Playing Around With Reverb

[Doug Young]

I got inspired to mess with recording a bit by putting on a new set of strings last night :-) I recorded a short noodle and started messing around with reverbs, which I thought some might find interesting. The first track below is the dry guitar, then I added various reverbs going from short "ambiance" examples to longer, zingier reverbs. For each track, there's the guitar/reverb mix, followed by the reverb solo'd. It's interesting to hear how the reverb itself sounds, it probably isn't really important, but somehow I like to think the reverb itself sounds good if I'm adding it into my mix.

I probably laid on the reverb heavier here than I normally would, since I was trying to hear the reverb. I always find I start with a reverb, get it to sound "good", then back off substantially, and then usually after a break, come back and listen again, and back off even more. Here I'm keeping it laid on pretty thick...

The 1st three reverbs are all with the Bricasti hardware reverb, the last 2 are my favorite UAD emulation plugins for when I want to hear the reverb "effect".

Dry Guitar Track:


Bricasti M7 "Studio B Close" preset


Bricasti M7 "Guitar Room" preset


Bricasti "Large Hall" preset


UAD EMT 250 emulation


UAD Lexicon 224 emulation "Lush Piano" preset

[rick-slo]

The sounds of silence - none of the links work at the current time.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

The sounds of silence - none of the links work at the current time.

They shouldn't be links, they're embedded soundcloud players. Just checked and they even play from my phone. Not sure why they'd not show up for you. Anyone else see the players ?

[bzl]

Not working for me either...

[ChuckS]

Embedded soundcloud player working for me.

I also downloaded the tracks to listen. I appreciated being able to compare the various reverbs as this stuff is new to me.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by bzl

Not working for me either...

Odd, they're just embedded soundcloud links, and I see them on multiple devices and can play them all right on the page. Do soundcloud players ever work for you guys? Maybe some site issue, either AGF or soundcloud, but I don't know why they'd work for me and not others.

[FolkRock Rules]

I was able to listen to all of them, although the later sections of the tracks sounded "distant" or somewhat muted to me. Those parts were where I could hear the real difference in the amount of 'verb applied, but the level seemed way down.

I might try it again with my headphones on, because what I could hear sounded good. (I'm just using a laptop, and my hearing ain't what it used to be--or so my Ol' Lady says.)

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by FolkRock Rules

I was able to listen to all of them, although the later sections of the tracks sounded "distant" or somewhat muted to me. Those parts were where I could hear the real difference in the amount of 'verb applied, but the level seemed way down.

I might try it again with my headphones on, because what I could hear sounded good. (I'm just using a laptop, and my hearing ain't what it used to be--or so my Ol' Lady says.)

The "later" sections of each track are just the reverb send solo'd, so you can hear what the reverb itself sounds like without the straight guitar track. The level will be low because that's just the reverb alone at the same level as it was mixed in. The reverb itself should sound like you're *really* far away on most of these. I tried to describe this in the post, sorry if I wasn't clear. Each track is a guitar+reverb mix, followed by *just* the reverb.

[rick-slo]

Doug, works fine in the Chrome browser. Not working for me in the Internet Explorer 11 browser - which happens fairly frequently with people's embedded links.

[FolkRock Rules]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I tried to describe this in the post, sorry if I wasn't clear. Each track is a guitar+reverb mix, followed by *just* the reverb.

No, I got that (mostly), but it turned out I really needed the headphones to appreciate the differences in the mixed sections of each track.
I usually keep my speakers at about 30%, when I have them on at all. I had to drop the level to about 14% once the earbuds were in.
Everything sounded even better the second time I listened. (Just now.)

I probably laid on the reverb heavier here than I normally would, since I was trying to hear the reverb. I always find I start with a reverb, get it to sound "good", then back off substantially, and then usually after a break, come back and listen again, and back off even more.

I think that's a good method.

[James_214ce]

Large Hall was my favorite

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by James_214ce

Large Hall was my favorite

Yeah, I kind of like that one too, for this clip, at least, probably mixed a bit lower than I did here.

[6L6]

My vintage BOSS RV-3 Digital Delay/Reverb pedal has been a mainstay for me when playing either acoustic or electric. If you take the considerable amount of time required to learn what it can do, you will be richly rewarded. Single greatest pedal of all-time IMO!

[ChuckS]

Doug,
I preferred the Bricasti M7 "Guitar Room" preset and the UAD EMT 250 emulation. But maybe that was influenced by the high amount of reverb you added for this demonstration. I'd be curious to hear what the different mixes sound like with reverb levels more typical of your final mixes.

Thanks for providing these mixes; it's a great learning tool for me.

[runamuck]

Hi Doug, and thanks for this thread.

Do you hear a quality difference between the Bricasti and the UAD Lexicon?

Jim McCarthy