Compress the Verb Bus . . .

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I've read somewhere that many producers put a compressor on the reverb bus. I've been experimenting with this and not quite sure what's best here.
In a general sense, what settings (slow or fast attack/release, ratio, etc) do you typically use ?
Before or after the Verb VST ?
My modest collection of compressors include stock Ableton, AbeGlue, DC8C, CA-2A and UltraChannel

I typically use just one reverb send(Valhalla Vintage, Plate or UltraVerb) for the whole mix but occasionally use a separate verb for the drums

peace
expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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You can put the compressor but it has to be a dedicated send for en element or for a group.
At this point it's best to use many sends with different compressors settings.

You may also use a single send, at this point I would set the compressor with a slow attack and a fast release as a general pourpose send.
Put the compressor behind the verb.

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OK . . . anyone else ?
expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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It depends on what you want to achieve. Most techniques are for a reverb on a send, but probably not an overall mix verb.

You might want the reverb to 'wash' into the next beat - so fast attack and longish release on the reverb signal itself. Distortion in the path gives you a grainier sound.

You might want a smoother reverb sound that's less affected by dynamics, so compress on the send before the reverb. Again, fast attack. I think this is the most common technique, used for backing vox etc.

You might want to duck the reverb against beats, so sidechain the reverb signal.

Or you might want to isolate transients and boost the reverb on those in preference to the sustained part – slow attack, long release (but not so long it fails to release in time for the next transient). Compressor can go before or after reverb depending on the kind of sound you want to achieve, but before is probably more reliable.

One technique that can work on a full-mix reverb is to selectively compress the mid channel so the side signal dominates.

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I send reverbs to a bus and fairly often will compress them. But there are pros and cons to compressing reverb.

Pros:
Compressing reverb will make it so that your reverb doesnt swamp your mix as easily should the instruments going into it suddenly increase in energy via filter automation, plucky attack type instruments etc. You can use compression to prevent the reverb from jutting out or washing over your entire mix. This is especially useful if you like drenching things in lots of reverb as it keeps your substantial reverbness in check.

Con:
The main con to compressing reverb is that it has the effect of bringing the space of your reverb and the instruments closer together. That means that the 3dness of your mix is sacrificed the harder you compress your reverb. You can restore this a little bit with eq and stereo widening tricks after your compressor, but the reverb will still have a slightly unnatural feel that you may have to get used to working with.

The big pro to compressing reverb:
It gives you another avenue of creating a surgically louder mix. And allows you to force your main instruments to sit in the front of the mix while the reverbs are forced even further to the back by way of compression.

- Nathan

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Mister Natural wrote:I've read somewhere that many producers put a compressor on the reverb bus. I've been experimenting with this and not quite sure what's best here.
In a general sense, what settings (slow or fast attack/release, ratio, etc) do you typically use ?
Before or after the Verb VST ?
My modest collection of compressors include stock Ableton, AbeGlue, DC8C, CA-2A and UltraChannel

I typically use just one reverb send(Valhalla Vintage, Plate or UltraVerb) for the whole mix but occasionally use a separate verb for the drums

peace
Where did you read this? I've never heard of compressor on reverb bus and reading the above comments on this, I can't make heads or tails of what they're going on about or what practical use it actually serves. Compression makes things soft, loud so everything's level.
What are you people talking about? :?

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expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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Last edited by Gamma-UT on Mon Nov 16, 2020 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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I've just released a video on how I use multiband compression on a Reverb Group in order to control it's energy/dynamics as the track evolves. This allows your music to sound much cleaner and open, while keeping your instruments in the front and preventing them from getting swamped by reverb buildup which can occur as a result of automation.

It's a little more of an advanced tutorial, but that just means it's something you might not need to use if everything in your track is already under control.

You can check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hMPUCCQkU

Hopefully that helps.

- Nathan

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Is that what they did on this song? The drums seem extremely processed. On the headphones I can even hear the tiny blip when the reverb is cut off after a hit...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2vHXWVtqbg

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Kinh wrote: Where did you read this? I've never heard of compressor on reverb bus and reading the above comments on this, I can't make heads or tails of what they're going on about or what practical use it actually serves. Compression makes things soft, loud so everything's level.
What are you people talking about? :?
:roll:

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