Vocals & Reverb

Hello all,

 

My experience thus far of mixing vocals has been disappointing or, at the very least, hit and miss.

 

The main problem for me seems to be finding the right type of reverb to fit the song. Seems to me that either I end up with something too dry and bland or, with the addition of reverb the vocals become distanced from the rest of the music instead of blending in. Notably on pure electronic music.

 

I know that there is no 'one size fits all' solution and that discernment is paramount but I wonder if anyone has any personal quick 'n' dirty guidelines or some tips that would help... please...

u have the same question....i need the perfect verb...please help us!!

Guys , there's no right answer , It's depend on your own conception and point of view,in this way some Reverbs are nice ,in other useless .Try to figure out in your mind ,how exactly the vocal play with your music ,is it important or no , it's a big contrivance

 

PS . We've got an excellent reverbs in Logic , just think how to use it and everything gonna be allright

As you've noticed, when you start turning up reverb, it turns into a big, washed-out mess. In dense mixes, you're often better off sticking a short slapback delay on your vocal track and leaving it at that (I like the Tape Delay plug, although you might want a stereo delay). If the mix is a little more sparse, and your vocal needs more room, add just a little bit of a longish ambient reverb. And if you're dead-set on using more reverb, cut the highs and lows to keep it from getting in the way of the other instruments; you really only want to hear it when there's room for it.

Aha!

 

Thanks, that sounds like the kind of advice that would help many.

Anyone else have contributions?

Hi

 

I like to spend time on getting the right pre delay. It can really help clean up an otherwise muddy sounding vocal. I actually usually wind up putting a dedicated Verb on my main vocal track just because of the attention I like to give the pre delay. I also like the fact that I can still have a BIG sounding vocal and at the same time have it sound intelligible.

 

Have a good one.

I tend to use a combination of two verbs on vocals and they are often the same. I actually like the early reflections generated by platinum verb. I use these early reflections only from that plug (use the slider at the top of the plug set almost all the way to the left etc.)

 

I'll put a directional mixer on the bus after the early reflections and narrow their stereo field considerably. This is key. Verb plugs can be very wide sounding which will remove the sense of directionality of your vox. You want them sitting right in the middle. So I'll make the ER almost mono but not quite and then I'll pan it a little bit out of the way of the lead vox . . . just a little to one side, often the side that has less going on, often the one with a little less guitar etc.

 

Then I use Apples own matrix reverb with some of those presets by Big Blue Lounge forum poster r2d2. Search for them on google, gearslutz etc. You can make similar presets yourself but some of those that were posted are really quite good. I'll use something like a long 96kHz hall preset from there, narrow it's stereo field a little, not as extreme as the ER, again with a directional mixer, and leave it unpanned. I keep that low in the mix. My rule is: loud enough so that you can hear it clearly when the vocal is soloed but quite enough so that you don't hear it unless you really listen carefully when the full mix is playing.

 

The key is a long, quite reverb panned somewhat wide with a short, louder early reflection, close to mono, panned only slightly to one side.

 

I'm also gonna say that I've been impressed with the reverb that comes with Izotope Ozone. Billed as a mastering reverb, I've heard it used wonderfully on vocal tracks too.

 

I have a lot of other reverb plugs but tend to stick with the combo mentioned above for vox. You can get good results with Space Designer though if you get some decent impulses for it but I've tended to favor those for orchestral parts and for creating virtual drum rooms.

 

This post was entirely too long. Sorry.

This post was entirely too long. Sorry.

 

Nonsense.

It's a bit like Christmas - I go to bed (CET) and in the morning there's all this stuff waiting for me.

Thanks to you all!