so what reverbs were used in rock around 1980?

[egarrard]

HanafiH's recollection is similar to mine. I first saw a 224 in 1984, at a faily proseperous 16-track room which has since eveolved into one of this area's big players who do some national-major label work. They had the Lxicon and a pair of Delatalab delays. Otherwise, other studios I had used before that one, from 78 to 84, had springs. Lexicon was a high-end company at that time. By the mid 80's, more affordable units were beginning to appear, and digital reverb became accessable to the small studio. The first affordable Lexicons were the PCM 60 and 70 around '85-'86, I think, and the budget but excellent LXP series began in '88-'89 or so.

I'm not so sure I would call the PCM 60 affordable. We would rent one from time to time but mainly used the Yamaha Rev7 and SPX-90. They were about half the price.

[arke]

sorry yet another reverb thread

just wondering if anyone knew what reverbs were used around 1980, for example on supertramps 'breakfast in america album' (1979). absolutely love the verb on that album, the vibe is awesome. i expect whatever reverb used was coloured/altered by the recording chain too, but its the cloest ive heard to what i want.

i wont be purchasing hardware but just curious as to what was popular around then.

I would guess they took a really large room, set up a speaker on one end and a microphone on the other end.

[martian]

well just tried the emt plate impulse i found, and no thats nothing like the sound i mean.

they sound quite mechanical and muffled to me, whereas the sound i had in mind from supertramp is incredibly warm, soft, and airy. almost like there are no walls to the room, jus a big open space.

I would guess they took a really large room, set up a speaker on one end and a microphone on the other end.

probably the case.

realistic reverbs seem much more in the right direction.

[kritikon]

Bassballjg wrote:
HanafiH's recollection is similar to mine. I first saw a 224 in 1984, at a faily proseperous 16-track room which has since eveolved into one of this area's big players who do some national-major label work. They had the Lxicon and a pair of Delatalab delays. Otherwise, other studios I had used before that one, from 78 to 84, had springs. Lexicon was a high-end company at that time. By the mid 80's, more affordable units were beginning to appear, and digital reverb became accessable to the small studio. The first affordable Lexicons were the PCM 60 and 70 around '85-'86, I think, and the budget but excellent LXP series began in '88-'89 or so.
I'm not so sure I would call the PCM 60 affordable. We would rent one from time to time but mainly used the Yamaha Rev7 and SPX-90. They were about half the price.

Yeah...PCMs were less affordable in those days than they are now.
I remember seeing quite a few Yamahas around - didn't personally like them much, but they seemed pretty poular. There were alot of LXP1s and 5s (more of the 5s) although they tended to be more the budget studio tool. Can't see a big production like Breakfast in America using an LXP5.

I would've thought Supertramp more likely used room reverbs and/or plates.

Convolution would be the way to go for that one, but you definitely pay for the ones with decent real studio reverb impulses. Haven't seen any free impulses of any decent studio reverb recordings.

[james0tucson]

I would guess they took a really large room, set up a speaker on one end and a microphone on the other end.

Yeah, wouldn't they have just used the large-room plate reverbs that all these software plugins are trying so desperately to emulate?

[Bassballjg]

HanafiH's recollection is similar to mine. I first saw a 224 in 1984, at a faily proseperous 16-track room which has since eveolved into one of this area's big players who do some national-major label work. They had the Lxicon and a pair of Delatalab delays. Otherwise, other studios I had used before that one, from 78 to 84, had springs. Lexicon was a high-end company at that time. By the mid 80's, more affordable units were beginning to appear, and digital reverb became accessable to the small studio. The first affordable Lexicons were the PCM 60 and 70 around '85-'86, I think, and the budget but excellent LXP series began in '88-'89 or so.

I'm not so sure I would call the PCM 60 affordable. We would rent one from time to time but mainly used the Yamaha Rev7 and SPX-90. They were about half the price.

If the question was about Lexicons, then the 60 and 70 while not affordable for a home studio of the time were something that a small pro studio could take on as an upgrade investment at under $3000. But no, not as affordable as the more home/personal project studio-priced LXP series, or the Yamaha SPX 90, Alesis, ART or Digitech, etc. But now we're much further into the '80s, by the end of which you had very cheap digital reverb. In 1980, what the OP was asking about, your options were plate, which was expensive and took up space, chamber which again is a matter of space with walls made of relective materials, live room which would get printed with the performance, spring, or digital which was new and very expensive. On a session in '84, we sang into a baby grand piano with the lid open and the keys for the notes in the key the song was in and the sustain pedal depressed. Amazing sound (PSP piano verb is based on that concept and is worth experimenting with). A mic and your imagination can still be the most powerful reverb unit available.

Today, the best thing is to have both a convolution plug and collect impulses and choose one or two good algorithmic reverbs according to taste and comfort level with the interface. I use SIR, and the Sonitus that came with Sonar; with Sonar 5, I'll be getting Pristine Space. I don't use Pantheon much even though I was a Lexicon hardware guy. I am also looking at R66, M2 and Arts Acoustic. The forthcoming IK looks intersting too, we shall see. For freeware I really like Kjaerhus Classic and the PSP springverb that was in Computer Music as well as SIR. When I compose in Reason, I usually prefer to export audio rather than go through the hassle of ReWire, and then I will sometimes print what I get out of RV7000 to get what will actually be a finished sound for my mix, I like it that well for some things. There's lots of good reverb out there, you just need to choose what works for you. You will be able to find high quality that fits your tastes.

[Bassballjg]

sorry yet another reverb thread

just wondering if anyone knew what reverbs were used around 1980, for example on supertramps 'breakfast in america album' (1979). absolutely love the verb on that album, the vibe is awesome. i expect whatever reverb used was coloured/altered by the recording chain too, but its the cloest ive heard to what i want.

i wont be purchasing hardware but just curious as to what was popular around then.

I would guess they took a really large room, set up a speaker on one end and a microphone on the other end.

Not knowing the record that started this thread, I can't say what the sound being sought is, but the technique described here was used from the '50's onward, refered to as "Chamber" reverb, as in a room specifically set aside and optimised with high celings and made of acoustically relective materials such as tile and miced up to pick up a signal sent in through a speaker. Abbey Road's was famous, you've heard it on many many records you'll know from the '60s and '70's. Another way to get that sound without having a purpose-built room is to mic up a staircase. Any big space with reflective materials will do, really.

[jasonsantiago]

I think its less about the brand of reverb than the method. Those hard 80's snares were done using a gated reverb.

[DCrown]

At sunset sound studio (Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Prince etc) they had/have several Chambers and a plate and 3 live rooms and especially for rock also the following reverbs were used
AMS RMX16, EMT 250, AMS DMX–15R, Ursa Major SST–282 Space Station, Yamaha D1500, Lexicon 224

[Stokely]

A bit before my time, when I was learning in the mid-to-late 80s the Lexicons were definitely everywhere, and you had others like the Yamaha spx90s and what have you.

Back in 80 as others have said I'd think real spaces and plates, not sure what else was around.

[thecontrolcentre]

Midiverb & Microverb perhaps (?)

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Bumping an 18 year old thread? Nice!

[hmusic]

Bumping an 18 year old thread? Nice!

I like this bit. Even in 2005, there was too many reverb threads.

sorry yet another reverb thread

[egbert]

Midiverb & Microverb perhaps (?)

Midiverb was released closer to 86 I think. That was very cheap and probably the first affordable unit of anything like that quality whereas the earliest verbs of any quality were expensive like the big Lex 224 and the others mentioned. The big plates were used a lot too as were chambers and live rooms - eg LZs drum sounds recorded in the stone stairwell at the grange for When the levee breaks.

[jamcat]

Chambers were used a lot. Live rooms. EMT 140s and 250s. Lexicon 224s and a little later (1982), AMS RMX16s and Eventide SP2016s.