Most people know what reverb sounds like at its most basic. All by itself on a single track it can make a voice sound like it’s in an empty gymnasium, a cavern, a bathroom, or any number of different kinds of spaces. When I was in college I used to play guitar and sing in the stairwell because of the reverb sound in there. Weird Al recorded some of his early pieces (back in the Dr. Demento days) in a bathroom for its natural reverb.
It’s something that my wife (Lisa Theriot) does not like when I put too much of it on her voice in a recording. When I first started recording, I used to put it on everything. I used too much because I liked how it sounded. But I ended up making the mixes sound muddy and, well, reverby. As usual, my wife was right. Too much reverb can mess things up. It’s actually a common thing for beginners to do – use too much of just about every effect they get their hands on, especially reverb and compression.
But there are other uses for reverb than to make a voice or instrument sound like it was recorded in a concert hall (or canyon, or whatever). Used in a bunch of different subtle ways, it can help certain move certain sounds around in a mix, appearing to come from further away or closer, from the left or right. It can give more space to some sounds and blend multiple other sounds to appear more amorphous.
In this article, Adrian calls reverb “the most essential” effect. Find out why by reading the entire article here: http://audio.tutsplus.com/articles/general/why-reverb-is-the-most-essential-effect-in-your-toolkit/
Archives for June 2016
Digging Into Digital Recording
In case you didn’t already know this – if we are recording audio into our computers, we’re doing digital recording. This is as opposed to analog audio recording, which is another way of saying the way we used to do it before computers (and I include a “digital recorder” as a form of a computer) came around. Before we had easy access to those things, we had to use tape to record audio. And before that, we had to record audio direct-to either wire, vinyl or wax.
I usually try to keep explanations of such things as digital recording as simple as possible, like recording into a microphone that is plugged into a computer. I might offer metaphors like when the Master Control Program digitized Jeff Bridges in Tron, but I try not to wallow in the technical mire.
Here are a couple of my posts on the topic, which should help explain things in a more understandable way than usual (that’s my goal anyway. Let me know in the comments if I succeed!):
16-Bit Audio Recording – What The Heck Does It Mean?
A Common Misconception About Bit Depth In Digital Audio
However, there are folks who really like to wallow in the technical mire. For them I offer this article, which digs into the science of digital recording. It’s actually an excerpt from the book “The Science Of Sound Recording” by Jay Kadis.
Check it out here: http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/the_science_of_sound_recording_part_1/
Enjoy!
Ken
Electric Guitar EQ Part 1: The Recording Phase’s Master Guide
There are a lot of aides online that will instruct you to “slice these frequencies to expel sloppiness” and “support these frequencies” to enhance nearness. Despite the fact that these articles are incredible for total amateurs, they’re unfavorable to any movement as a guitarist, a home recordist and as a sound specialist. Read here for more info…
Review For Waves’ Abbey Road Reverb Plates
Abbey Road Reverb Plates, Waves’ most recent offering, concentrates on a genuine exemplary of vintage reverb. Click this to read more…
Review For Garritan Personal Orchestra 5
Garritan Personal Orchestra has dependably been about democratic orchestral-music making by any means, at a moderate cost. Does GPO5 proceed with the convention? Keith Gemmell conducts the examination. Read here for more info..