What Reverb To Use On Guitar And Vocal

Is it okay to utilise multiple types of reverb in a mix?

My reply is aye, probably. Cheers for reading this article.

Jokes aside, I'll meet this question come up upwardly every once in a while, and I understand at that place may be people on both sides of the argument. Before we swoop deep into my reasoning, let'southward quickly encompass what the different types of reverbs are, and how I may typically apply them when producing and mixing.

The Spaces (Chambers, Halls, Rooms)

While you could technically separate these into 3 separate categories as my colleague Matthew Weiss does, I'll bundle them together for the sake of simplicity. Chambers, Halls and Rooms are each types of concrete spaces that offer their own cogitating qualities.

Chambers — Pop recording studios of yesteryear used chambers, which are reflective spaces that have been wired to receive bespeak from a control room. The signal is played dorsum into the space via a monitor or several monitors. It's and then captured again via microphone(south), fed back into the command room from whence it came and finally composite in with the original signal. In addition to the sonic characteristics of the bedchamber itself, using different monitors, microphones and configurations will modify the audio. My favorite chamber (other than the actual one sitting beneath Capitol Studios in Hollywood) is the plugin emulation from Universal Sound of that exact space. Both the physical chamber and the plugin audio thick, lush and musical.

Halls — Halls are spaces designed with acoustics that raise the music listening experience. Hall reverbs have moderately long tails, but do a decent job of sounding natural and detailed when used correctly. I quite like the halls packaged with the Verbsuite Classics reverb plugin from Slate. There is perhaps no more impressive collection of halls (and other spaces) than from Alitverb by AudioEase. Altiverb is an instance of a convolution reverb, which use impulse responses to make sonic profiles of actual physical spaces and/or devices.

Rooms — The first time I always played a drum set in a professionally designed studio was a revelation. The kit comes alive in a well designed recording environment. The sounds of my favorite records from the 1960s and 70s tin can be largely attributed to the rooms in which they were recorded, and the way those rooms were used. Rooms generally take brusk disuse times and are best when used more subtly. I'k not often using a room reverb to impact a signal in such a way that'll make the listener observe that information technology's in a room. Usually, I place something in a room to allow other elements to sound more than upfront. I still can't wrap my head around the brilliance of the UAD Ocean Way Studios plugin, which allows y'all to place your tracks inside the (emulated) walls of the famed Los Angeles Studio, complete with the ability to virtually mic upwards your signals with Bounding main Way'due south vintage mic collection.

I might as well include "cathedral" reverbs in this section. Cathedral reverbs have long tails and run the gamut in terms of how they colour the sound. Some are dense and vibey, others are more transparent. The aforementioned Altiverb features a vast collection of impulse responses created inside cathedrals all over the globe.

Bound Reverbs

One of my favorite types of reverb has a lineage that traces dorsum to organs and guitar amplifiers of the 1960s. The concept is simple: a tiny metal box with a leap inside is fed a signal, the signal resonates in the spring which tin then exist blended in with the original indicate. Bound reverbs are full of grapheme and tone, and I apply them on all types of sources when the mix calls for information technology. They shine on vocals, organs, guitars (patently), and for a creative effect, I love running a snare signal through a leap.

I have a Vox AC30 sitting 4 feet to my left which sees regular employ, both as a top-notch guitar amp, and for its vibrant reverb. In the 1960s, dedicated bound reverb units such as the AKG BX-20 were created for utilize in commercial studios. If yous don't have thousands of dollars to spend on the BX-20, Universal Audio makes a lovely plugin version of it. Additionally, PSP makes "Springbox," which is a versatile and character-rich plugin.

Plate Reverbs

The legendary EMT 140 plate reverb works by using a transducer to vibrate a large plate of metal. Pickups and then capture the sound of the vibrating plate, and it can be blended with the original signal. The concept is similar to that of a spring reverb, really, except swap out a tiny spring with a gigantic canvass of metal.

Released in 1957, the lush quality and relative convenience (of non having to build a chamber) fabricated the EMT a mainstay in recording studios in the following decades. Considering the beefcake of a plate reverb, information technology may not surprise y'all to detect out that they can have a metallic sound quality, and so a bit of corrective equalization can benefit the timbre of the wet signal.

Digital/Hybrid Reverbs

Technically, if you're using whatsoever of the reverb plugins mentioned and so far, they are all 'digital' in that they are using a computer to operate. What I mean by 'digital' is that in that location are specific plugins that are designed to achieve sounds that don't/tin't exist in concrete spaces. For case, the FabFilter Pro-R. This is ane of my get-to reverbs when I am trying to create foreign, unnaturally long reverb tails and special effects.

The original AMS RMX 16 hardware used a microprocessor to create some of the most widely used reverb (and delay) effects from the 1980s and onward, and a plugin version of it is available from Universal Sound. Like to the Pro-R, the RMX sixteen is capable of creating spaces that don't sound natural at all, with dense, fluttery and chorus-like reflections. I'll use this plugin on all types of sources: to create a unique infinite around a vocal, to set guitars dorsum further in a mix and even to give toms a thunderous quality. When driven hard, the AMS RMX 16 has a tone to it, then I use it for coloration in add-on to establishing special qualities that don't be in physical rooms. This brings us to our next type of reverb.

Non-Linear/Gated Reverbs

If you were to walk into a physical space (whether it be a room, hall or sleeping room) and clap your hands, the reverb tail would smoothly decay. This gradual tail could exist illustrated with a line, hence, we call it linear. Not-linear reverb tails do non disuse in this natural fashion; their tails cannot be illustrated using a straight line.

Gated Reverb – Phil Collins helped popularize the audio of gated reverb, which used a gate to abruptly shut once a reverb tail passed beneath a set threshold. This type of reverb was used on many pop records in the 1980s, earlier falling somewhat out of favor in the following decade for more than realistic sounding spaces. The aforementioned AMS RMX xvi is a very popular choice for making your recordings sound similar they were released in 'the decade of excess.'

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Opposite Reverb – This is another special effect type of reverb that likely won't exist applied to each and every line of a song. Opposite reverb can be created past taking a recording (usually but ane word or two) and reversing that recording. Next, utilise a reverb to that reversed recording, and then reverse the recording one last time. For all-time results, blend the candy betoken with the original. Information technology sounds complicated, but yous can meet a breakdown of the process in this video. The resulting sound is ghostly and unnatural, but can definitely fit inside an electronic music production.

So at present that we've analyzed the different kinds of reverb and how I use them, allow's accost the question at hand: is it okay to apply different reverb types across multiple tracks when mixing? Or even different types on one track?

If you're taking a purist approach (trying to create a natural-sounding experience that places all the elements within a single infinite), then I can understand why one would utilize merely one blazon of reverb. Sending many (if not all) of your tracks through the same reverb tin can create a sense of cohesion, and placing all of the elements in the same infinite can 'gum' them together. Just I find that things start to sound pretty cloudy when a lot of elements are sent through the same reverb. Other than for that specific purpose, I'd propose that it's non a bad idea to use plates, springs, chambers and more, all within the same mix. Additionally, information technology'southward not uncommon for me to employ more than one blazon of reverb on a unmarried element, particularly when mixing vocals.

Perhaps a more than important question to enquire yourself when mixing is "Does this rail need reverb at all?"

Overusing reverbs tin can leave mixes sounding crowded and defective in impact and definition. Certain production styles tend to call for more than reverb, and I'm happy to utilize multiple types of verb when the client/production calls for me to do then. That beingness said, if something was tracked cleanly, is sitting in an appropriate space and/or doesn't need the coloration imparted past some of the more character-rich reverbs, the wisest decision is usually to go out it be. My application of the issue is about always with a great deal of intent. Information technology's very rare that I think to myself 'I wonder if reverb will brand that element sound improve' and and then shoot in the dark to improve the mix with reverb. Information technology'due south always pretty articulate to me which tracks need the effect and which don't. I adopt to abstain from using reverb when possible considering, as I stated earlier, unnecessary reverbs tend to deject up a mix pretty quickly, even when used in small amounts. While recording The Blue Anthology, one of my favorite records from the 1990s, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo 'banned the use of reverb.'

I am very detail well-nigh adding reverb to drums. Unremarkably, I'll endeavor to apply provided overhead and room mics to constitute the sense of space in which the drums exist. Reverb is more often used as a special effect or to intentionally 'date' the sound of the kit. I may employ a mono sleeping accommodation reverb for a retro 1960's vibe or a non-linear/gated sound to give the drums an expensive 1980's sheen. I too quite enjoy sending boot, snare and even overhead signals to a spring reverb plugin or to my amplifier if I want to dirty up the sounds a bit. When working in a loop-based way (say by using Logic, Splice, or Output past Arcade) this technique is valuable in adding my own character to loops that were created past someone else.

Then When Do I Combine Reverbs?

Vocals are unremarkably the chemical element that tin benefit from using multiple reverbs. Especially in modern popular music, information technology'south common to utilize some type of special effect reverb, merely merely on sure phrases. For case, I may have a song processed with a more natural sounding reverb throughout the entirety of the production, allow'south say a plate. Then at the end of a phrase, I'll automate the send level to a second reverb then that only a single word or phrase is drenched in the second reverb. I'll bring the send level back down after that detail discussion or phrase, repeating this procedure to emphasize certain passages of the vocal throughout the production. This concept works for other elements as well, non just vocals. Placing a singular snare striking inside a big, cavernous space is a squeamish i-off effect, and sometimes I'll use multiple reverbs to create that infinite. I've mixed songs where I briefly sent the entire mix through multiple reverbs during an introduction, and then over again at the very cease, creating a blurred-out, lush, dreamy sound.

There are also plenty of instances in which I'll send a vocal or atomic number 82 element to multiple reverbs that remain somewhat static in level throughout the form of the song. Combining a chamber with a plate, or a hall with a bound (maybe panned left and right) can result in some interesting spaces and textures. Sometimes I'll impress a re-amped vocal track with the spring reverb turned upward, and use this track at multiple points throughout the song. Y'all can create a mix template in your favorite DAW that contains several different auxiliary tracks with reverbs inserted. A skilful starting point is one sleeping room, one plate, 1 spring and i more than special outcome reverb of your choosing.

In summary, don't hesitate to combine multiple types of reverb within the aforementioned product, unless you're using a purist's approach and trying to create a natural sense of space when mixing. Modern mixes are often filled with expressive uses of reverb, and I advise using the event to your liking, so long every bit you're able to detect when you've gone besides far.

Ian Vargo