So I've got my epic mix all eq'd, lightly compressed and the virtual instruments/effects more or less chosen and dialed in. Everything is sounding clear and audible even in mono. I left it all intentionally "dry" so I could wrestle with the frequencies. Now I want to give everything some "space".
 
I'm starting with just a main reverb bus. I have put sends on all tracks (and turned them down to start with). I'm thinking I might use a convolution reverb (Rematrix maybe because I haven't tried it yet) to put my "band" in their own room (guits, drums, bass). I may use the same "room" for the vox and various synths but I'm also thinking I'd like them "outside" the virtual room. I'm also not sure whether I should give the drums it's own space (so a specific drum verb bus) and if so whether it should to the main reverb bus as well or whatever.
 
Obviously a huge and subjective topic so I just wanted to see how everyone approaches this on their own stuff. As usually I'm just curious and looking for ideas. Nothing specific. I've never like reverb as an "effect" but have learned to appreciate it for creating realism.
 
For this SPECIFIC project I'm really just trying to get these really dry and tight sounding tracks to sound like they were recorded in nice, medium sized room. Since I want the vocals to stand out I think I want it to sound like a backer band and then overdubbed vox.
 
Doesn't matter though because really I just want to try out various things so just descriptions of how everyone deals with reverb would be awesome.
 
Hope everyone is having a great Sunday.
 
Cheers!!!

I like to give a mix a space to dwell in. With that I use a convolution type to give it a space. I often use certain reverbs on certain instruments as well. I have come to love the Pantheon or some other one like it to sweeten them.  

Hiya, John. Hope you've been well (have seen you around for a while).
 
I've been slowly introducing various tracks via sends into a bus I creating housing an instance of PC Rematrix solo. It's taking a lot of fiddling and I can really hear it when a/b'ing but it does seem to be helping the mix translate to other sound sources better (by way of VRM Box emus and different headphones I use to check stuff). This is a result I was not expecting actually but I think maybe using reverb in this type of ultra subtle way is going to be akin to learning how to hear compression properly (which I can now, after a few years of mucking around, can).
 
Anyway... totally stuck with the stock Sonar plugs for reverb (aside from the ones in VSTs like my amp sims and drum stuff but I ain't using those for bus verb for obvious reasons). Don't think that's a problem since we have so many decent ones.
 
hmm... maybe I'll test out the Sonitus verb. Not convolution but maybe more precise to dial in. Rematrix is cool but it's dependent on the IR loaded which to me almost seems like a limitation. Still lots of control of the IR but I think for educational purposes I might be better off with the Sonitus one.
 
Cheers.

In addition to ReMatrix and Sonitus, you have BREVERB 2 Cakewalk, Perfect Space and BlueVerb. Also try using a short delay instead of reverb.

Sounds like you're doing everything right, Beep. You might try adding a second reverb bus with a different, shorter decay and experiment with different ratios of sends to the two busses for each track. One reverb gives the illusion that all instruments are in the same space; two let you position each instrument in a different place within that space.

@scook.... Yeah, Breverb was kind of my go to before (Breverb 2 though? Maybe it's been updated... I'll look into that) and PerfectSpace was always interesting but I figure since it's 32 bit and Rematrix was supposedly the 64bit replacement I'd give it a shot. I like it a lot actually (the controls on it are very good and the sound seems great on my prelim tests) but I should do a head to head comparison of everything.
 
I always forget about the BlueTubes stuff and I'm glad you reminded me. I kind of wanted to try some of the BT stuff on the vocals because they were recorded well and I think just need some old timey softening/punching up and my past experiments with the BT effects seemed to provide that with little effort. I also want to add some separate verb to the vox so maybe I test out the OilCan (not expecting that to work all that well for this but maybe) or whatever else is in that kit. I think I'm going to need a separate vocal verb bus. Maybe even two because there are the main vox then a mountain of background doubles that are a little more robotic and need to be separated from the mains.
 
My test with Sonitus did not work out all that great for my main verb bus. I didn't screw with it much but I definitely got the impression that it's probably better as a track effect instead of trying to create a "room" for everything. I'm sure it can do that too but probably not as well or as easily as the convo verbs.
 
One thing I am kind of struggling with is how exactly the bus needs to be set up and how the sends are hitting it. It was kind of adding too much volume as if it's just a sub buss instead of an effects bus. I've got the verb set totally wet but I was getting a bit of that "it sounds better because it's LOUDER" thing going on instead of just because the effect is there.
 
I've balanced that out so when I a/b there is no level increase but I've had to really muck with things to acheive that balance without losing the effect. Also my sends are cranked pretty high.
 
Whatever... I just need to review some edu material on the topic I think. It does sound good though and this could be simply because it's a short verb on a thick mix.
 
Mostly just rambling as I tweak. Helps me think and scheme. Might shake loose some useful comments too.
 
I do think by doing this today I may have stepped myself much closer to finishing this mix. I had been trying to screw with my sim settings but that was only making things worse so I moved on to verb... which is solving the issues I wanted fix with the sims. Funny that.
 
Cheeers and thanks!!!

bitflipper
Sounds like you're doing everything right, Beep. You might try adding a second reverb bus with a different, shorter decay and experiment with different ratios of sends to the two busses for each track. One reverb gives the illusion that all instruments are in the same space; two let you position each instrument in a different place within that space.
 

Okay... that is interesting. Gonna have to wrap my head around that one but it sounds very cool.
 
In fact I think many times when I envision my "virtual" rooms I think of what a specific room I used to rehearse in sounded like. It was a big, well proportioned warehouse space with a really high, outwardly arching ceiling. It wasn't properly treated but still sounded pretty good and there was lots of room to separate the amps/instruments which made it all blend together nicely.
 
Yeah... I'm gonna think on that.
 
Thanks, bit.

Oops... I guess inserting sends sets them to Post fader by default.
 
I don't want that for a Reverb bus... do I?
 
Pretty sure I don't.

Beepster
Oops... I guess inserting sends sets them to Post fader by default.
 
I don't want that for a Reverb bus... do I?
 
Pretty sure I don't.

Yes, I think you do. If you set your sends to prefader, the amount of effect (reverb) will stay the same independent of the original sound. So, for example, if you pull a fader all the way down you will still hear all the reverb. In post fader mode the effect amount will be proportional to the level of the track. By now you've probably noticed this yourself, but thought I'd mention it since there are so few things about this process that I "know" for sure.

I like to have 3 or 4 different reverb buses set up, sometimes even more. Remember you don't have to use all of them at any one time and you can even automate certain instruments in and out of the reverb - you can create quite a startling, dynamic effect by having an instrument reverbed for one section of the song and then suddenly as dry as a bone for a different section so that it pops right out at you. 
 
Types of reverb I like to have set up:
 
1) A large hall reverb for depth
2) A medium room or chamber reverb, sometimes just mixing a little into everything for "glue"
3) A short room or "ambiance" reverb, great when you want quite dry sounding drums but not too dry 
4) Some plates - sometimes both stereo and mono. I sometimes set up 3 mono plates - hard left, hard right and center.
 
Don't forget mono plates, great for guitar and vocals. Sometimes you don't want any stereo reverbs at all - they can after all create muddiness and clutter if used too much. An LCR mix with nothing but mono reverbs can sound really clean and tight. You don't have to have an instrument's reverb panned in the same position in the instrument - experiment with panning a left-panned instrument's reverb hard right, and vice versa. 
 
I like to set up low pass and high pass filters on the reverb buses, before the signal hits the reverb. This is essential if you don't want your reverb muddying the mix too much or making sound too bright and shimmery. You can cut out quite a lot of the lows and highs for this purpose - I typically high pass as high as 500Hz, and low pass as low as 8-10kHz. Makes for a much cleaner mix. However, if I'm going for a deep hall reverb to give atmosphere to a solo synth part or something (like an intro or outro especially in ambient or "trip hop" styles), then I'll sometimes leave the lows in the reverb and just let it get as muddy as it wants. 
 
Also remember that you can totally get away without using reverb at all, substituting a few well placed delays instead. Delays create the illusion of space with far less clutter than reverb. 
 
Experiment with effects on your reverb too. If a reverb is clashing too much with other instruments, cut some frequencies out just like you'd do with normal frequency clashes. In the case of stereo reverbs, remember that you don't have to leave them at full width. Use a stereo narrowing tool (e.g. Channel Tools) to narrow the field so that your hard panned instruments sound clearer. Also think about using a stereo tool to take some of the center out to leave room for your central parts (vocal, kick, snare etc).
 
You can get quite creative with reverb - unless you're going for a live feel (e.g. classical/jazz etc) then you don't necessarily need to aim for an "all in the same room" effect. I guess the whole beauty of music production is that you have way more creative options for sound shaping than you do in a live setting - might as well make use of them. I've experimented with all sorts of stuff on reverb buses - adding distortion, flange, chorus, tremolo and hard compression. You can get some pretty interesting sounds!