wet/dry verb

[paresh]

Hi - I just started using SIR Impulse reverbs...not sure of the best place for wet/dry balance.

I run the vocal pre fader with the aux send up full & adjust the wet/dry balance at the aux return. However the Sir interface has seperate controls for wet & dry. The default is full dry & wet most of the way up. But sometimes I am hearing an echo with the dry up full. Should it be all the way off? I haven't experimented enough yet & wanted some input. Thanks.

 

[Ford Van]

Put this setting at fulling "wet". This is the balance within the reverb or dry signal and reverb. If you are using it via an Aux Send/Return type of thing, it should be at fully wet.

The "echo" that you heard at fully/mostly dry is the latency of the reverb.

 

[BookSix]

This is gonna be long and possibly confusing but I hope it helps...

Well, first off, unless for a desired effect, running a reverb send prefader is not common practice. One reason being that, if you ride your vocal level using automation, the reverb send will not follow the up and down levels created (because it's level is pre or before the fader movements) making an unnatural sounding reverb. Imagine a singer in a large hall singing at their max level and then imagine the reverb it creates. Now imagine the singer dropping their vocal level to their lowest level possible but the reverb not dropping at all in level. This is what you're about to create.

Next, to understand reverb settings. Dry = the amount of completely uneffected signal coming through. Wet = The amount of completely effected signal coming through. This being said and understanding you are using your reverb as a send and not an insert, your method of adjust reverb levels is backward. Rather than having the send on your audio track at full and adjusting the amount of reverb by adjusting the wet and dry, your should take this approach: bottom out (-infinity dB) the reverb send on your audio track. Next, set the reverb's dry signal to 0% and the wet to 100% (reason being that any dry signal coming through will only add volume to your the track your sending - and may be slighlty delayed depending on latency - and is unecessary. All you really want to hear in this case is all of the wet signal you are creating). Now that you're all setup up, playback your song and slowly bring up the aux send on your track until you hear the amount of reverb desired.

One last note. The reason you don't want to leave your audio tracks' send at 100% and adjust the amount of reverb at the reverb itself, is, if you did the same practice with all your tracks that need reverb, everything would have the EXACT same amount of reverb, where as most cases require different levels... for example, more reverb on the vocal and snare drum than on the acoustic guitar...

 

[paresh]

Thanks for the response!! What about the aux return? That's where I've been controlling the amount of verb...

 

[Robert D]

This is gonna be long and possibly confusing but I hope it helps...

Well, first off, unless for a desired effect, running a reverb send prefader is not common practice. One reason being that, if you ride your vocal level using automation, the reverb send will not follow the up and down levels created (because it's level is pre or before the fader movements) making an unnatural sounding reverb. Imagine a singer in a large hall singing at their max level and then imagine the reverb it creates. Now imagine the singer dropping their vocal level to their lowest level possible but the reverb not dropping at all in level. This is what you're about to create.

Next, to understand reverb settings. Dry = the amount of completely uneffected signal coming through. Wet = The amount of completely effected signal coming through. This being said and understanding you are using your reverb as a send and not an insert, your method of adjust reverb levels is backward. Rather than having the send on your audio track at full and adjusting the amount of reverb by adjusting the wet and dry, your should take this approach: bottom out (-infinity dB) the reverb send on your audio track. Next, set the reverb's dry signal to 0% and the wet to 100% (reason being that any dry signal coming through will only add volume to your the track your sending - and may be slighlty delayed depending on latency - and is unecessary. All you really want to hear in this case is all of the wet signal you are creating). Now that you're all setup up, playback your song and slowly bring up the aux send on your track until you hear the amount of reverb desired.

One last note. The reason you don't want to leave your audio tracks' send at 100% and adjust the amount of reverb at the reverb itself, is, if you did the same practice with all your tracks that need reverb, everything would have the EXACT same amount of reverb, where as most cases require different levels... for example, more reverb on the vocal and snare drum than on the acoustic guitar...

Nice splainin BookSix.

 

[Robert D]

Thanks for the response!! What about the aux return? That's where I've been controlling the amount of verb...

The aux return will control the proportional reverb level for all the tracks with send levels greater than zero. So lets say you have 4 channels with reverb send levels at 2, 5, 7, and 8 (just picking some arbitrary numbers). Raising the return level by 1 would have the same effect as raising the 4 send levels to 3, 6, 8, and 9. But you have to keep gain staging in mind. You don't want to slam the reverb processor too hard with excessive send levels and a weak return level, or vice versa.

 

[djhead]

wait....which one is PFL? a send or an insert?

 

[Robert D]

wait....which one is PFL? a send or an insert?

PFL stands for pre fader listen, something else entirely. Generally, inserts are taken pre fader, right after the preamp, and sends are selectable pre or post fader.