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Mixing Reverb and long Delay
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golem
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
109
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70
Posted : Mar 1, 2011 22:24:50
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Hey, it would be interesting to know how people mix reverb and delay. Both are of course cool effects but the more reverb/delay, the more blurry the mix will become. I consider it maybe the most difficult aspect of a mix to get the reverbs and delays right as they take a lot of space.
How long reverbs and delays you use? (if you put a short impulse sound, how long it will take before the channel is silent)
How many different reverbs / delays you use in one tune?
If you have multiple reverbs do you ever use them at the same time and if yes, how do you mix them apart?
Do you do even mastered tunes with reverbs in sends or in groups, individual channels, whatever..?
For me it seems almost impossible to get a clean mix with a delay that has a lot of feedback. I tried to sidechain the delay with the delayed signal, but no help really. One that became to my mind is to use delay without feedback in the mix and put the feedback on only in silent portions / breaks when there is more room in the mix.
It would be interesting to hear of some "tricks" for mixing like maybe inverting phase of the feedbacked delay to get it completely out from the mid channel and keep it only in the side channels maybe..?
If you have a feedback delay, how long reverb do you use after it?
Do you have any good tips of using reverbs or delays in such way that they will not take too much room out from the mix?
 
http://www.soundcloud.com/dreaml4nd
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
93
Posts :
2822
Posted : Mar 1, 2011 23:27
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One of the things I've been experimenting with is taking a lead sound and chopping off the extreme left/right of its stereo spectrum and then sending it to a delay on a send/return track where the delay has the middle of the stereo spectrum chopped out, so you have the original signal in the middle and the delay on the sides
I tend to use a lot of different delays mostly in send channels - and try to have one delay send for each sound that I'm delaying. I find that using the same send for multiple sounds can get messy if you're automating FX parameters on the send.
Another thing to try is flicking the delay on for select notes or sections only, as opposed to having the whole pattern/sound delayed for its entire duration. Just automate the delays power on/off.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
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www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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Locrian
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
24
Posted : Mar 2, 2011 02:16
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There's really no exact answer to be given in general. It all depends on many factors.
Generally, you don't want delays and 'verbs to be as bright as the original sound, and absolutely not brighter. That is, if you are going for any kind of "natural" sound and not for some weird FX sound. So cut some highs with a lowpass filter, they are usually built in in the reverbs.
Cutting lows on delays may be adviced for lower pitched sounds as the tend to mud up the bass very quickly.
Using a main reverb on a send helps the mix keeping focused and avoids different reverbs "colliding" with each other. It also saves processing power(reverbs eat that). You may still use some specific 'verbs for certain sounds as FX.
The same principle might be applied to delays. Keeping one or two main delays means that you won't have to worry about them getting in the way of each other. Once again it saves processing power and time.
Generally, long delay times and feedback works better when the music is sparse, the same applies to reverbs and decay time(the time it takes for the reverbated signal to fall with 60dB's). Long times tend to mud up the mix when the music is busy and may also cause harmonic clashes between notes.
It's very easy to go overboard with delays and reverbs. Ask yourself everytime you use more than a sparse reverb why you do it. Maybe it's not really nescessary to have it there. Try to bypass the delay/'verb and compare both in the mix and on it's own. Does it add something to the mix or does it mostly just muddy things up. If it does add something but it still muddies the mix you might have to look at other sounds and the programming of the effect. Maybe it will work better with shorter feedback or sligtly lower volume.
As I said initially there's no easy answers and it all depends on the material at hand. Making a perfect mix takes time, long time. One of my teachers takes around 40 hours per song to properly balance every little detail and 20 of those hours can go to deciding if the reverb times should be say 1,7s instead of 1,8s. That level of perfectionism is of course not required to make a good mix, but be prepared to spend a lot of time weighing different options and experimenting. Practice makes perfect.
On the subject of how many delays and reverbs I personally use, I prefer to have one main 'verb and maybe one or two extras for FX. Delays varies wildly with the track. But as of quite recently I use mainly one stereo delay there for changing the sound and width of certain tracks and a couple of others on individual tracks for FX, crashes etc.
Hope this has been of some help. 
http://soundcloud.com/locrian/tracks |
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orgytime
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
120
Posts :
1703
Posted : Mar 2, 2011 10:37
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this is a huge topic. i just give some ideas too...
learn how to mix HH´s... i saw a tutorial:
add a reverb to your HH´s, listen to it in the mix, now mute the reverb, you should have the feeling something is missing, now activate the reverb again, now you shouldnt hear a difference, if you do, you have to much reverb on your HH´s so put it down and try it again.
personally i do not add reverb to big leads, because i have a big stereo delay on it, i made the experience, that the reverb only messes the mix when much is going on.
i use long fat reverb just on single sounds, when not much is going on in the mix, otherwise you wouldnt hear it anyway.
i give no guarantee for this, this just works for me
cheers
www.soundcloud.com/orgytime |
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