vocal reverb - ugh!

[-J-]

I can never find the right balance, but I love reverb on vox on albums. I want to get a Ride the Lightning kinda effect, but I either get too dry, or way too wet (like in a concert hall) or sounding like I'm in a bathroom at a truckstop.

any advice?! room sizes, how much wet vs. dry, etc.?

 

[ahjteam]

use headphones, put them quite loud, solo vocals and reverb, when you hear the reverb, its enough

and use reverb as a send, not insert

 

[-J-]

oh, I think I've been using them as an insert - THANKS!

 

[timislegend]

create an aux send ... then route the vocal track to the aux track.

apply reverb to the aux... make sure that the plugin's wet/dry is 100% wet.

then adjust aux fader to taste.

 

[XnaySaturo]

I'm just wondering what's the actual difference between having a send to an aux track and having an insert with a certain percentage of wet/dry signal?

 

[ahjteam]

I'm just wondering what's the actual difference between having a send to an aux track and having an insert with a certain percentage of wet/dry signal?

You can't use it on more than one track if it's an insert

 

[Morgan C]

I'm just wondering what's the actual difference between having a send to an aux track and having an insert with a certain percentage of wet/dry signal?

There shouldn't be any actual difference sonically but sends are generally easier to work with, plus you can EQ them a bit if needed.

 

[Sean in Silence]

There shouldn't be any actual difference sonically but inserts are generally easier to work with, plus you can EQ them a bit if needed.

You mean sends, right?

 

[Morgan C]

You mean sends, right?

Yeah. >< Edited.

 

[P-E]

Some people don't even use reverb on vocals for metal.

I know for a fact Jonas didn't on the STC EP, and everybody here will agree Gareth's vocals on this sound monstruous.

Good delay > reverb for ambience on metal vocals IMO.

edit: this applies mostly to extreme metal vocals

 

[XnaySaturo]

Ahh yeah I guess it could be neat to tie everything together in one big reverb bus. I guess I should try it; I usually tweak a reverb/delay specific to the track I'm working on.

 

[Ermz]

Go easy on it. A good guideline is a mixture of plate and room (small to medium for most rock/metal genres).

The fashionable way now is to let delays create most of your ambience effects.

 

[timislegend]

i'm with ermin.

another good method is by sending the output of a delay into a reverb aux resulting in a smeared delay or "vapor" effect.

there are a lot of great multi effects processors out there for vocals... it's just a matter of routing to solve the "will this sound good on that."

but less is most definitely more... imo

 

[jimwilbourne]

ditto with tim & ermz.

also I tend to tie reverbs together pretty tightly.
I usually use only 4 reverb Aux tracks in my whole mix.

also, if you're clever and careful, you can get it down to 3 or 2.

 

[lordofthestring]

Some people don't even use reverb on vocals for metal.

I know for a fact Jonas didn't on the STC EP, and everybody here will agree Gareth's vocals on this sound monstruous.

Good delay > reverb for ambience on metal vocals IMO.

edit: this applies mostly to extreme metal vocals

Perfectly said. I wish more people knew how much better using a quality delay is than using a reverb effect. A delay will stitch the vocals into the mix more and fill in the pockets without effecting the color of the track. It may sound a little clustered at first when solo'd but it makes a huge difference when the whole mix is activated.

 

[-J-]

thanks for the input everyone!