Reverb on solo acoustic guitar

Hey: I know it's a matter of personal taste, but would like some opinions on which verb plug-in and settings are liked for acoustic guitar. While on this topic, I recently found that my favorite method of recording acoustic is the mid-side set up that I read and watched a video on from the book - Big Studio Secrets for Home Recording and Production....great book/DVD.

You might want to consider using some delay instead of reverb - especially if it's an acoustic guitar solo. Delay can add some sparkle and give the listener a sense of space.

Perfect space w/ a plate usually works for me.  That is the classic sound for old farts, but you may want something more modern.  Synced delay works well, too, for a less full sound.

@

There is no definitive answer to this question. What I tend to do is once the track is done and finished start loading up some reverb spaces and have a listen to how they sound and see what you think. Would you be wanting a larger space or a smaller space. Think about the size of the room. Plate reverbs might be better on vocals for example not so smart on solo guitar. I would be going for a hall of some kind and bring it down in size a little to suit the material. Keep an eye on high frequency damping and low end also to suit the material.

And bats 42 ms of predelay is a lot for most things. Do you always use that setting? 42 ms implies that the nearest wall in your room is 21 ms away from you which is 7 meters or so. Or 14 meters approx in total travel time. Rather large. Pre delay needs to kept in mind in terms of the physical size of the room you are aiming to be in.  If you start to relay predelay to room dimensions then it helps you choose a more appropriate pre delay setting.

Of course you can use predelay rather creatively especially to create a larger sounding room using a shorter reverb time which can be nice thing to do sometimes.

PLATES.....for acoustic:
don't really have a 'space' per se....
it's more of a sound.
and it can be metallic, so THAT's why you want to be very judicious with your high end rolloff.
the choice of predelay is important, because THAT's really what's giving you your space.
i like a plate with long predelay more than i like a hall.....
but i set it up to do a very specific thing.
it's not natural...
but it IS musical.

i've basically  boiled down the basics of using a plate for vocals (longer predelay, longer decay time, more early reflections) and smoothed it out to work with the faster transients of a close miced acoustic guitar.

you get a lot of density quick, with a plate, so you have to spend A LOT OF TIME messing with it til you know what to get out of it.

also, i automate my reverbs with envelopes (effect-volume automation)
there's no sense in having reverb on all the time.... bring it up where it has the most impact, and take it out when things get busy.


another thing to mention:
i never place reverb patches in a track.

i always put them on a buss, then send from the track to the buss.
that way, you can eq the reverb separately from the track.

i also almost always put a bit of the direct signal into the buss reverb, instead of 100% wet.

why?
cuz that's the way i like how it sounds.
it works for me.
but everything is interactive....
it all depends on how much track send i give it...
and that can drive the overall energy of that one track up (or down) and affect the mix.
so, it's all got to work together.


found a great article on general use of reverb:
http://www.soundonsound.c...s/reverbpart2_0808.htm

Yea, plates can get thick quickly - that's why I said for classic sounds.  Just about the only thing they had back in the 60s, if you didn't have a room.  The other extreme is a delay, giving a hint of space.

My problem w/ convolution is I've collected so many impulses it is hard to make a specific recommendation, although voxengo has a nice set of free ones up.  For intimate sound a chamber or small room is good, too.

@

Thanks - this is new info. Gotta check that out. Right now at work, that link is blocked...darn it !

Spaces from East West is a fantastic sounding verb with lots of different sized rooms to choose from.  The down side is, it isnt free.

joeped


Hello,
I am just a beginner at recording and would like to know how you set up for recording. I have Sonar Studio XI with foucsrite saffire 6 usb. I have my amp for my acoustic/electric guitar plugged into my focusrite and the focusrite plugged into the input of my amp. As I play, it seems as if the guitar pick up when played back is very "tinny." Any help with my set up would be appreciated. thanks. Is there some place I could go to easily find out how to set up my equipment for recording?
Joe
joeped@wideopenwest.com
 

Over in the main X1 forum Craig Anderton has posted a thread about his new book on recording guitars in Sonar.  Don't remember the price offhand but a quick look at chapter headings suggests he would cover a lot of questions you may have.  Might be worth checking out anyway.