I remember reading once that all the synth, drum, etc. plugins already have reverb on them and they sound great on their own. But when you use them all in the same song, the various reverbs muddy the mix. The advice was to turn off the stock reverb and apply your own reverb to all of them so that they sound like they're in the same space. It makes sense to me and I'm wondering what others think and do. I haven't done it in the past but if it would improve my mixes, maybe I should give it a try.
 
How does everybody feel about this? Do you routinely do it? Do you think it makes it easier to get a good mix?
 
Doug

I usually turn off all reverb for a rough mix and then I introduce one reverbn on a bus into the mix later. But I don't always do it the same way and I don't think there are any hard and fast rules on it.
 
 I have been known to mix and match reverbs in a mix. After the mix stage and further into the fx part of a mix some mixers stage reverbs. They might take one that they like the early reflexions in and add another for more space.....but this takes experience or trial and error. The guys who are good at it can make it work but the guys still learning the tools usually end up with mud. I don't necessarily claim to be in the first group :) The fewer instruments involved the better if mixing/staging reverbs. They can either augment or fight one another.
I might sometimes use a reverb that came with a particular synth because it might bring out the very best in that particular sound. Most noobs tend to err on using way too much of it.Since I compose some etherial music I might use it more liberally than say...a guy writing funk.

DougCPilot
I remember reading once that all the synth, drum, etc. plugins already have reverb on them and they sound great on their own. But when you use them all in the same song, the various reverbs muddy the mix. The advice was to turn off the stock reverb and apply your own reverb to all of them so that they sound like they're in the same space. It makes sense to me and I'm wondering what others think and do. I haven't done it in the past but if it would improve my mixes, maybe I should give it a try.
 
How does everybody feel about this? Do you routinely do it? Do you think it makes it easier to get a good mix?
 
Doug

I have flip-flopped on this issue.  I am now leaning towards the camp of stripping reverb off, but it always comes down to listening. The convo itself is good in that it forces me to take a look at what is going on with my plugins.  I used to simply throw in what sounded good to my ears when auditioning a sound from a plugin without thinking about which built in effects were making it sound so good.  By examining the structure of presets the answer is sometimes is clear on a case by case basis.  Sampletank 3 uses lots of effects on presets yet somehow tend to sit well in the mix where as other synths turn my mix to mud until i turn off the verb. I think I'm at a place now where i avoid patches with a lot of reverb to begin with or use them only on tracks that are sparse enough that the reverb fills in the space.

Most virtual and hardware synths have reverb built into the voices, along with a bunch of other effects.  And it is true that too much overuse of reverb can smear things up.  On the other hand, not everyone is trying to present a "live and true" document, as if all the instruments were played live at one time in one room and need a single room reverb to complete the illusion.
 
You will come up with your own "mix' (pun intended) of techniques and tricks.  Both ways of working are valid.
 
@

I like the idea of using separate reverbs for mixing and switching all the synths reverbs off. I'd use a much better quality reverb, and the sounds are but in to the same space. I can also tune into that sound more, and sit in one view and get them balanced more intuitively. The main exception to this for me is if the sound is meant to contrast and the reverb is more of a 'special' effect. 
 
I've watched these Videos twice in the past year, and he uses 3 reverbs, but with 3 different characteristics, one he calls the Office (I think) a really close reverb, then a space and a plate I think. I haven't tried mixing with even 2 reverbs yet, but I like the idea of this, so combined they create space, but you can put your sounds into them differently, and use that to create a different separation. 
 
You may want to skip 1 of 4 and get into the mixing part
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s590qVm8uc0
 

There is no right answer to this.  It also depends a lot on what type of music you are producing as well.  For example if you are producing electronic music and you are using a variety of synths (hardware or software) I have actually found things can sound better when you use the built in reverbs/effects of many different instruments.
 
Earlier on I used to switch off a lot of built in reverbs/effects but I have found in many cases you want these parts to be more separate in nature.  It helps to set them apart from each other and built in effects is an excellent way to do it.  It will save CPU power too in the process.
 
All of the hardware synths I use feature built in effects.  I have learned to program them more deeply and as a result they are all adding their own quite distinct character all helping to separate the instruments much more so.  Especially once you start toning them way down too and put them back into subtle mode rather than swimming mode.  Before you right them off spend some time playing and programming the effects to the max.  Often you end up creating nice processing that may just surprise you. 
 
Many people turn the effects off these things not knowing enough about the effects themselves.  With some care and programming very effective effects can be applied within the instruments.  In many cases the built in effects are very integral to the patch. (eg the chorus in a Roland Juno 106. You won’t get that effect anywhere, period) Take them off and they are gone.
 
But this may apply to electronic music for example.  It may not work so well in an acoustic or rock track though. Then it may be better to switch a few of them off and put more than one part into a suitable effect or space as per the OP.  eg to create the effect of several things being in the same space.  It may work for some things but it can hinder other situations.  You need to evaluate. 
 
Some synths have killer reverbs and effects, way better than a lot of DAW effects too.  And lots of em. There are 16 effects processors in my Kurzweil PC3K and 56 in the Novation Supernova II. Yes folks 56!  And they sound bloody fabulous too.  You would be foolish to switch these off!
 
 
 

Synth reverbs can sometimes sound a little "cheap," but sometimes this is what you want for effect. Other times, like in the case of Native Instruments' Skanner XT for example, the on board reverb is beautiful.
 
I tend to err on the side of turning the inbuilt reverb off and using my own. I feel much more control of the mix like this. What if you want to use a mono reverb on a stereo patch, and the synth's reverb is stereo? What if you want to narrow the stereo image of a reverb, or pan it differently? You might want to have the sound on one side of the mix, and its mono reverb on the other. There are loads of creative things you can do with reverb if you're using your own. I have ValhallaRoom, ValhallaVintageVerb, Breverb and a couple of convolution reverbs with tons of responses. To me that's all the reverb I'll ever need and can handle every situation.
 
If I was going to leave the onboard reverb on a synth patch, I think it would be in a sparse mix where there wasn't much else going on. Otherwise I think its wise to handle your own reverbs so you can stop things from getting too muddy. You generally can't, for instance, EQ the lows from a synth reverb.
 
Also consider not using reverb on some parts, or even at all. If you want a very clean sound with loads of clarity you can sometimes get away with not using any reverb in a mix at all and creating a sense of space and depth by clever use of delays alone.

In a sparse mix I would be more inclined to turn the built in FX off and use an external reverb. A sparse mix is when the reverbs are going to be more exposed so you will more likely to hear them.  In a dense mix once you edit the effects (see below) then you need external reverbs less so.  You will barely hear the reverbs then and the fact each synth has its own reverb character is going to be a plus in the long run. 
 
Also using delays is a good idea as well.
 
Don't forget that with many built in synth reverbs all you have to do is edit the effect.  Make the room smaller and alter the wet/dry mix so there is a lot less of it and restore the patch somewhere so the new effect mix comes up everytime.  Still sounds like people are too lazy to edit the built in synth effects.  That is the problem here.

to me,
it makes the most sense,
to have dry tracks (when using artificial source) so you make those decisions later....
during mixing.
 
if you are capturing live sources that includes actual room sounds,
these may or may not work with reverbs that have been brought in from soft synths.....
 
and it seems silly to me, to have multiple reverb sources,
for general mixing.
 
of course, it all depends on the particular song being mixed.
special effects, and all that, not included.
 
but if you are committing soft synths to hard waves, to free up CPU or whatever,
i'd print it dry.
 

Jeff Evans
There is no right answer to this. 

+1... great way to start your post Jeff.
 
Do what sounds good, and what sounds right for the song... it doesn't matter how you get there. I generally strip all reverb, but I'll leave any other effect in place - providing it fits. During mix I'll use 2 - 3 reverbs on sends and that helps to keep my "space" sounding pretty even. I should state that I am after natural sounding mixes - which is the biggest reason I do it that way. It's certainly not the only way to get things done.