Mixing Tips
Reverb:
If you think of panning as left to
right mixing and EQ as up and down mixing, reverb is front
to back mixing. It adds depth to a recorded track. Reverb
is an effect designed to mimic the natural reflection of
sound waves off surfaces back to the original sound source.
Some rooms have a lot of reverb, while others are very "dead"
sounding. Studios will often have a vocal booth, isolated
from the rest of the studio with dense acoustic foam lining
the walls. This is a very dead sounding room, designed to
eliminate natural reverb so the engineer can add reverb
as an effect later, with more control over the reverb in
the mix. Some engineers prefer this method, while others
prefer to record in a natural sounding room, using the natural
reverb in the mix.
Most reverb effects have a room size
setting, where you can adjust the perceived size of the
room the instrument is playing in. All you do is adjust
the setting, and the reverb unit or plug-in uses algorithms
to calculate the initial reflections and each additional
wave of reflections. Before reverb technology you had to
actually record an instrument in a large hall to get that
reverb sound, using an omni-directional condenser mic to
pick up the original sound and the reflected sounds.
Some reverb units also have different
types of reverb to choose from. Room, hall, plate, or spring
reverb. Room reverb is designed to mimic the reverb in a
normal room, and usually they'll still have different sizes
to choose from. Hall reverb is designed to mimic the reverb
obtained in a large performance hall. Plate reverb is designed
to emulate the classic method used in older studios, using
a metal plate suspended with tensioned springs to get reverb
on tracks. This reverb sound often works well for recording
horns. Spring reverb is designed to emulate an older technology
still used in many guitar amps, where the signal is sent
through a group of tensioned springs. If you've ever moved
a guitar amp while it's still on and heard a strange sci-fi
noise, this is the springs from the reverb tank bouncing
together.
Most reverb units also have a mix
level, or percentage. This allows you to control the amount
of effected sound, compared to the original signal. If you
have a lot of tracks with reverb added and they all have
a fair amount of the reverb signal mixed in, your mix will
be very muddy. Most of the time you need to use reverb sparingly
for it to be effective. If you add a lot of reverb to the
vocals you may want the guitar to be a little less effected,
so it stands out a little more. Reverb is all about contrast.
If you use the same type and amount of reverb on everything,
it won't work very well. If you have a little spring reverb
on the guitar, and a little more room reverb on the vocals,
with a little plate reverb on a horn, this can be a very
effective sound. You could also add a lot of reverb on a
guitar part, with a very little amount on the vocals.
Also, you may wish to use the spring
reverb in a guitar amp, but be careful that the recorded
sound has the right amount of reverb. You can't change it
once it's recorded. You could record the guitar part straight
in, then send a signal out through the amp, with reverb
mixed in to taste, miking the amp and re-recording this
signal on a seperate track. If it doesn't sit well in the
mix you could delete the track with the reverb added, then
repeat the process until you get the desired sound. You
might wish to try this technique with instruments other
than guitar, or even vocals, for a unique reverb sound.
In addition to reverb, you could
add delay and chorus to some tracks to add depth. You might
wish to use chorus on a guitar part, and reverb and delay
on the vocals. Or chorus and reverb on the guitar, with
just delay on the vocals. While reverb can work well on
guitar, vocals, horns, and cymbals you probably don't want
to use it on the bass drum, or bass guitar. Lower frequencies
generally are harder to hear and sound warmer by nature,
so adding lots of reverb to them is a good way to make them
sound like complete mud.
