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Old 06-22-2019, 10:23 AM
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Barryd Barryd is offline
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Default Reverb help needed

Dont know where the best place is to put this. Im a Pro Tools First user (at the moment) but its a general question regarding use of Reverb.

I record my own stuff, guitars, keyboards and unfortunately vocals but I cannot seem to get to grips with the reverb that comes with Pro Tools first. I assume its available in all versions.

I am aware that there are several templates with "first" and I do use them or sometimes I start from scratch. In the templates the vocal reverbs I think have a send to a master reverb but they just sound a bit dead even whatever you try with them.

If I add a reverb to a particular vocal track itself it just sounds awful no matter what I try. Volume is decreased considerably but whichever of the presets or other options I choose they all just sound awful.

I just wondered if anyone could offer me a bit of beginners advice into which way I should be approaching this.
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Old 06-22-2019, 10:59 AM
Logichead Logichead is offline
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

Learn these 4 things:

Mix - the mixture of dry vs reverb, often expressed in percentage. Start with a high amount of reverb, maybe 40% as you adjust the other parameters. Once they are set, bring the mix down to have just enough reverb and no more.

Pre-delay - this is the amount of time, usually in milliseconds, that the dry signal is delayed before hitting the reverb. For a vocal, try starting with 20 ms and play around with longer times. The idea is to allow the dry sound to still be intelligible even with lots of verb.

Next, decay time. This is the length of the reverb. In the context of a song, set the decay time to enhance the rhythm of the song. Try a few approaches and consider how they make the performance feel.

Finally, eq. Cut low and high frequencies that you don't need.

This should get you started...

Best...H
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Old 06-22-2019, 02:40 PM
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by Logichead View Post
Learn these 4 things:

Mix - the mixture of dry vs reverb, often expressed in percentage. Start with a high amount of reverb, maybe 40% as you adjust the other parameters. Once they are set, bring the mix down to have just enough reverb and no more.

Pre-delay - this is the amount of time, usually in milliseconds, that the dry signal is delayed before hitting the reverb. For a vocal, try starting with 20 ms and play around with longer times. The idea is to allow the dry sound to still be intelligible even with lots of verb.

Next, decay time. This is the length of the reverb. In the context of a song, set the decay time to enhance the rhythm of the song. Try a few approaches and consider how they make the performance feel.

Finally, eq. Cut low and high frequencies that you don't need.

This should get you started...

Best...H
Brilliant thanks. That sort of makes sense. Tonight I sort of figured out how sends work by watching a short video online but Im still a bit all over the place with it but I think I get it now. So I should be able to find those settings in the reverb in my Aux input send track and play with them. I kind of did that tonight and its already making a bit of sense.

When you say cut low and high frequencies do you mean within an equaliser or within the reverb?

God! There is so much to learn. Playing the instrument is easier than learning this stuff.
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Old 06-22-2019, 02:49 PM
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

40% reverb is a bit much if you run all your stuff through it, but as in everything trust your ears not pct.

If you have set up your reverb in AUX track instead of plugin insert in the track you're focused, then the reverb should have 100% mix and you control the amount of reverb by the SEND to that aux.

And if you have such aux, you can have EQ/COMP before the reverb plugin to control what goes in.

Lots to learn means you have a lot of fun experimenting
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Old 06-22-2019, 02:55 PM
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Barryd Barryd is offline
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
40% reverb is a bit much if you run all your stuff through it, but as in everything trust your ears not pct.

If you have set up your reverb in AUX track instead of plugin insert in the track you're focused, then the reverb should have 100% mix and you control the amount of reverb by the SEND to that aux.

And if you have such aux, you can have EQ/COMP before the reverb plugin to control what goes in.

Lots to learn means you have a lot of fun experimenting
Well immediately when I used the Aux and send it sounded so much better than just adding the reverb as in insert into the track so that was kind of a light bulb moment. I normally insert EQ and compressor into the track though is that correct?

I need all the help I can get with my vocals as Im not really a singer even though I enjoy it.

Yeah its great when you crack stuff but I just get a bit frustrated when I dont know how to do stuff. I get an idea in my head what I want to play or maybe write a song and have it all planned out and then spend hours fiddling with sounds, effects and trying to get what I had in my head coming out of the speakers.
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Old 06-22-2019, 03:35 PM
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by Barryd View Post
Well immediately when I used the Aux and send it sounded so much better than just adding the reverb as in insert into the track so that was kind of a light bulb moment. I normally insert EQ and compressor into the track though is that correct?
In general, you want to run your "timed" effects (reverb/delay) on aux but have "dynamic" effects (eq/comp) in-line
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Old 06-22-2019, 04:42 PM
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Barryd Barryd is offline
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
In general, you want to run your "timed" effects (reverb/delay) on aux but have "dynamic" effects (eq/comp) in-line
Right thanks. I tried messing about with echo and delay with the effect in the track (in line) and it just screwed up the timing completely, delayed the actual vocal. Maybe thats why then. Im just pressing buttons and playing with knobs like a complete numpty though to be fair.

It frankly amazes me sometimes that by the end of an evening and too much Vino something resembling a song comes out of the other end.
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Old 06-22-2019, 06:30 PM
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64GTOBOY 64GTOBOY is offline
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by Barryd View Post
Right thanks. I tried messing about with echo and delay with the effect in the track (in line) and it just screwed up the timing completely, delayed the actual vocal. Maybe thats why then. Im just pressing buttons and playing with knobs like a complete numpty though to be fair.

It frankly amazes me sometimes that by the end of an evening and too much Vino something resembling a song comes out of the other end.
The reverb aux can also have its own eq. Reducing the low end and some top end energy either before or after the reverb can help keep the mix from getting messy, muddy, unclear that kinda thing
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Old 06-23-2019, 12:43 AM
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by 64GTOBOY View Post
The reverb aux can also have its own eq. Reducing the low end and some top end energy either before or after the reverb can help keep the mix from getting messy, muddy, unclear that kinda thing
Ah ok. Thanks. So you would add an EQ insert into the reverb Aux in track. Will try and play around with that.

I am going to be working on something shortly that needs a lot of reverb so will have a play with that.
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Old 06-25-2019, 02:47 PM
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Default Re: Reverb help needed

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Originally Posted by Barryd View Post
Yeah its great when you crack stuff but I just get a bit frustrated when I dont know how to do stuff. I get an idea in my head what I want to play or maybe write a song and have it all planned out and then spend hours fiddling with sounds, effects and trying to get what I had in my head coming out of the speakers.
It get easier the more you do it.... I used to have a really hard time putting together drum tracks in say Xpanda and would spend a heap of time just getting it right. Now I can get it going in a just a few minutes.

Same with FX sends through an AUX was a lil confusing at first but keep playing and you’ll soon get it going. Avid have some pretty basic vid’s in the support section that go over all the above also create a song from scratch covering the same subjects well worth going over and relate directly to PT
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