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Reverb for claps?

Hi,

Does anyone have any tutorial on applying reverb to claps, i.e. what kind of reverb, how much reverb etc. works the best. Yes, this is something each and everyone could try out for himself, and yes, that is the only way to come up with a sound that one is confident with, but it would be good with some general guidelines.

Well first of all, I think that it is important that you run all your channels while ajusting the reverb of a particular sound. If you are putting reverb on a clap, then don't just listen to the clap because putting lots of reverb on it will sound great, however, in the mix, the reverb will drown out everything else, so having said that, make sure you adjust reverb while in the mix. The same goes for other sounds, especially the lead when adjusting reverb and amp envelope settings. It's the only way to make sure that you are getting a full (but not too full) sound.

Now, first of all, I don't use claps any more. I find I get much better results using other samples that sound similar. For reverb, I like to give it a little bit of a tail so that it drags the end of the clap towards the next kick. The longer the tail the better for me, but obviously not too long. Just enough so that the clap no longer sounds snappy. By having a short release/tail on the clap, is holters the momentum of the track, whereas a longer clap provides more driving energy. Try it in your head and you should see what I mean.

A little (LITTLE) delay is also cool on the clap again just to fill it out a bit and add to the percussive elements.

I would normally use a fairly small room to keep the reverb tight adn if possible, a low cut on the reverb (if it has one) to make sure that you don't start messing with the kick and Bassline's frequency range. Don't mess with their territory boy, you want to make sure they've got their own space.

Well that's enough typing for me, have I answered your question? Probably not, but I hope I have helped in some way.

Thanks, and indeed you have given me something to think about. I'll try with a small room reverb, never done that I think.

I've also noticed that one must be really, and then I mean REALLY careful with the delay of claps. Normally I have none of that together with the claps, because creating a well-sounding delayed clap is sort of a masterpiece.

Compression also plays an important part. Sometimes you can put a little reverb on a clap, but by also putting compression on it you can get a much longer tail. Just drop the release to low values and the threshold also. Now pull up the gain and there's your tail...

Well usually, similar settings as on a snare can work well on claps.

Gated reverb for example. Basically a long, dense reverb, but that gets abruptly cut by a gate (in most reverb machines/plugins, you can usually find it as a preset, but it can perfectly be done with a gate). Be sure to set the hold time (the time it keeps the reverb going) so that it cuts the verb in the tempo of the tune.

With the advent of software plugins, using a negative predelay can give nice results too (how to put this... it can make it sound like you have a 2 part clap then, first you got a soft attack due to the reflections, then the actual attack comes).

A little tip for reverb in general, lot's of people tend to fiddle with the predelay and the decay only. Hi and lo frequency damping are very important too. As you know, the human ear likes reverberated sound more than dry sound, but when you add too much, it sounds muddy and washed out. By correctly adjusting the damping, you can integrate the reverb better in the mix, maybe just that little more without swamping the entire mix.

Great information in your reply DJ Thy.
But I was wondering, do you know of any software gate-plugin? I've never heard of it before, but I definitely want to use it on my reverbs and delays, because it's very usefull. Hope you can help me.

http://www.digitalfishphones.com/ma...tem=2&subItem=5 has a decent one (floorfish), that works pretty much like a hardware (noise)gate. And it's free. For payware, Sinus' Golden gate is not bad. Sadly, there are very few software gates that come close to hardware units (except some TDM ones like the Drawmer DS201). Don't think that any except the Drawmer has a sidechain though, that's necessary to do the gated reverb trick (the gate needs to open via the snare/clap impulse, the hold time defines how long the gate keeps open).

Though in software, you can have the added possibility to have midi controlled gates, or step controlled gates. Usually sequencers have such gates included, but you can find some good ones on the net :

http://www.djmarko.pwp.blueyonder.c...es/plugins.html
is a good one.

Wow, really appreciate the response. I've checked out that floorfish plugin: AMAZING! Just what I have been looking for to gate my snares and claps. Also the expander works great on my kicks.

THANK YOU!!!

Good link! Cheers, Thy.

By the way, what others reverb Plugins do you recommend apart of Cubase SX Reverb A n B?

By the way, when you mean of Low Pass Filter on Reverb, do I actually Cut the Hi Freq on the Cubase Reverb Plugin?

Thanks

Sorry, I meant Low Cut, not low pass, I will fix that up. Some reverbs have hi and low cut on them so that it only generates reverb above or below a certain frequency range.

Sorry to say it, but reverb A and B in Cubase are absolutely horrific. I guess they put them in as a measure to have reverb plugins, but they are absolutely not of good quality.

Now for good quality ones. Let it be known that reverb quality is proportional to processing power. So, basically, very good software reverbs will rarely sound as good as even mediocre hardware units. But, there are some software reverbs that can handle their own (compared to reverb A and B they even are great ).

http://www.smartelectronix.com/~magnus/ , was once a complete free reverb. Now it has a GUI, and it presents you with a nag screen, but is completely functional. It's donation ware, so you decide what it's worth.

http://www.spinaudio.com/ has an excellent reverb called Roomverb (M2 is the better).

Of course the Waves reverb are pretty good too, but expensive.

Another point of view should be had on convolution reverbs. Basically you sample the "reverb response" of a room (or a hardware reverb!) with an impulse, and with that sample it can recreate that space afterwards (after an intensive process of deconvolution). Can create superb reverbs with that, BUT either they induce a huge latency, or they are VERY cpu intensive. Altiverb was the software reverb that started the revolution (although Sony and Yamaha already had such hardware units).

The most famous is probably : http://www.knufinke.de/sir/index_en.html , as it's completely free. But there is still a latency connected to it (it has been reduced to 8960 samples now).

Waves has released a new one called IR-1, and Voxengo has a really good one (Pristine Space) that almost work realtime. They come with some excellent presets. You can make your own, and you can find lots of good impulses on http://www.noisevault.com/ . Those can be used, with a little bit of work, on most convolution reverbs. Imagine having the might Lexicon 480L at your disposal...


About the damping/cut filters on the reverbs, it's a little special.
There are three main things you can do. Either you EQ the send to the reverb (so, if a signal without much high freqs comes into the reverb, the reverb cannot have much high frequencies either). Or you can EQ the reverb effect.
The damping (in well written effects) won't really be a EQ, but more of a change in the algorithm of the effect. It will simulate the different surfaces that you can encounter in rooms. A church with stone walls will sound much more bright than a room with carpet on the walls for example. Usually damping sounds more natural than plain EQ'ing (although cheap effects use a damping factor that's just an EQ). But everything is possible, like always the result is what counts.

But the two main uses are, like Cheggy said, the lowcut/lo damping/high pass. That you will use to reduce the boominess of the reverb, more likely to muddy your mix.
The other setting, high cut/hi damping/low pass, is to simulate the loss of high frequencies (duh) due to distance or surface material. You can use it if the reverb sounds too metallic or too bright (like for instance, put reverb on a singer, and his "s'es" will jump out, reducing that sybilance is with the hi damping).

So basically, you'll put a reverb on that has it's decay (and predelay if you want to be exact) related to the tempo. If you find it starts to sound too bright, or too muddy, but you still have the feeling that you need this amount of reverb to have cohesion, try adjusting the damping settings (or EQ the send or effect). If it doesn't work yet, either you chose the wrong type of reverb algo, or you don't know what you're doing . But basically, you want to treat your reverb as any other instrument in the mix. Give it's own space. It must add something to your mix, without actually degrading it (a general advice in mixing, if it doesn't add to your mix, leave it out...).

Great post once again DJ Thy!

Great! Thanks for clearing much of my doubt on the reverb.

And thanks alot for the link that given. Appreciated!

You're talking about expensive plugins, some of which can't even be run in real time because of their CPU munching characteristics, just to put reverb on a clap? No offense, you know what you're talking about and all, but you don't need a hi-end plugin to put some reverb on a clap.

quote:

Originally posted by hey cheggy You're talking about expensive plugins, some of which can't even be run in real time because of their CPU munching characteristics, just to put reverb on a clap? No offense, you know what you're talking about and all, but you don't need a hi-end plugin to put some reverb on a clap.

I agree, but sometimes it can be useful to put some rich reverb on a vocal for instant. Or to create some awesome effects.

Well, thats why he gave the link of free usage.

How about hardware reverb? which is more recommended to get it? Alesis or Yamaha SPX?

quote:

Originally posted by hey cheggy You're talking about expensive plugins, some of which can't even be run in real time because of their CPU munching characteristics, just to put reverb on a clap? No offense, you know what you're talking about and all, but you don't need a hi-end plugin to put some reverb on a clap.

Depends on the situation. Sometimes indeed a lesser reverb is needed, sometimes a hi end reverb does wonders. It's just a matter of fitting it in the complete mix. And secondly, it's a matter of taste too. Each reverb unit/plugin will add it's own character, and you may prefer one over the other, while someone else will prefer even another sound. But I was just answering his question about other reverbs than Reverb A and B, not only for use on claps...

About the hardware reverbs... Same thing, it's kinda personal. Personally I'm a big TC electronics fan (and even more when you go in hi end units like the R4000 or System 6000), and of course Lexicon. I'm a little less fond of Alesis, while I find that Yamaha has some good ones in the SPX range (the 2000 being pretty good for a decent price).
But personally, if you're on a "tight" budget, a TC M300 or M-one, or a Lexicon MPX range unit are not the worst things you could get. Or... get one of those DSP cards like the UAD1 or Tc Powercore. In fact they are hardware too as they need a DSP. Both those DSP systems have excellent reverbs, plus you get other effects as well (compressors, Eq's, filters, ...), of course at a price.

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