KVR Audio

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:11 am

I've been listening to Bjork recently and it seems that she applies some kind of semi-gated reverb to specific notes to give them more power. Is it all in my head? Is this a common technique?

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:28 am

Probably not.
Yes.

If you have a REVERB on a RETURN TRACK, you can automate the SEND for the vocal Track (in this case), so that only specific sung notes are SENT to the REVERB RETURN.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:33 am

Right. It's not common though?

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:34 am

It is common.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:34 am

It could simply be the reverb is more noticeable with certain pitches/volumes.

Edit. Oh, it is?

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:35 am

I'll have to try that. Way more useful than drenching the poop out of vocals all the time.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:46 am

In my defense, I know nothing about vocal production. But, this could be applied to synths too I bet.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:51 am

There are lots of things you could try.

For example, if you had a premixed drum loop, you could apply reverb just to the snare by automating the SEND to the REVERB RETURN.

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:48 am

There were two guys that told about this technique in Pensado's Place episode a year ago or more.
Two rather young guys should be on front, don't remember names.
But it was shortly mentioned when Dave asked about how they do it, but hard to say how common it is.

For products you can also look at LiquiSonics Reverberate that have more tweaking options than anything else I saw. Using volume envelope to shorten an IR, exponentially etc.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:59 pm

Neat. Thanks. I'll have to give it a whirl.

Rodhex · Post by **Rodhex** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:39 am

Instead of automating envelopes by hand you could do that dynamically with a Send. Try this:
The Send Channel has a Gate that is triggered/opened only with certain frequences (say the notes) via SideChain —in Cubase this is possible using the VSTDynamics "combo" plugin which allows you to choose these trigger freqs—. Then —after the Gate— you could add your Reverb, Chorus or whatever —actually a Delay is very common to hear for example where only the "Ss" are listened, pretty cool effect—. If you dont have a Gate with built-in SC you just simply could add an Eq before the Gate to filter out the freqs.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sun Sep 13, 2015 10:48 pm

Nice! Thanks

NystagmusE · Post by **NystagmusE** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 4:51 am

automated reverb and gated reverb or delay or early reflections (no tail) are all very common and have been for decades. most pro records don't wash out the vocals in reverb. it's used more tactfully.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:22 am

You could also copy the part to a second track and have different reverb send levels for each track, then use mute automation to bring in the extra reverb. That's a little easier than automating the send if you don't have physical knob controllers.

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:33 pm

A great analog example of "heavy ambience on the loud notes" is David Bowie's "Heroes." Producer Tony Visconti had 3 mics set up in a large room, with the distant ones gated to kick in only when Bowie really belted it out.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/a ... tracks.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBuwC4VJi50

Heavy reverb only on certain singer's notes?