KVR Audio

Funkybot's Evil Twin · Tue May 22, 2012 12:19 pm

I've always assumed the Camera Obscura sound was a spring, but just couldn't figure out how the spring was holding up to all those drum transients. Never thought plate, but it's worth playing around with.

The Abbey Road chambers have always just been burned into my head. The Beach Boys verb though, is that just a room at Ocean Way or is it one of the chambers underneath the Capital records buildings (same reverb used for The Beatles US mixes I believe)? Another cool sound regardless.

SciFiArtMan · Post by **SciFiArtMan** » Wed May 23, 2012 6:06 am

valhallasound wrote:Lexicon 224 reverb. Concert Hall setting.

I clearly remember how the sound of the Lexicon 224 took my breath away when I first heard it at my favorite studio back in the late 70s/early 80s! The gentle but powerful way it could add air to a standard mix was just stunning! Like the future had arrived!

The ambient reverbs (and general production) on Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", and Chris Isaak's "Heart Shaped World" albums always impressed me. Nothing spectacular, but just so right!

But then again, Trevor Horn gets some fun and outrageous 'verby sounds too, if you like his everything AND the kitchen sink approach! :)

SFAM

valhallasound · Post by **valhallasound** » Wed May 23, 2012 7:25 am

SciFiArtMan wrote:
valhallasound wrote:Lexicon 224 reverb. Concert Hall setting.
I clearly remember how the sound of the Lexicon 224 took my breath away when I first heard it at my favorite studio back in the late 70s/early 80s! The gentle but powerful way it could add air to a standard mix was just stunning! Like the future had arrived!

The 3D nature of the 224 algorithms and the related Lexicon algorithms (such as the Concert Hall in my PCM70, which sounds almost identical to my 224 Concert Hall code) is something to hear. It was also a HUGE leap to go from the 4.5 second maximum decay of the EMT250 (the only other digital reverb worth mentioning pre-224) to the 70 second max decay of the 224. I wonder how much ambient music sprang from the 224 Concert Hall.

The ambient reverbs (and general production) on Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", and Chris Isaak's "Heart Shaped World" albums always impressed me. Nothing spectacular, but just so right!

Billy Idol recording:

http://mixonline.com/recording/intervie ... ols_rebel/

Chamber reverb on guitar?

Chris Isaak:

http://mixonline.com/recording/intervie ... index.html

480L plate on vocals, TC Electronic 2290 + Eventide H3000 on guitar.

But then again, Trevor Horn gets some fun and outrageous 'verby sounds too, if you like his everything AND the kitchen sink approach!

I'm pretty sure Trevor Horn used the Lexicon 224 all over the place. Not sure if he ended up using the 224XL. Honestly, I'm not sure when the 224XL was released, and I'd love to know the timeframe of the "Rich" 224XL algorithms, which marked the transition between the "old school" Lexicon algorithms and the techniques used in the 480L and later Lexicons.

Sean Costello

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Wed May 23, 2012 9:24 am

Kevin Shirley (producer/engineer) tells Alex Lifeson (Rush guitarist) he can not haz reverb

Open link in new tab or go to the 6:45 mark in the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vhR1tcx ... age#t=404s

antithesist · Post by **antithesist** » Wed May 23, 2012 10:26 am

"What's going on with these keyboards. Y'know they're not even real. It's not even a real instrument."

No reverb for you. Come back one year. Man, now I'm going to have to watch that whole thing sometime. Some of those times were dreadful in retrospect. Some were dreadful then. When parts of a real documentary seem more over the top than a Saturday Night Live parody or even Spinal Tap itself, well...

Trevor Horn was very active on twitter for some period of time, possibly short though. I couldn't find him when I looked earlier. I thought maybe some, ahem... twit(?) could ask him about reverb. There's also lots o' 'verb on many of those 4AD records, though they did swing the other way. What say ye, Ivo?

Lastly, I was staying in NYC with a friend that was a tech at Electric Lady for a period of time in the mid to late 80's (87 maybe?) The Cult was recording with Rick Rubin. Marcus Miller was mixing Miles. Jellybean Benitez was doing something after club hours, which was basically the next day each day.

Anyway, those were just the highlights that I recall. The Cult guy with the white sprouty hair bought me a hamburger, and I hung out and smoked [REDACTED] with their chief roadie/guitar tech type dude quite a bit. I glimpsed Rubin a few times on his treadmill that he behind the SSL, blah, blah, blah.

Why am I saying all this? I dunno. Oh, Rebel Yell was recorded not long before I got there and the Beastie Boys were there at the same time. I'm still in touch with my friend and I'll see if I can pick his brain abouts the reverbs. There may have been 224's around, but I remember AMS, 70's, IM90's (for fly in sampling though) and maybe 480's?

SciFiArtMan · Post by **SciFiArtMan** » Wed May 23, 2012 10:59 am

Aww Sean, thanks so much for those Mix links! Some wonderful reading there! I always love hearing how such iconic music was produced, and all the inspiring creativity that can go into making what sounds like a relatively simple session. Great memories of the old 2" tape days, and how physical the processes often ended up. Sweet stuff!

SFAM

olikana · Post by **olikana** » Wed May 23, 2012 12:42 pm

the reverb used in pink floyd's division bell sounds very "expensive" and "classy" and it might be due to the wooden studio rooms it was recorded in (even if the guitars etc would goin 480L chains etc they would still be picked out of amps pickin a bit of ambience too)
probably gilmours boat studio astoria or the the olympia studios in london played some part on the recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrjZ_Egjst8

olikana · Post by **olikana** » Wed May 23, 2012 2:35 pm

ah the boat on the river reminded me of an amazing reverb sound that blew me away
depeche mode - freestate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeYsMS8x89A

as soon as i heard it it made me feel like i was on paddling on an amazonian or indian river in tropical forest surrundings.
when a reverb makes u feel in an outside space it's always a special feeling.

i think images express betrer than words in some cases ;P

valhallasound · Post by **valhallasound** » Wed May 23, 2012 7:39 pm

metalifuxx wrote:Kevin Shirley (producer/engineer) tells Alex Lifeson (Rush guitarist) he can not haz reverb

Open link in new tab or go to the 6:45 mark in the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vhR1tcx ... age#t=404s

Good for Kevin!

There is a time and place for reverb. For ambient guitar, sure. For chunky rhythm guitar, I prefer dry as a bone. Maybe some natural room ambience can squeak in there, but sticking an SM57 in front of the grill is just the right sound for some applications.

Fender spring reverb is a different thing altogether, of course. My current dream amp is a blackface (or "blackfaced" silverface) Fender Super Reverb.

Sean Costello

antithesist · Post by **antithesist** » Wed May 23, 2012 9:25 pm

olikana wrote:

Griesinger, I presume?

Some of the recollections and years were a bit mixed up in my previous post, no more than usual these days though.

hibrasil · Post by **hibrasil** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:34 pm

there is some nice verb in this Boris Midney track, not so clear on youtube though, any ideas what it is? On the trumpet mainly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbFrvyCrgVk[/url]

great album cover too

SciFiArtMan · Post by **SciFiArtMan** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:06 am

The clip above reminded me - I've been working on and off on a soft ambient "song" that has an up front soulful sax solo that I want to sound very distant, like from a bridge heard from far below (Sonny Rollins?). But every reverb and mix I've tried just drowns it out much more that I'd like. But less 'verb and it doesn't sound distant enough. And I've tried dozens of variations of sizes and times and tails, with nothing hitting the exact magic spot!? Maybe one of those sounds that can only exist in you mind - this is how insanity begins, isn't it! Maybe need to give ValhallaRoom a try!

Anyway, I wanted to mention a reverb/ambience/echo, that always used to give me chills! In college I worked for DHL and every so often I had to get/take something to/from the underground area of one of the terminal at the Houston (IAH) airport, and the sound down there was magical! The place was huge, and the ceilings were very low (for an industrial setting - 8'?), the concrete floors had that extra smooth finish where it's almost slippery slick, with many exposed iron pipes (water and waste, elec., ?), and although it tended to be a very busy place with those luggage tractors whizzing around, every so often there would be relatively quite times long enough you could hear that the reverby echo effect had fairly distinct reflections that lasted like maybe 7 - 8 secs, which is pretty long for an industrial structure. All the workers wore ear protection, which is good because it would probably drive you nuts after a while, but for the 20 minutes or so I stood there in awe - it was one of the most stunning and rich super stereo ambiences I have ever experienced.

SFAM

antithesist · Post by **antithesist** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:50 pm

Here's a question/example from the V. Room thread that drew no responses. I figured I'd cross-post it over here, mainly because I like the clip so much:

dimtsak wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtpqQQnCZ4

Does anyone knows how can i achieve a reverb on vocals like this?
What would be the best algorithm?
And what you think about the "depth" slider? where it should be?

Does anyone recognize any hardware unit on this?

valhallasound · Post by **valhallasound** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:58 pm

antithesist wrote:Here's a question/example from the V. Room thread that drew no responses. I figured I'd cross-post it over here, mainly because I like the clip so much:

dimtsak wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtpqQQnCZ4

Does anyone knows how can i achieve a reverb on vocals like this?
What would be the best algorithm?
And what you think about the "depth" slider? where it should be?

Does anyone recognize any hardware unit on this?

For some reason, trying to view this has always resulted in my computer slowing to a crawl. Flash + OSX = not good. Funny how the same computer can view Flash in Bootcamp no problem...

Anyway, I'm going to guess that this is some sort of physical reverb. It sounds like a chamber to me, but it could be a well equalized plate. I don't know what the studio situation was like at the time it was recorded.

And yeah, nice song.

Sean Costello

eXode · Post by **eXode** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:46 pm

The reverb on the track Soil Festivities Movement 1 by Vangelis. It just feels so open, bright, and "airy" some how. And those are also my why's, because it sounds like soaring away in the distance, dreamy.

I love this track in particular. I used it as a chill out track for many years, listening to this in a dark room with headphones right before going to bed. Always felt so calm and at peace after listening to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYj2QIg5rFs

What are your favorite non-Valhalla reverbs, and why?