Questions on reverb on rhythm guitars?

[DocSauerkraut]

I'd really appreciate some comments on the use of reverb effects on rhythm guitars.

A general problem of my guitar recordings is that they sound flat and there is no feeling of a room (i am recording with a SM57 and a 2x12 Roadster). However, if i apply some reverb the sound immediately becomes too roomy and the guitars dramatically loose punch.

Maybe some of you guys can help me with some basic questions:
- What is your favorite reverb plugin? And do you use it as insert or send FX?
- Would you apply reverb on the seperate (left and right) guitar channels or on a stereo guitar group?

Cheers!

 

[if6was9]

I literally never use a reverb on metal rhythm guitars in a mix. I might use a little panned out to the opposite side if the guitar is playing a riff solo but thats probably the only exception.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I also never use verb on metal rhythms. Only on leads and cleans. And most always create a verb bus/track to have complete control over the wet/dry ratios. (I just sort of recently discovered the greatness behind this).......

 

[metalhead3ecr]

you shouldn't need to fix things after the fact.

Back off the sm57 a couple inches and see if that helps. Maybe even add a room mic? Depending on your room and the amount of reflections you may be able to get some natural verb from that. If not, try some Mid Side micing to see if that helps space things out and give a bit more life to the sound.

Or...try to High pass and Low pass a copied track of the guitar and crank some verb into that track only. Mix it in slightly to see if it adds verb where you want it to be while the punch and clarity remains in tact.

Idk man, getting that perfect guitar tone is an art. good luck!

 

[Siriun]

For me: If the mix calls for it, I'll slap on a hall verb on the Rhythm guitars and pull the volume of the verb WAY down. Not enough to really poke out of the mix and make it sound funky at all, but just enough to make it breathe a little. I try to keep it very subtle. High verbed guitars can sound funky in a dense metal mix

 

[Loki Laufeyiarson]

If you want the feeling of a room, record the room. Either by setting up a mic further away from the amp (like Metalhead said) or by having your rythmguitar tracks play back on your monitors and micing that up with a xy-set up and add that to taste.

If you want to do it with a reverb, send your rythmguitars pre-fader but panned the way you want them to to a buss, eq or hp the low and low-mid freqs out and then use a nice room or hall reverb. You can experiment with stereowidening/swapping the stereo image, eq-ing or even compression before or after the reverb to taste. Then put on some headphones and push the fader of the verb-bus up until you start to notice it in the mix and then pull it back a notch.

 

[Uros]

A little touch of plate reverb goes a long way. For black metal sort of stuff not so shy plate is almost mandatory. Hall reverb sometimes.

 

[Uros]

Agreed (in accordance with the 'there are no rules' mantra ). But I do find plate to be just the right spice most of the time.

 

[HostileEx]

I don't recommend that at all. I think you are in need of some good saturation on your guitars.

 

[HostileEx]

He didn't even post a clip and you already know there needs to be saturation on there? How is that supposed to add room information to his sound?
You don't need to drench your guitars in reverb to add depth to them.

Since distorted metal guitars are pretty much a steady-state signal anyway it usually suffices to add a subtle impulse reverb of 10ms-40ms (usually the "studio" presets are a good starting point) that reacts to the mid/lowend nicely. If you compare ampsim tracks or tracks that have been recorded too dry with really well recorded amp tracks, the main technical difference usually is that the meters on the ampsim/dry track are almost pinned. The miced tracks will behave differently because of the room/speaker dynamics. You can approximate those room dynamics with a reverb. It requires good monitors and a good ear, but it really helps getting those pinned meters moving.

He said that his recordings sound "flat". Some nice saturation on my guitars really assisted me with adding some excitement to my dynamics, making them sound less flat. Just because he asked a question about reverb and included the word room in his post, doesn't mean reverb will fix his problem. That's why I suggest something more outside of the box. Something a little lesser known.