Hello,
I have a vocal recording of a play for a friend who has asked to simulate them being outside. Obviously a reverb would be the trick for this. However what kind of settings should I use to convey it properly?
Thnx for any help!
Some Guidance With Reverb FX please!
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 6 Oct, 2003
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- KVRian
- 1488 posts since 7 Jan, 2004
Hi Roger,
As you'll probably know reverb is caused by reflections against walls and other objects. Being outside could mean hardly any reflection of sound at all when there are no objects in your vicinity.
The sound of being outside is often more determined by distant noises like traffic, birds, the wind etc.
When there are objects nearby like cars, trees or buildings, there are some direct (and even indirect) reflections originating from sound sources around you and from your own voice or footsteps.
One day I was standing in a nature reserve without any trees or other reflective object, with no signs of animals, no sound of the wind and no traffic at all. It was very strange like being in a dead room!
Is the play recorded inside? Then it'll very likely include some _unwanted_ room reverb. The question will then be "how not to have any reverb in the first place". You can cut some of the reverb out with a noisegate or limiter but some other KvR-members can advise you much better with this.
Does 'outside' mean in an amphitheatre? This does have a special kind of reverb/reflection. You can use impulse responses to simulate it.
If not, how do you define 'outside'?
Also, when the actors are supposed to stand at quite a distance from the audience outside, not all frequencies in the spectrum are conveyed equally. Somehow the lower frequencies get weaker as distance increases. I'm not sure but I think this is because low frequencies spread out easier than high freqs, thus 'loosing' more energy. (But when the sound source is far away, like a thunder, high frequencies are more attenuated by absorption in the atmosphere)
As you'll probably know reverb is caused by reflections against walls and other objects. Being outside could mean hardly any reflection of sound at all when there are no objects in your vicinity.
The sound of being outside is often more determined by distant noises like traffic, birds, the wind etc.
When there are objects nearby like cars, trees or buildings, there are some direct (and even indirect) reflections originating from sound sources around you and from your own voice or footsteps.
One day I was standing in a nature reserve without any trees or other reflective object, with no signs of animals, no sound of the wind and no traffic at all. It was very strange like being in a dead room!
Is the play recorded inside? Then it'll very likely include some _unwanted_ room reverb. The question will then be "how not to have any reverb in the first place". You can cut some of the reverb out with a noisegate or limiter but some other KvR-members can advise you much better with this.
Does 'outside' mean in an amphitheatre? This does have a special kind of reverb/reflection. You can use impulse responses to simulate it.
If not, how do you define 'outside'?
Also, when the actors are supposed to stand at quite a distance from the audience outside, not all frequencies in the spectrum are conveyed equally. Somehow the lower frequencies get weaker as distance increases. I'm not sure but I think this is because low frequencies spread out easier than high freqs, thus 'loosing' more energy. (But when the sound source is far away, like a thunder, high frequencies are more attenuated by absorption in the atmosphere)
Last edited by Timfonie on Wed Mar 02, 2005 12:35 am, edited 4 times in total.
The more I hang around at KVR the less music I make.
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- KVRist
- 88 posts since 16 Sep, 2003 from Austin, Texas
Don't add reverb. Add very small bits of wind noise and various ambient sounds from wherever the play is supposed to take place.
Unless of course the play takes place in a huge canyon...mmm reverbbbb.
Unless of course the play takes place in a huge canyon...mmm reverbbbb.
-Polychrome
http://kevinalbers.com/
http://kevinalbers.com/
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- KVRist
- 154 posts since 15 Nov, 2004
An easy method to find the type reverb you want is to make several copies of the track using various Reverb settings with your favorite Reverb FX VSTi (AmpliTube is great-many presets) and then playing back all the takes for comparison. But in this particular case, I agree with the above, you don't require reverb.
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
No, you don't need reverb, but you're going to do a bit more then just adding samples of outside recordings.
Try throwing a compressor on the same track as the outside recording. Compress A LOT - maybe with a ratio of 8:1 - 32:1. have a short attack of about 80 ms and a release of 200ms or so.
But, then again, I could be very wrong on this
Try throwing a compressor on the same track as the outside recording. Compress A LOT - maybe with a ratio of 8:1 - 32:1. have a short attack of about 80 ms and a release of 200ms or so.
But, then again, I could be very wrong on this