Reverb busses outside of Low-Latency mode in PT12

[kennethtyler]

Hello friends! I'm new here and hoping some qualified professionals can assist me with a problem I'm having. I'll try to explain my set-up and signal chain first.

When tracking vocals, sometimes I try to create a little bit of the finished result in my vocalists ears. Typically, I don't like doing this because it can cause pitchy performances - but with other people they are able to perform better with effects added.

I have a Neumann TLM103 going into the first channel of my UA 4-710d. I'm inserting my EL8 Distressor and pushing that signal to my Apollo Twin. At this point, I'm adding a Pultec EQ and an LA2A into the insert path in the UAD Console. After this, it's going directly into Pro Tools with no effects inserted in PT.

At this point, everything sounds excellent. However, I can't seem to add a reverb without turning Low Latency off. When I do this, the vocal sounds like a double. Almost like I turned on a 0.20ms slapback delay. I'm confident this has something to do with latency, and I'm wondering what the workaround is.

Any thoughts on how I can add reverb without this weird doubling sound?

Thanks in advance!

[john1192]

do you have a mix control on your verb ... turn it to Full Wet !!! maybe ...

[kennethtyler]

I should have been clearer, but prior to any reverb I have a weird vocal latency sound. Like it has been doubled, or sounds phased. This happen immediately after I turn off low-latency.

This being said, you are correct that a reverb without full 100% wet would imitate a similar sound. But that's not the case here, as I'm not able to solve the doubling sound via monitoring vocals.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by kennethtyler

Hello friends! I'm new here and hoping some qualified professionals can assist me with a problem I'm having. I'll try to explain my set-up and signal chain first.

When tracking vocals, sometimes I try to create a little bit of the finished result in my vocalists ears. Typically, I don't like doing this because it can cause pitchy performances - but with other people they are able to perform better with effects added.

I have a Neumann TLM103 going into the first channel of my UA 4-710d. I'm inserting my EL8 Distressor and pushing that signal to my Apollo Twin. At this point, I'm adding a Pultec EQ and an LA2A into the insert path in the UAD Console. After this, it's going directly into Pro Tools with no effects inserted in PT.

At this point, everything sounds excellent. However, I can't seem to add a reverb without turning Low Latency off. When I do this, the vocal sounds like a double. Almost like I turned on a 0.20ms slapback delay. I'm confident this has something to do with latency, and I'm wondering what the workaround is.

Any thoughts on how I can add reverb without this weird doubling sound?

Thanks in advance!

With LLM off, you're subject the twice the buffer of latency plus any plugin induced latency. You'll need to set the buffer to 64 or maybe even 32 if it's available. And you can't have high latency plugs on Auxes or Master Faders.

[Ben Jenssen]

I think maybe the delay comes from the inserted reverb is not 100% wet?
I'd make a aux track, input set to the mic, and the reverb plugin set to 100% wet. (It will have the 20ms, as a kind of reverb pre-delay.)
Oh, and welcome to the DUC.

[kennethtyler]

Very helpful Drew and Ben! Thanks for the insight and the warm welcome. I will try this and report back on results. Thanks again!

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by kennethtyler

Very helpful Drew and Ben! Thanks for the insight and the warm welcome. I will try this and report back on results. Thanks again!

Of course you could make a reverb send in Console and leave PT in LLM. And also have a verb setup in PT. During pre roll and post roll, your verb in PT should still be active, and during the punch the Console verb would make the singer comfortable. Try it.

[albee1952]

I track everything at the 64 buffer and have not used LLM in years. Now I also often track 2 tracks for vocals, but mine are usually 2 mics. Whenever I do this, 1 of the 2 tracks stays muted(the producer can decide later on which mic is preferred). My vocal reverb is always on a stereo AUX track, fed by a send. Headphones are fed by sends on all tracks(I fill a bank of 5 sends out to 5 separate mixes for players). Reverbs are always set 100% wet

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by kennethtyler

Prior to any reverb I have a weird vocal latency sound. Like it has been doubled, or sounds phased..

So for whatever reason you're hearing 2 live sources of your vocalist where you need to hear just one. So try to figure out where both signals are coming from and mute one. It could be that you're hearing one signal from your console and the other from the record-enabled track - if that's the case, then check the "Mute Record-Armed Tracks while Stopped" option in Preferences (assuming you have HD). That way you'll hear only one live source while recording, but will still be able to hear playback of the recorded audio.

I don't currently use a console, but I do basically the same thing using an Aux track with the same source as the recorded track. This is also nice in that I can hear the singer if they say something to me during playback. I also use reverb at 100% wet on an Aux track fed by sends so that I can adjust the reverb level fed to the vocalist's mix independent from my control room mix.

[lesbrunn]

Originally Posted by cwsand

So for whatever reason you're hearing 2 live sources of your vocalist where you need to hear just one. So try to figure out where both signals are coming from and mute one.

Yes. If you're running vanilla, kill input monitoring on your vocal track in PT so you can hear only the direct monitored signal from your interface.