Placement of reverb in a mix

[scotttechfunk]

Just lately i've started using quite a bit of reverb on some of my percussion elements and its really made them sound good, unfortunately though because of the nature of reverb it kinda makes them sit too far back in the mix. This may sound like a stupid question but, is there any technique to use which can help a heavily reverbed item sound 'closer', if that makes sense? Obviously I could turn down the reverb, but i have a particular sound just how I want it at the moment, know what i mean?

[DJZeMigL]

Mix some dry with some verbed sound, one of the consequences of verb is giving space wilst making the source sound a little distant, so the more verb the further away it sounds... I tend 2 choose a less characterized verb .. (something that just adds a thin airy space... by cutting lots of low freq. and some highs.. so basically I only have verbed sounds that are between 500Hz-7-9Khz ruffly, then I choose a big open bright room and teak a bit the decay so it's not "over" long).. by that I mean I don't just choose a pre-set of a very discernable Room/ space...

Maybe have a bit of the original panned a different way to the one u are using 2 trigger the verb..

say a1 panned 25% left.. send 2 verb + a1 copy (dry) panned 40% Right.. play with levels...

But the main thing I think it is 2 much verb (make the decay shorter maybe!)

Let us know if it workz...

Z

[Basil Rush]

Always worth a shot is adding a bit of top to a sound, it'll feel like it comes towards you quite dramatically.

[po]

Psychoacoustically (if that spelt right) speaking, If you roll of the top frequencies of the reverb the sound will appear to be closer than if you left the top-end in. Most good hardware/software reverbs enable you to do this via something like 'high-cut' or 'high-shelf'. If you 'aint got a reverb with this option, feed the reverb to an EQ and roll of the top their. Also, dont forget that a little 'pre-delay' can help, so not to mask the transient of your sound.... eg: the transient (in your case, the drums/percussion) cuts through the mix then the reverb hits the decay and release of your sound pushing it back, so you get an in'your face vibe whilst also adding the harmonics of the reverb to the sound that makes it fatter....and... ,also try gating the sound after the reverb has been added so their is no reverb tail in effect.
chow ;)

[Jimfish]

If i need a verbed sound more up front i tend to duplicate the sound - but dry, find the frquency thats really making it 'sing' and distort that frequency alone just a little.. pushes it through nicely :)

[scotttechfunk]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I've tried the cutting the top end approach and it seems to work quite well, though regrettably the only reverb I have is the one that ships with Cubase SX, not sure how that compares against others. Thanks again though.

[Evil G]

If i need a verbed sound more up front i tend to duplicate the sound - but dry, find the frquency thats really making it 'sing' and distort that frequency alone just a little.. pushes it through nicely :)

let me make sure i'm understanding this right...

you split the dry signal, run one copy into a band pass filter, then into distortion, and the other copy into your reverb, then mix the two back together?

sounds like a great idea to me. i'll have to try it.

[Jimfish]

yeah basically, one into verb one into a graphic eq with evrything but the juicy bit taken out and then distortion..
If i need it more general sometimes the overdrive plugin in sx will do as it allows you to distort high/mid/low :)

[Evil G]

thanks jim. that was an awesome tip. :clap:

i was having the same problem as the original poster - even small amounts of reverb just seemed to muddy everything up - but your suggestion totally worked.

[Jimfish]

it worked? cool!

youd almost think i knew what the f*ck i was on about! :lol:

[Basil Rush]

mmm, gonna have to try that tasty jimfish tip too.

thinking about what you are saying originally you could try putting the reverb in mono and pan it to exactly the same position as the original sound.