Using Reverb Feature for Voice and Guitar

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by moon

I thought the dry version sounded much better and the wet one was way too wet. I should say I'm listening on headphones which make a reverb effect sound stronger.

A huge, in-your-face reverb kind of worked in Ty's clip. The chords ring out like thunder in the mountains, you know that line from Robinson Crusoe: "the first gun that had been fired there since the creation of the world".

However, I think, in your song, you need to come forward into a smaller, more intimate space with the listener. It's not the same kind of big, extravagant statement. All it needs is a tiny amount of lubrication.

The mic isn't helping. The NT1A is adding a bit more emphasis to your "esses", but mainly they're being amplified by the reverb. I don't know if you can hear how Ty's reverb doesn't pick up much of the highs from the guitar? Very often it's a good idea to narrow the bandwidth of the signal being passed through a reverb algorithm. I almost always low pass a signal somewere around 5k before hitting the reverb (and high pass too).

Moon, thanks, your comments highlight the subjective nature of using reverb, as I implied in an earlier post (post #4) that some artists like dry, some like wet and some land somewhere in between. You also make a very important point that what you hear will depend in part on the system you are listening through. There is a "hearing" factor too. I have lost some hearing over the years, especially in high frequencies, so I don't hear the emphasis on the 'esses' that you cited. I think that is why I like the "Taylor" sound, it has bright and shimmery highs that I can hear!

[KevWind]

OK took me a bit to figure out how to do thevdrop box . The OP asked for some examples of wet and dry so here goes. In these clips the guitar has a slight bit of verb in both clips, it was already printed so I couldn't undo that.

The vocal is real time so I bounced one clip with the verb track muted (Dry)
The reverb is Bricasti's Sunset Chamber pre set with the pre delay lengthend a bit, its on its own aux track at 100% with the volume of that track @ -21.5 db.

Basically I kept lowering the volume until I thought I could no longer hear the effect, then I started muting and un muting the verb track. and there is a point where you dont really notice the effect that much until you mute it. Then I raised it another db or so.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20361318/Wet.wav

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20361318/Dry.wav

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by KevWind

OK took me a bit to figure out how to do thevdrop box . The OP asked for some examples of wet and dry so here goes. In these clips the guitar has a slight bit of verb in both clips, it was already printed so I couldn't undo that.

The vocal is real time so I bounced one clip with the verb track muted (Dry)
The reverb is Bricasti's Sunset Chamber pre set with the pre delay lengthend a bit, its on its own aux track at 100% with the volume of that track @ -21.5 db.

Basically I kept lowering the volume until I thought I could no longer hear the effect, then I started muting and un muting the verb track. and there is a point where you dont really notice the effect that much until you mute it. Then I raised it another db or so.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20361318/Wet.wav

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20361318/Dry.wav

Hi Kev,

Ya, on the wet track, I could hear a little reverb on the guitar, but not on the voice at all. I wanna hear some of that Bricasti man! Nice quality recording! Nice vocals to!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Hi Kev,

Ya, on the wet track, I could hear a little reverb on the guitar, but not on the voice at all. I wanna hear some of that Bricasti man! Nice quality recording! Nice vocals to!

Thanks.
So Iam curious though can you hear a difference in the vocal between the two clips ? Perhaps not a reverb sound per se but a subtle yet noticable difference. I realize it's a bit awkward to quickly switch back an forth between the two links but with original session on the studio monitors , it's pretty noticeable.

Just to clarify the guitar is wet on both the wet and dry clips. Simply because I had already re recorded (printed) the two original mono guitar tracks with the verb aux track to a stereo track, to free up the Bricasti for the vocal . And as you are corectly hearing I used a bit more verb on the guitar something like - 14 db . Unfortunatly I didn't write notes on which preset I used on the guitar but it was most likely either Non Linear D or one of the Scoring Stage presets.

[KevWind]

Opps doubl post.

[SeamusORiley]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Hi Kev,

Ya, on the wet track, I could hear a little reverb on the guitar, but not on the voice at all. I wanna hear some of that Bricasti man! Nice quality recording! Nice vocals to!

The singing of "Rainy Day People" is beautiful. I apologize for drifting off topic, but it's something special.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

Moon, thanks, your comments highlight the subjective nature of using reverb

You know what, it's not just that I was listening on headphones, I also deliberately turned the volume up high so I could hear the reverb better. That gives a completely different impression of the strength of the effect than if I had been listening at a quiet volume on some speakers. This is how I would normally choose a reverb level but it could mean that an effect set to "quiet" at a high level will become almost invisible at low volume.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Thanks.
So Iam curious though can you hear a difference in the vocal between the two clips ? Perhaps not a reverb sound per se but a subtle yet noticable difference. I realize it's a bit awkward to quickly switch back an forth between the two links but with original session on the studio monitors , it's pretty noticeable.

Just to clarify the guitar is wet on both the wet and dry clips. Simply because I had already re recorded (printed) the two original mono guitar tracks with the verb aux track to a stereo track, to free up the Bricasti for the vocal . And as you are correctly hearing I used a bit more verb on the guitar something like - 14 db . Unfortunately I didn't write notes on which preset I used on the guitar but it was most likely either Non Linear D or one of the Scoring Stage presets.

Kev, good example of minimal reverb effect. I listened with headphones and definitely hear the reverb on your voice. It is audible in those spaces between words, but ever so slightly. I sometimes use none, but generally I like the sound of some reverb. It is all subjective and a matter of what you want to sound like. Thanks for sharing those clips.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Here is a recording with and without reverb:

This was recorded with a Taylor 814c, using a pair of Gefell M300's in XY config through an Avalon AD2022 pre, with UA 2192 AD/DA converter. Reverb used was a Lexi PCM-92.

Dry

Wet

Very nice playing, Rick. The dry track sounds wonderful but the wet track would not load for me (I've tried numerous times over the past couple of days). Maybe the file is too large for my slow computer and connection.

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by SeamusORiley

The singing of "Rainy Day People" is beautiful. I apologize for drifting off topic, but it's something special.

Well thank-you sir! I really appreciate that!

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

Very nice playing, Rick. The dry track sounds wonderful but the wet track would not load for me (I've tried numerous times over the past couple of days). Maybe the file is too large for my slow computer and connection.

Ya, sorry bout that Bob, it's the file size. The smaller mp3 can be found on my webpage, the Shenandoah recording.