Can we please discuss the use of reverb on drums.

[chadsxe]

Reverb and drums is something I still do not have a grasp on. There are so many possibilities it hurts to think about them. So I would love to start a conversation on diffrent reverb/drum techniques. Lets try and break things down a little bit.

Snare:

So from my ears I am under the impression that most snares get a treatment of reverb on them. I have been using some plates as of recent. The say seem to give the snare its placing but not muddy it up. What have you guys been using?

Kick:

I have never used verb on a kick but like with anything else you can never say never.

Toms:

I have no clue. I am guessing there is a give and take and a lot has to do with the feel of the song. It seems like in most modern mixes there is very little used but it is there none the less.

OH's:

Once again I have no clue. I am listening to Trivium and it appears that there is a slight room on the oh's but I just can't tell. It easily could be the room.



Anyways I just thought this might spark a good conversation.

 

[cobrahead1030]

usually i use a little bit of plate verb on toms

a little more plate verb on the snare

a tiny bit of room verb on the kick

and a little more room verb on the OH's

edit: you can hear my DFH drum mix here
http://disvisioned.net/clips/cobrahead_heavycobra2a.mp3

not perfect, but it sounds ok to me

 

[Black neon bob]

Great topic!

I use impulse reverbs for my drums.. to me, this sounds the best so far, but im still looking for that special kind of reverb on the PC... altiverb was promised in april, but it's still not here dammit!
I think altiverb might save my ass and get me a bright, great sounding reverb on the snare, kick, and toms i have been looking for all that time..

What i use now is voxengo pristine space impulse reverbs, sonitus FX reverbs, and the waves reverb offcourse, but i still cant get into "that kind of sound" like we hear on modern day records..

Like you said, so many choices and combinations, it's going to take me years to find the right sound.. can't wait.

 

[chadsxe]

Great topic!

I use impulse reverbs for my drums.. to me, this sounds the best so far, but im still looking for that special kind of reverb on the PC... altiverb was promised in april, but it's still not here dammit!
I think altiverb might save my ass and get me a bright, great sounding reverb on the snare, kick, and toms i have been looking for all that time..

What i use now is voxengo pristine space impulse reverbs, sonitus FX reverbs, and the waves reverb offcourse, but i still cant get into "that kind of sound" like we hear on modern day records..

Like you said, so many choices and combinations, it's going to take me years to find the right sound.. can't wait.

So are you bussing the toms and putting a verb across them? What type of impulses are you using.

 

[Black neon bob]

I bus the snare and kick to the voxengo impulse reverb.. i don't know what the impulse itself is and where it is made, but i got it from a very friendly guy that hangs out on the toontrack forum and here as well.. not sure if he wants to be mentioned though... and if i can share the impulse reverb, but that's okay...

The toms go to another bus/group track with another reverb on it.. im not happy about it yet, but i can't just set up another impulse reverb track for those toms alone, since my PC can't handle the amount of plugins..

 

[chadsxe]

I bus the snare and kick to the voxengo impulse reverb.. i don't know what the impulse itself is and where it is made, but i got it from a very friendly guy that hangs out on the toontrack forum and here as well.. not sure if he wants to be mentioned though... and if i can share the impulse reverb, but that's okay...

The toms go to another bus/group track with another reverb on it.. im not happy about it yet, but i can't just set up another impulse reverb track for those toms alone, since my PC can't handle the amount of plugins..

Yeah..impulse verb are brutal.

 

[Noumenon]

I usually setup a large verb and a small verb.
I send toms & snare to the small verb and the OH/amb to the big verb.
No verb on the kick.

 

[LynchpiN]

In real metal drums, reverb on the kick is not a good idea, specially if it's played fast - may work on slow, doomy parts. I use some on snare and toms (if needed), and sometimes I use only one reverb unit for all of them.

As for OH's, I'll use a room mic.

If the drums are programmed, I do the same way. Maybe a bit on the cymbals if they sound too plastic.

 

[Noumenon]

It still kills me thinking of those 80s ballads. Talk about putting verb on the snare. lol

 

[ReliXKeepeR]

In real metal drums, reverb on the kick is not a good idea, specially if it's played fast - may work on slow, doomy parts. I use some on snare and toms (if needed), and sometimes I use only one reverb unit for all of them.

As for OH's, I'll use a room mic.

If the drums are programmed, I do the same way. Maybe a bit on the cymbals if they sound too plastic.

Well... i know many power metal bands with tons of verb on the kick... for example if you sing about battleships some verb on the kick is good

edit: there's verb on the kick in some thrash mixes too (Overkill in mind)...

do NOT talk about rulez ,pls

just share your xp

 

[cobrahead1030]

It still kills me thinking of those 80s ballads. Talk about putting verb on the snare. lol

for some slow parts, even in modern metal...i like that on a snare

not too much tho...those old def lepard tunes are serious overkill, i like the old AIC kinda overkill

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Generally, I put one verb on the snare & toms, and that's it. If you leave the snare ungated, usually this will give the cymbals a touch of verb just from bleeding into the snare mic. I find verb directly on the cymbal tracks to be a little too much for my tastes.

Remember, the more verb you add, the more it will cloud the mix up. Avoid using different verbs on different kit elements, unless you're going for a special effect & hilighting a certain section of a song.

One extremely important point: Set your decay time for the tempo of the song. Try to set it around the snare & make sure the tail is out before the next snare hit. You don't want the verb stepping on the playing.

One final point: Roll off the sends!!! Stick an EQ in before your verb patch. Roll off anywhere from 100-300 hz.. that way you're not reverberating the mud.

--Hope this helps.

-0z-

 

[LynchpiN]

do NOT talk about rulez ,pls

just share your xp

Funny, I didn't meant to be a "ruler" at all, just... shared my experience.

Sorry you understood it that way.

 

[EdwardPayne]

I recently recorded an album for my band and put the drums in a total empty room made of concrete. I got so much brutal reverb in there so I never had to put any reverb on it in the mix. I put up a song here if you would like to listen.
http://souldrainer.com/public/06 Reborn.mp3


It's really suitable for a "doomy" sound, but I wouldn't recommend it for faster metal.

Cheers

 

[Mutant]

http://souldrainer.com/public/06 Reborn.mp3

Wow !!!

 

[carl@laruso.com]

AWESOME TOPIC!

ac snare: i send to a plate with a mid scoop eq second in the chain..... gives it a nice sizzle

trigger snare: send a little to the plate

toms: send a little to the same mid scooped plate

o/h: dry

kick dry

trigger kick: dry

Then what i do is bus the acoustic snare, acoustic kick, o/h's and toms to a group - add a little comp so it gels nicely, and send a little of this to a room simulating rev i made ages ago in UAD's dreemverb and that gives me my main sound. the triggers i keep separate as i like to use them to help really poke through... i often automate them through out the song

the other thing i do sometimes is add more verb to the snare in certain sections of the song.... say if there is a main riff with no singing on it

.......... also I recently heard that it is awesome to record drums in a garage esq room and tottaly trigger the kick and use more snare trigger than you would normaly

I'm actually just off to b&q to price up some nice ply wood for a removeable floor for my live room... hopefully that will shake things up..... Bet it's the best piece of gear i buy this year

NB: this is just my starting point... i use it cos i know it works and no one's said ....dude my drums suck!!!!

C

 

[nuclearass]

ac snare: i send to a plate with a mid scoop eq second in the chain..... gives it a nice sizzle

trigger snare: send a little to the plate

toms: send a little to the same mid scooped plate

I tend to do the same thing
+ I always set up a longer (hall or room) reverb where I also send a little bit toms, snare and oh's (just a bit). This somehow seems to glue the drums together quite well occationally...
+also...I often set up very short gated reverb which sometimes works great on snare & toms.

I always make sure that the longer reverbs are darker than the short ones.

 

[Black neon bob]

Edward, that sounded brilliant!

 

[EdwardPayne]

Edward, that sounded brilliant!

Thanx! I'm quite satisfied with the result myself! We are recording two more songs at the moment actually.

 

[chadsxe]

What about eqing the verbs. To be honest this is something I have never done. What would the chain look like. I know a lot of people mentioning equing out all the low stuff in the verb.