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What is the best reverb setting to use when recording a mix?
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| Mark Anthony |
I have a Pioneer DJM-3000
I'd like to add a reverb to my recordings to give them a more live feel. I want it to be subtle, and barely noticeable to the listener. Any general recommendations on settings? |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| Seriously none, it will most likely sound cheesy and stupid if you do it. Reverb off a live set is a very complex thing and I seriously doubt you will be able to re-create anything thats even close to what happens to the sound when its bouncing around the venue and then coming back to whatever mic is recording it. |
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| Allied Nations |
| If you REEEEEEEEALLY want to, the best bet it to play your mix in the place you want the reverb to sound like (theatre, kitchen, living room etc) and re-record it live with a very high quality field recording device + add a bunch of people |
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| david.michael |
| Record the mix, clone it in an audio editor, add a bit of reverb to the "copy" and adjust your volume/reverb levels until it sounds appropriate, add some crowd noise/fx, and don't complain when I call you a douchebag. |
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| Mark Anthony |
| quote: | Originally posted by david.michael
Record the mix, clone it in an audio editor, add a bit of reverb to the "copy" and adjust your volume/reverb levels until it sounds appropriate, add some crowd noise/fx, and don't complain when I call you a douchebag. |
Haha well I dont want crowd noise. Just want the songs to sound a little more spacious. I think everything sounds better with a little verb on it. |
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| Tony Morello |
| do it in post production |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| quote: | Originally posted by DanceFloorPoet
Haha well I dont want crowd noise. Just want the songs to sound a little more spacious. I think everything sounds better with a little verb on it. |
Reverb across the whole sound spectrum will just muddle things. The thing about live mixes is that reverb is coming from the reactions of different sound frequencies hitting different parts of the venue.
For instance, if you do reverb in post then you will be reverbing the low end frequencies which a live recorded mix wont have (or at least will have very little of) because the low end is being absorbed by all the bodies of the people in the venue (as the subs are at ground level most of the time). This will def muddle the sound up.
If you want to get better 'verb try isolating just the higher frequencies, maybe 200Hz and up and adding it there. A lot of the noise being reverbed in venues are the higher frequencies as the drivers are usually placed higher up or flown and radiate against much more things that will bounce the sound around.
Eitherway its not going to sound anything close to a live recording and will probably just sound cheesy and muddy. |
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| Mark Anthony |
| quote: | Originally posted by Joss Weatherby
Reverb across the whole sound spectrum will just muddle things. The thing about live mixes is that reverb is coming from the reactions of different sound frequencies hitting different parts of the venue.
For instance, if you do reverb in post then you will be reverbing the low end frequencies which a live recorded mix wont have (or at least will have very little of) because the low end is being absorbed by all the bodies of the people in the venue (as the subs are at ground level most of the time). This will def muddle the sound up.
If you want to get better 'verb try isolating just the higher frequencies, maybe 200Hz and up and adding it there. A lot of the noise being reverbed in venues are the higher frequencies as the drivers are usually placed higher up or flown and radiate against much more things that will bounce the sound around.
Eitherway its not going to sound anything close to a live recording and will probably just sound cheesy and muddy. |
I hear ya! Thanks. |
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| Allied Nations |
this device would work for what i was saying
real verb > fake verb |
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| Nemesis44 |
Nothing wrong with wanting to give a more live feel to your mixes as long as you are not trying to pass it off as live. You will often find that mixes actually recorded live (Unless you have a team of sound engineers) will sound just like a home recorded mix with a bit of crowd response being picked up by the stylus on the turntable if you are using vinyl.
To answer the question seriously.
I would not look at doing it at the recording stage, do your mix and then apply your matering effects later.
When using reverb, as stated it would do you no favours on the end sound if applied across the whole mix.
You would have to ensure that you didn't apply it to the low range (250hz and below) as it would muddy your mix, apply it sparingly on the mid section (250hz to 1khz) and a bit more on the high frequency range.
If a little bit of final sheen is what you are after then there are other tools that would give that better.
A sonic Maximizer like BBE sonic maximizer would give a bit of a boost if used wisely.
You could also try some gentle compression or limiting just to bring everything onto the same level and make it sound cohesive.
Remember, you don't want to over do anything as the tracks will already have verb, compression etc added and you don't want to muddy the tracks or squeeze the life out of them.
Rather than using reverb, you might want to try a bit of stereo widening instead. Often used by sound engineers to get that perception of space on mixes. Again, use sparingly as it can mess around with the stereo image and may make playback on certain systems sound a bit crap.
If you load them up into a DAW as WAV files, it should give you some options to play with.
Cheers
Nem |
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| djsaekone |
| the reverb on ozone 3 is pretty good |
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