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reverb for live playing?


theElevators
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I have been wondering, what is everybody's opinion on having reverb in your chain, when playing live? 

 

I, like many people on here, am constantly reviewing my sounds, and tweaking things.  I am mostly happy with my sounds, however, there are some times when I am playing small venues, or really small spaces (e.g. somebody's house), where my mix sounds pretty dry on the recording. 

 

I know that some pro bands go to the extent of having the sound guy mix the wet signal to the main signal to taste.  I am not there yet :P  I have (pretty dry) presets, compared to all the soundscape U2-type of stuff some people are into. 

 

I mostly use reverb for the spring reverb BOING! sound, and almost never for ambiance.  The reverb that I do have for ambiance is minimal, so that it has some "air" in my sound.  I mostly rely on a simple ping-pong delay to give myself some 3-D stereo mix.  As a result, I have a lot of definition to my notes, which is good. 

 

I reviewed a 1000-person warehouse-type venue footage and the small private house gig--every note was audible, and distinguishable on people's cellphone recordings.  I could hear every delay repeat also rather clearly, it was all very defined. 

 

So, should I try to experiment with reverb?  I don't want to be in a situation where my very defined sound gets swallowed up by a wave of reverb.  I've seen some bands that unfortunately sound just like that -- you hear they are doing something, but can barely make out what the hell they are playing. 

 

In my band, I replaced a guitarist who was heavily into surf music.  Their early live recordings sounded excellent, but rather washy.  The live recordings were direct in, plus some crowd noise.  So, it's fair to say that there was a lot more reverb than I'd typically use. 

He used a lot of "predelay" reverb tricks, where the reverb kicks in 1/2 second after the note is played.... Anyway... thoughts, what works/doesn't work?  Any pro tips? 

 

thanks!

 

 

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It's kind of a preference thing, isn't it? Like you mentioned - you mentioned that a lot of people are into U2 level of drip, but you yourself weren't into it and you aren't "there yet." Yet, it's a good thing some people are or we'd never have had U2 in the first place. Tragic thought in my opinion. 

 

On one level, our love of reverb seems silly. If you're playing a room, any digital reverb is based off the idea of natural reverb, and a room ought to have plenty of natural reverb that an emulated reverb is trying to mimic - and isn't REAL better than emulated anyway?! (with our endless analog vs. digital debate where are all of the real reverb vs. simulated whores you'd expect to pop up?)  And yet . . .

 

And yet I find myself always wanting to add some sort of reverb. We've grown so used to it and honestly it seems to make every thing better. Like the need for salt and pepper at a kitchen table, no matter what the dish. Some would say even if the dish is ice cream you still might need a little salt on it. 

 

Still, I think over all I'm still kind of like you. I like a HINT of reverb. My mix is always rather low compared to many out there (imagine sub 30% mixes and often dual paths which further diminish it's strength). This is true of myself even though some of my favorte songs and performances I've ever heard practically took a bath in delays and reverbs . . . and yet . . . and yet whenever my tone has significant amounts of verb in it I can't help but feel like a damn imposter - so metaphorically dripping wet that I'd honestly be less embarassed if I'd just pissed myself live after a particularly grooving moment in the song. 

 

So I keep it just lightly seasoned. To me that's USUALLY . . .  though not always .  .  . the sweet spot. 

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On 10/12/2022 at 8:39 AM, theElevators said:

, like many people on here, am constantly reviewing my sounds, and tweaking things.  I am mostly happy with my sounds, however, there are some times when I am playing small venues, or really small spaces (e.g. somebody's house), where my mix sounds pretty dry on the recording. 

 

This to me speaks to the difference between effects on individual instruments versus mix effects (or bus depending on your orientation).

 

I use reverb sparingly on guitar sounds in the Helix, unless its a specific effect (eg big bloom, spread, or alternatively a very small 'room' to make the guitar boxy) and almost always run some sort of 'space' reverb on a mix into which I place different instruments, and tweak for the room. This is for a 3 piece that generally works smaller rooms, self mixes vox, kick, snare, bass, guitar, and for larger rooms drum overheads. Always reinforcing stage sound, never big enough venues for a full mix.

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On 10/11/2022 at 4:39 PM, theElevators said:

I have been wondering, what is everybody's opinion on having reverb in your chain, when playing live? 

 

Reverb has never been a part of my sound. I have a basic hall reverb on my presets... but it's only there for a touch of ambience. It's not enough to interfere with the natural reverb of a room, nor will it interfere with how a tech might want to process the mix. But it does give me a little space when I'm in a bone dry room, monitoring with IEM's, or practicing at home. 

 

 

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To reiterate whats been said, if i'm playing a room, I use little to no reverb and just let the room do it (unless it's for a specific effect like a distant guitar on the horizon). I have played in a movie theater and it had NO natural reverb at all, so there are exceptions. But mostly, I let the room do the work for me and just add delay if i want. It just seems more natural and blends better with the rest of the band.

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Very interesting topic.  I use delays and reverbs and have snapshots that change them both from almost nothing, to a little wet, to very wet.  I have a simple stereo delay set at 360ms, repeats 39 to 55, mix 31.  This is mostly on all the time.  Especially when I'm playing in the duo band with just another acoustic guitar/singer.  I'll play my tele in this setup and these settings make it sound fuller.

 

When I play with the full band, I will either turn off the SD360 or turn down the mix to 15-20.  That keeps everything from washing out.

 

I use the Ganeymeade (sp?) reverb with settings from dry to more wet..... thinking about trying others though.

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I stopped using reverb at my first soundcheck for my first ever gig, forty years ago. Me sounding like I was playing in an aircraft hangar while everyone else didn't cured me of that effect for life.

I'll use reverb plugins on a recording to add 'room ambience' to a direct recording, but I've never used reverb live, preferring to just live with whatever ambience the venue provides.

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Reverb is on most of my live presets in differing amounts. For a typical preset, I try to get some space but not overdo it. Maybe get it to where I like it, and then back off just a bit. I generally prefer more up-front lead tones that cut through the mix, where I am not awash in reverb; my rhythm tone might get a bit more. I also dig some of those fusion guitar tones though that may have more delay/reverb than I would ordinarily use.

 

To me, some of the alchemy in a preset is in how the delay and reverb interact. I always work the settings for my delay and reverb as a sort of matched pair, I tweak them one at a time, and then in tandem.

 

Some covers require particular or minimal/excessive reverb settings. For the ones I really want to get the original sound on, I try to get the reverb/delay vibe matched up.

 

I have run into some very talented soundpersons who took my sound and really worked some magic with delay/reverb. To the point where I wonder if I should have just left it off and let them have at it. That doesn't happen every gig though, so I like having a good base delay/reverb sound dialed in to my presets.

 

Also, as has been commented here, reverb (and delay) needs to be minimized in reflective spaces with lots of hard surfaces. Definitely in the PA. And less is more on the presets as well. The same minimal, or even no use, if the room is reverberant enough, applies to the reverb on the vocals, drums, etc...

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As you found out yourself, the size of the venue changes everything.

While playing a big space you don't need any reverb, Playing in a small venue, especially packed, you may need an extra help on the reverb side.

All you can do is judge the reverb at rehershal and I personally set it to the point were I think it is just a little too much, because it will dry out a bit when the place is full.

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