060

|
COMPUTER MUSIC DECEMBER 2005 TUTORIAL
make music now FX masterclass
Reverb
For a quality mix, reverb is essential. Get to grips with this
effect and itll transform your sounds
W
hat can we say about reverb
that hasnt already been said?
Well, plenty, hopefully, or weve
all got a very dull four pages ahead of
us! Before we start, though, a brief recap
on the basics
Reverb is the product of sound
interacting with nature. Every time we
make a noise, its transmitted as waves
of vibration through the air. These waves
ricochet off every surface they
encounter, before finding their way to
the listeners ears. Because were so
used to hearing these sonic reflections,
any situation in which theres nothing
for the sound to bounce off sounds
unnatural. With this in mind, successive
generations of music productions have
used a variety of ingenious processes to
recreate these reflections, culminating
(for most of us) in digital reverb units in
the shape of plug-ins.
Theres never been a better time to
explore the possibilities your reverb
plug-ins throw up, which makes it all the
more surprising that the vast majority of
us do little more than call up our
favourite reverb and insert it into any
channel we need. If were feeling
adventurous, we might even alter the
reverb time
All of this is a real shame, as almost
every space you encounter will have a
distinct sonic character. Some of these
are suited to vocals, drums, or even
complete tracks. Clever use of reverb
techniques can transform your mix from
a lifeless lump of deadwood to a vibrant
masterpiece. Dont believe us? Well
then, read-on cm
On the DVD
TUTORIAL FILES
You'll find our reverb loop
in the Tutorial Files folder
Common types of reverb
SPRING
In the pre-digital age, the only way to
achieve the sound of reverberation
was by mechanical means, and this
generally meant spring or plate reverb.
Spring reverb is a simple concept:
usually found inside analogue guitar
amps, it involves suspending springs
between pairs of transducers with
vibrations being generated at one end
and received at the other. The effect,
while interesting and often useful, is
fairly unrealistic, and the vast amount
of gain required to boost the received
signal makes it prone to extreme
signal noise.
PLATE
Plate reverb is similar in principle to
spring reverb, in that real vibrations are
induced in a real piece of metal by a
driver and then picked up by
microphones. The difference is in the
quality of results plate reverbs can
sound absolutely lush albeit in a
not-quite-natural way. Originally the
preserve of top-end studios, theyre
surprisingly cheap and easy to build,
although with an average size of 4x6,
they arent exactly practical.
DIGITAL
At the risk of oversimplifying things,
lets just say that digital reverb is
usually achieved with a combination of
very fast delay algorithms and filters.
And if youve ever wondered why
reverbs are among the most
processor-intensive effects you can
use, then you must not know that to
create even a modest sounding digital
reverb, said algorithms must churn out
anywhere from 1000 to 3000 delays
every second. And they must impart
clever randomisations of timing
between each one so that the effect
isnt completely unnatural.
CONVOLUTION
The daddy of modern digital reverbs,
the convolution reverb uses
painstakingly accurate sonic models of
a specific and real acoustic space, so
that any sound to which its applied
appears to be playing in that
environment. For example, in the room
youre currently sitting in, a series of
specialised sounds would be played
and recorded with a variety of mics.
Using clever calculations and
deductions, a sonic blueprint (called
an impulse response, or IR) would be
made so that any sound fed into it
would appear to be interacting with
exactly the same environment, taking
into account every table, chair, window,
sofa even you, if you happened to be
in there when they took the blueprint.
7There are many types of reverb so do play
the field with your plug-ins
ADVANCED
EFFECTS
PART 2
CMU94.t_fx 060 4/11/05 6:29:26 pm
TUTORIAL DECEMBER 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC
|
061
Q&A focus make music now FX masterclass
01
WET/DRY This specifies
the amount of clean signal
versus effected. If youre
using your reverb as an insert, this will
be used to control the intensity of the
effect, but in a send/return loop, the
normal setting will be 100% wet,
with the send level of each track
determining the intensity and amount of
reverb on each.
02
REVERB TIME Its hard to
say at what point
reverberations actually stop,
so the reverb time (aka decay time) is
accepted as being the time it takes for
the reverberations to decay by 60dB.
Longer equals bigger sounding with
normal rooms in the 1-3 second range,
and huge spaces like cathedrals dishing
out ten seconds or more.
03
EARLY REFLECTIONS
When a sound is produced,
theres a slight delay
(perceptible or not) before it encounters
a reflective surface. Consequently,
smaller rooms will generate early
reflections that are audible before being
lost in the reverberant mush that follows.
The brain makes an educated guess as
to the size of a space based on these
early reflections.
04
PRE-DELAY The amount of
time between the original
sound and the early
reflections. Too short and you lose
definition, too long and theres an
audible gap (such as in a very large
space), generating an echoing effect. As
a rule of thumb, try to achieve the
longest pre-delay time you can without
an audible gap.
05
ROOM SHAPE Many reverb
units include a room shape
option, usually determining
the number of walls, but sometimes also
their placement.
06
STEREO BASE Some
reverb designs enable you
to simulate the placement
of stereo microphones. To accurately
mimic the perception of a real room, try
placing them around the same distance
apart as your ears.
07
INITIAL DELAY This is the
elapsed time between the
original signal and the main
diffused reverb effect. The diffused
reverb should flow on from the early
reflections, and again, a good technique
is usually to have the longest initial
delay without an audible gap
between the early reflections and the
diffuse reverb.
08
CROSSOVER Because
bass reverb can overpower
a track quickly, some
reverbs enable you to set the bass and
mid/treble reverb times independently
the crossover setting in this type of
reverb will determine at what point the
signal is split.
09
LOW RATIO The low ratio
control is essentially a
reverb time control for the
bass end in this case expressed as a
percentage of the main reverb time.
10
LOW LEVEL If your reverb
enables you to split its
action, it will usually have a
low level control so that you can set the
level of the low reverb effect
independently in this case, a setting of
0dB means the levels of both the high
and low bands are equal.
11
DENSITY This controls the
amount of reflection, and
essentially sets the
thickness of the reverb. This should
normally be as high as possible without
colouring the sound.
12
DIFFUSION Diffusion
controls alter the regularity
of the individual reverb
delays (of which weve established there
are thousands per second). High
diffusion values mean more irregularity
and, therefore, greater realism.
13
HIGH CUT High frequencies
tend to get absorbed much
more quickly than low
frequencies, so in nature reverb tends to
lose top end much faster than bottom
(except in stone or other highly reflective
environments). A high-cut (also known as
damping in many units) filter simulates
this effect.
14
SPREAD Natural reverb is
an unnatural and unruly
thing, so it can be very
difficult to detect much in the way of
direction from it. Nevertheless, clever
algorithms that offset the early
reflections and longer reverberations as
they play through the left and right
channels can be used to add stereo
width to even a mono signal. Some
convolution reverbs, such as WizooVerb
W5, can accurately model three-
dimensional spaces in glorious
5.1 surround!
15
ROOM SIZE Determines the
size of the virtual space
created by your reverb plug-
in. Obviously.
THE ANATOMY OF A REVERB
CMU94.t_fx 061 4/11/05 6:29:32 pm
062
|
COMPUTER MUSIC DECEMBER 2005 TUTORIAL
make music now FX masterclass
Some tasty tricks with reverberation
FOR A BIG room sound, try using a hall
setting on your reverb and adding some
pre-delay, but avoid adding too much of
the effect to your kicks and toms, as pre-
delay and long-reverb times will fill your
mix much faster than an orchestra paid
by the note
TOMS GENERALLY DONT NEED much
reverb as their natural envelope has a
pretty extended sustain, but if you do
want to add some presence and a sense
of scale, try using quite short settings
and be sure to remove the bass from the
wet signal.
SNARE DRUMS ARE very bright and so
can sound tasty with most types of
reverb it all depends on the effect
youre after. For punch, try a plate style
reverb, as this has a fast, clean envelope.
APPLYING REVERB TO kicks can be
troublesome, as the low frequencies
generated can really muddy your mix.
Shorter, ambient settings are better for
real kick drums, but for electronic kick
drums its best to avoid standard reverb.
IF YOU ABSOLUTELY must apply reverb
to your electronic kicks, try playing
around with some gated reverb settings
or reverse reverb. Beware, though: these
are both very bold effects so make sure
the result sounds absolutely mint!
TRY TO AVOID long reverb tails on
hi-hats unless youre doing it for specific
effect, as these can sound quite
distracting and unnatural, and will really
muddy up the top-end of your track. For
most purposes, shorter but bright reverbs
add a sense of size and space without
being overly intrusive.
FOR A REALISTIC live sound, you can
still apply different reverb settings to
each drum sound, but try sending the
individually processed sounds to a sub-
mix and then applying some subtle
ambience reverb to them as a complete
drum kit.
3
Try recording a few different speaker and mic
placements, then unmute the recordings and play them
quietly behind your original source. For a nice stereo
effect, feed one recording to the left channel and another to
the right. And there you go an easy, effective and natural
reverb effect thats great for any occasion.
STEP BY STEP Natures way
1
Ambient mics are often used to capture the sound of a
real room when recording drums, but a similar process
can be used with any signal. Start by setting up a
speaker in the space you want to capture or perhaps even
in an adjoining room with the door open. Then place a
microphone in the space to be captured facing away from
the sound source. >>
2
Make sure the mic is a good distance away from the
speaker and adjust the playback volume until youre
fully aware of the natural reverberations. Be sure to
mute the output of the microphone channel, so as to avoid
any feedback. Then simply play back the source be it a
vocal track, instrumental part or complete mixdown and
record the reverberations. >>
3
If all is well, the reverb should sound like its running in
a large circle in front of you. So far this effect is pretty
severe, so to moderate it slightly, simply ease back the
extreme pan values, and lessen the volume range. To really
add some dynamism, try applying the exact opposite
automation to the audio loop.
STEP BY STEP Reverb 3D
1
Reverb can be used to add more than just stereo width.
Armed with nothing more than two ears, we can easily
detect direction with sound, so theres no reason why
we shouldnt use stereo reverb to equal effect. Start by
placing our two-bar Reverb Loop (on the DVD) onto a new
track, and a reverb unit (set to 100% wet) on a bus. Send the
output of the track to the reverb bus. >>
2
Now, use automation to lower the volume of the reverb
bus from a high point of your choice to a low point of
your choice and back up again, with the lowest point
exactly halfway through two bars. Next, automate the pan from
centred to fully left and back to centre over one bar, then fully
right and back to centre over the second bar. >>
Tips on adding reverb to drums
CMU94.t_fx 062 4/11/05 6:29:33 pm
make music now
TUTORIAL DECEMBER 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC
|
063
FX masterclass
General reverb tips
TRY USING DIFFERENT TYPES of
reverb on one track. In days gone by,
reverb was expensive and limited, so
it was placed on busses, but high
quality plug-ins and fast processors
let you use multiple reverbs as
inserts for total control.
REMEMBER THAT IN most cases,
slower, sparser tracks can
accommodate longer reverb times
than quicker and thicker mixes
without making them messy.
FOR A REALISTIC live sound, as you
increase the reverb time you should
also reduce the wet
signal using the wet/
dry balance, and as
you shorten the
reverb time you
should increase the
wet signal.
USE REVERB TO
impart a sense of
three dimensional
space rather than
just width. For
example, if a
sound has a large amount of reverb, it
gives a feeling of distance, just as the
sound of somebody singing at the other
end of a room is heavily mingled with
the reverberations.
TRY USING DIFFERENT reverb effects
on the left and right channels. This can
be quite fiddly on individual tracks, but
can be done much more easily for a
global reverb send/receive setup.
IT SOUNDS OBVIOUS, but dont
forget that all the flexibility of
modern digital reverb is wasted if
the source material is a
reverberating mess to begin with.
Were not saying you shouldnt
take advantage of natural reverb
(check our walkthrough), but if
you plan to add any kind of
processed reverberations, the
cleaner and dryer the source
material, the better!
REMEMBER THE BLUES Brothers
scene where Jake says to Elwood, How
often does the train go by?', to which
Elwood replies, So often you wont even
notice'? Well, its true we humans
notice change more than consistency,
so don't be afraid to muck about with
reverb lengths and parameters
throughout a track!
WHEN THICKENING SOUNDS, try
applying chorus or flanging to the reverb
signal. Alternatively, if youre using your
effects in an insert chain, try applying
reverb before any modulation effects
(though for a more natural and subtle
effect, the first technique is probably the
better option).
DONT OVERLOOK THE power of
compression on reverb, particularly
reverb used as a track insert. For a
spectacular pumping reverb effect, try
running your kick drum into the
compressors sidechain.
IF YOU PLACE a gate in the signal path
before a reverb, you can adjust it so that
only the louder signals make it through
and generate reverb. Or by still allowing
a small amount of signal through when
the gate is closed, you generate more
reverb for louder sounds this works
especially well on vocals, but be sure
not to over-compress the source signal
or the effect will be lost.
IF YOURE USING heavily panned
sounds, try applying mono reverbs
panned to the same sides as the
panned sounds to emphasise their
positions in the mix.
TO FILL OUT a sparse mix, try using a
combination of delay and reverb, but
with one panned mostly (or completely)
left and the other right. For even more of
a sense of movement, trying sweeping
these effects so that as the delays
move right, the reverb moves left.
1Logics Space Designer is one of the most
powerful convolution reverbs on the market. It
deserves to be fed only the cleanest signals!
Tips for adding
reverb to vocals and guitars
signal by a few dB when the vocal's
playing. If you dont have a gate with a
ducker, try applying a compressor to
the reverb signal and send the vocal
signal to its sidechain.
ELECTRIC GUITAR PARTS (especially
those of the chord-driven, wall-of-sound
persuasion) are already very full, so be
careful with your reverb lengths. Spring
reverb patches are traditional and
sound the part (bright and clean), but
dont be afraid to try out something a
little different.
GATED AND REVERSE reverb can
sound excellent on guitar parts, as they
fill out the sound without swamping it,
and won't result in the obvious and
clichd sound that they can produce
on drum parts.
1Logics Enverb is just the thing for reverse and gated reverb effects
WHEN RECORDING VOCALS, be sure
to add some reverb to the singers
monitoring channel (even if its only a
lower quality one) to ensure smooth
playback. The reverb tail extends after
the singer finishes singing, so many
singers will use this to reference their
pitch accuracy.
IF YOUR VOCAL line is suffering from
too much sibilance, try adding a
de-esser to the reverb rather than the
original signal. De-essers can sound a
little unnatural sometimes, and this
technique can often provide less
obtrusive but nonetheless highly
effective results.
USE REVERB TO increase the
separation between vocals. Backing
vocals should be just that, so try adding
plenty of early reflection and longer
reverb tails to push them back in the
mix. Conversely, lead vocals can sound
a little distant with longer settings.
EARLY REFLECTIONS CAN add a
sense of intimacy to a signal,
particularly with acoustic sounds like
guitars and vocals the bright, quick
reflections sound like a small room or
venue. For this effect try using nothing
but ambience settings initially, and then
add a more conventional reverb setting
slowly afterwards (or not at all).
A GOOD WAY TO stop reverb
dominating your vocal tracks is to use
a ducking gate to lower the reverb
IF YOUR VOCAL LINE IS
SUFFERING FROM TOO MUCH
SIBILANCE, TRY A DE-ESSER
5Spring reverb: perfect for guitars, and
on the cm DVD in the shape of SpringVerb
CMU94.t_fx 063 4/11/05 6:29:40 pm