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Is a quality reverb essential for the truly professional sound?

I spent a lot of time trying to make high quality leads and am wondering, to add that final something to match the quality of the stuff I'm hearing on the TATW player on above&beyonds radio podcast, is a standalone quality reverb essential?

I recently bought Gladiator and Sylenth, and can't make my mind up if the verbs are good enough, not just for pretty ok sonics, but for real top end sounds.

Can anyone recommend a dedicated quality soft verb? Someone mentioned adverb by audio damage at �59.00.

Lexicon are regarded as making some of the best hardware and i use a software one called panthenon that is pretty nice.

I think that the actual verb is important but technique must play a big roll too for example applying low cuts, knowing the right pre-delay, or ensuring that all the audio events within the track occur in the same acoustic environment.

Saying that though people were saying that my tracks were too dry and not enough verb and delay so i just turned my reverb decay to full applyed a low cut and those same people are saying that my tracks are more airy and bettter now. So i dont know.

them anjunabeats tracks do sound wet though dont they? alive almost!

WaveArts Masterverb is the best VST I know of. You might also like to look into some freeware convolution reverbs.

the best thing to do is make the best sample you can with what you got then try out all the top reverb plugins demos and take it from there.

people just go crazy sometimes and buy all those top plugins ect and slap it on their favorate synth and wonder why nothing has really changed.

you will find that certen plugins suit differnt things so i will say when you make something you like render it and then come back to it with a new instance of the daw you're using as not to max out your pc and see what happens with diffrent plugins.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm WaveArts Masterverb is the best VST I know of.

+1

Cannot recommend this enough. My go to Verb every time.

Looks pretty sexy, I'll have to check it out.

That one looks nice, will try it out.

Reverbs are tricky to get right - you need plenty of space for them in the mix
If you have too many things going on with delays then you wont have room for big verbs, sometimes you wont even need them at all
Also make sure to try different types of algorithms i.e. hall, room, plate etc, room verbs are nice for drums and stuff

quote:

Originally posted by evo8 Reverbs are tricky to get right - you need plenty of space for them in the mix If you have too many things going on with delays then you wont have room for big verbs, sometimes you wont even need them at all Also make sure to try different types of algorithms i.e. hall, room, plate etc, room verbs are nice for drums and stuff

Using gate after the reverb can give you some extra control over it.

Re: Is a quality reverb essential for the truly professional sound?

I also use the WaveArts verb and my other go-to reverbs are Waves RenVerb and Tone2 Warmverb. But, to answer your question, the reverb that you use for your synths is not going to make a night/day difference in your overall mix, so I wouldn't go spending a lot of money on a dedicated reverb plugin and expect miracle results in your mixes.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler I recently bought Gladiator and Sylenth, and can't make my mind up if the verbs are good enough, not just for pretty ok sonics, but for real top end sounds.

I use both of those synths as well and typically just use their on-board reverbs and other FX. They both have very good FX sections, and I don't think you're going to notice $200 difference in the sound of those synths simply by buying a $200 dedicated reverb.

I prefer BlueVerb from Nomad Factory. There is not a lot of autonomy with the unit, which I actually like. I sometimes feel that the more options something has, the more I end up F'ing up the sound.


Nomad Factory Blue Verb

quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Using gate after the reverb can give you some extra control over it.

yeah i never got the result i wanted with gates, it either cut off too fast or not enough or was too noticeable etc etc
i prefer to just adjust the decay instead

quote:

Originally posted by evo8 yeah i never got the result i wanted with gates, it either cut off too fast or not enough or was too noticeable etc etc i prefer to just adjust the decay instead

The great thing about Wave Arts Master Verb is that it has an envelope generator so you don't need a gate to kill the reverb tails.

This is probably the best I have used, 2C-Aether Reverb.



I haven't tried WaveArts Masterverb before, but Aether is awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by Cryogen The great thing about Wave Arts Master Verb is that it has an envelope generator so you don't need a gate to kill the reverb tails.

Promised myself im not buying any more reverb units . Heard good stuff about Aether as well

Well, one thing is for sure - we all have our favorite reverb plugins. But, I'm not sure that it answers the OP's questions. Are you guys suggesting that he buy your favorite reverb plugin to solve his problem, or do you think the problem is something more global and fundamental (e.g., improving his mixing and/or sound design skills)?


edit:

I guess what I'm getting at is, not so much what he asked in his OP, as much as what he asked in the thread title:

quote:

Is a quality reverb essential for the truly professional sound?

The OP reads to me like he is not happy with the sound he is getting and is blaming it on his synths' reverbs. If so, do you think he is going to get a more "professional sound" out of his synths by going to an expensive dedicated reverb, or do you think the problem is something else? I already summed up my opinions in my first response, but I'm curious to hear what others think.

It's not about having the "best overall" reverb. As with all things, it's about the end result. Sometimes a cheap reverb with a particular sonic character will be the perfect choice.

As others have said, reverbs are generally processed quite a bit - EQ for cutting (lows, highs, mids - depending on the sound you're after), maybe compression (sidechained or otherwise), maybe light modulation with a chorus/ flanger.

I'd say, try out some demos and see which ones sound best/ feel right to you personally. There are many types of trance, some reverbs will be better for you than others.

If you haven't done much EQing of reverbs, try it out - cut out the low end, see how it sounds. Try cutting the high end, see what difference that makes. See if there are any midrange frequencies which make the reverb sound boxy or otherwise "cheap" and try cutting those. EQ makes a big difference.

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik Well, one thing is for sure - we all have our favorite reverb plugins. But, I'm not sure that it answers the OP's questions. Are you guys suggesting that he buy your favorite reverb plugin to solve his problem, or do you think the problem is something more global and fundamental (e.g., improving his mixing and/or sound design skills)? edit: I guess what I'm getting at is, not so much what he asked in his OP, as much as what he asked in the thread title: The OP reads to me like he is not happy with the sound he is getting and is blaming it on his synths' reverbs. If so, do you think he is going to get a more "professional sound" out of his synths by going to an expensive dedicated reverb, or do you think the problem is something else? I already summed up my opinions in my first response, but I'm curious to hear what others think.

good point cryo

to the op: you mentioned the reverb on gladiator and sylenth, what other reverbs are you using, on your return tracks for example? Maybe you already have the reverbs you need?

platinum verb

Wow, great responses guys, much appreciated. I've taken note of the recommendations.

Cryo - I love your surgeons precision when it comes to distiling the very esscence of what an OP is trying to tease out - it helps crystalise a question.

So the esscence of my question is; Having got the very best lead sound I can, and which I think is as good as those I'm hearing on professional tracks (I'm a deep editor and started out on analogue Moogs), is it then going to be important to have a good standalone verb rather than use the synths inbuilt number.

Now, I tried something last night - I'd forgotton cubase 5 comes with a new convolution verb. I put than on the lead, rolled off the lows, and actualy it's a nice sound. I compared it with Gladiators (soft synth) inbuilt verb, but not a huge difference, just the C5 one is perhaps more natural.

What motivated this thread was listening to TATW I can hear a lot of difference in the lead sounds compared to any non professional track on any forum, so I wondered if the small clique of real pro's have dark secrets the rest of us are'nt up on.

In the meantime I'm going to stick with the C5 convolution verb and add some more FX to the lead to try and get that uber professional polish
- I think I need a little distortion and flanging to get that ringing metalic element I'm hearing.

Cheers all

Honestly I was looking for reverbs because I thought like vsts there were some that were ok and some that were really nice. I've actually learned recently that I was wrong. I think you can use almost any reverb and make it sound very professional. To be honest; i'm just using the verbs that came with ableton right now. Until recently I didn't understand how they work and what settings to tweak to get the type of reverb sound I was after. Even more so I wasn't figuring out how to get that big atmosphere from reverb that I've heard in so many good prog tracks.

Honestly my best advice is to stick with one that comes with your sequencer if the sequencer comes with one and then once you have down all the terminology and know how to work it to taste I'll bet you'll not need to invest in anything further. But worst case even if you think you need a better verb you'll know how to tweak everything to taste.

Honestly I think in good pro tracks reverb is one of if not the most important aspect of a track.

Ableton Live's Reverb.



/win

P.S.

quote:

Originally posted by mfitterer1 Honestly I was looking for reverbs because I thought like vsts there were some that were ok and some that were really nice. I've actually learned recently that I was wrong. I think you can use almost any reverb and make it sound very professional. To be honest; i'm just using the verbs that came with ableton right now. Until recently I didn't understand how they work and what settings to tweak to get the type of reverb sound I was after. Even more so I wasn't figuring out how to get that big atmosphere from reverb that I've heard in so many good prog tracks. Honestly my best advice is to stick with one that comes with your sequencer if the sequencer comes with one and then once you have down all the terminology and know how to work it to taste I'll bet you'll not need to invest in anything further. But worst case even if you think you need a better verb you'll know how to tweak everything to taste. Honestly I think in good pro tracks reverb is one of if not the most important aspect of a track.

^^QUOTED FOR EMPHASIS.

It depends on what level you are talking. If your tracks sound incredibly good already and your synth tracks are exceptional, then a high end reverb will take it to another level. i recently borrowed a lexicon pcm96 and the difference between that and vsts is absolutely massive. Night and day difference.

My favorite software verbs are by miles VSS3 (powercore) and plate 140 (UAD)

The reverb you are using thats built into sylenth is really bad. Infact all sylenth effects are below par. The cubase 5 one will be much better.

what about hardware reverbs/delays? which ones are good? id like one in a 19" rack. then use send/return stuff.

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