soundstage' mixes happen. Is with mic placement at the tracking stage.
Turning the fader down on the track is a 2-dimensional way to bring it back in the mix. And fake reverb effects can get muddy very quickly if applied to each individual track (again, the importance of room treatment!!!).
Assuming the room is poor and I was stuck with fake reverb effects (I'll assume you're using a reverb plugin), I would accept some of the room effects and live with it. I probably wouldn't close mic! That will be impossible to push back into the mix.
I'd start about 1 foot away from the guitar and tame some harsh frequency reflections with a parametric EQ (sweeping through the high freq.). Find the nasty sounds and cut them out. Then possibly add a very slight reverb to try and 'polish' the existing sound that now has the nasty frequencies tamed.
mcmd said:
Q. Reverb on the bass guitar?
Same as above. Except I usually like the bass upfront personally, in most songs anyway. I feel it needs to be heard. I like to keep them about the same 'distance' in the mix as the rhythm instruments, so almost the same thing applies except I might mic a little closer.
In an untreated room, mic your drums close and put anything that you can up for absorption. Don't use a room mic. In a treated room, the room mic is how I control ambience. I rarely put reverb on drums! It can sound muddy and take away 'punch' when mixed with the other tracks.
mcmd said:
Q. How to get that super 'wet' sound that is common on smooth jazz sax and guitars ( without hearing the reverb effect)?
I don't do a lot of jazz work to be honest. If I could hear a clip I could give you better advice on that because I'm not sure I know what you mean.
You can try turning down pre-delay and delay time and increase room size and wet/dry mix. Keep dry at 100% and turn wet up. Might also want to try a slight frequency cut with an EQ in the mids and again in the highs (some reverb plugs come with a sort of EQ, like the Waves Reverb).
mcmd said:
Q. How to use reverb to create depth?
The hardest part, especially for me. Like I said before, I try to get the depth from the actual recording, because it's really hard to fake it with a reverb.
You will need to mess with delay/pre-delay and frequency cuts, as well as room size and wet/dry mix. All the parameters play a role, and you need to learn what each one does.
Or just for the sake of arguing? I don't know.
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