Your reverb sends, mono or stereo?

[losthighway]

I'm looking at my patchbay and a decent variety of reverb/multifx units and wondering why I wired some of them as mono. I get the idea of sending a stereo pair of room mics to a stereo reverb, but what about a mono vocal track?

Do you do more of your reverb sends in mono, or stereo?

Why?
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Mo' mics mo' problems.

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[Nick Sevilla]

It depends...

[ducks out of the room]
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The Song. Nothing else really matters.

[vvv]

I agree.

[follows]
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vlayman; THD; blog; TFP

[cjogo]

All in stereo --and then pan accordingly .. or just change the patch to dual mono .
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whatever happened to ~ just push record......

[losthighway]

Of course, we're on the TOMB so:



But let's just say we were going to have some kind of conversation about this. What are some typical situations where you find yourself gravitating towards one or the other, and why. It always depends, but this might be one where you could hazard a few comments about things it usually depends on, or if you're saying you do both a fair amount.....
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Mo' mics mo' problems.

http://www.myspace.com/furnaceroomstudio

[Nick Sevilla]

Then, with THAT in mind:

1.- MONO send to a MONO effect. Then pan the effect return either opposite the original track, automate it like crazy, or pan it the same as the original track.

2.- MONO send to Stereo effect : Same routing options as above, but with stereo to play with.

3.- option 2, but with the stereo return panned hard L/R. this is usually how I pan a reverb, for example.

4.- Stereo send to a MONO effect ... never use this. Mainly because the comb filtering may cause weird, unwanted effects on the sound return.

5.- Stereo send to Stereo effect. Mostly when using a keyboard or other stereo instrument, send to a reverb.

There are other options, use your imagination.
_________________
The Song. Nothing else really matters.

[vvv]

90% of the time I use a stereo reverb, but since I nowadaze use very little in mixdown, it's typically mebbe only a stereo plate on a vocal or snare, or a spring-type patch onna guitar.

Guitars sometimes get mono spring-types, and sometimes I'll do like a mono "spotlight"-type 'verb on a cowbell, tambo or other percussive, if I want it clear but small. Once in a while a mono slap on a vocal can be cool.

Lemme hasten to add when I was using lotsa drum loops I would use room-'verb stereo patchs often to try and integrate mixes, but now that I'm recording my drum tracks myself I just use the real room, with only a rare stereo plate on the snare on mebbe slow songs or as a obvious (ex. rockabilly or techno, etc.) effect; my approach now is to fit the overdubs to my tracked drums.

I do like delays more.
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[drumsound]

More often than not I'm doing mono send and stereo return. I don't use much reverb, often just a touch for the vocals.
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Tony
Oxide Lounge Recording
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WWRTBD?

[drumsound]

More often than not I'm doing mono send and stereo return. I don't use much reverb, often just a touch for the vocals.
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Tony
Oxide Lounge Recording
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WWRTBD?

[cgarges]

[cgarges]

[vvv]

[T-rex]

My old board had one stereo send, which I used for a room verb on the reverb unit you recently bought (hope you are diggin it!). I returned it to channels 35 and 36 in stereo. That became my room and as the instruments were panned in the stereo field, they were sent to the verb and came back that way. So it made things sound like they each had their own place in a nice sounding room as opposed to being crammed together or overdubbed in my shitty sounding room.

I like plate like reverbs to be in stereo. I used to use two effectrons as predely and modulation into my stereo spring. Mono out from the board, multed into two effectrons each with slightly different delay times and maybe a hint of modulation into the spring. So even though it was mono in, it was still pseudo stereo in and out.

Most everything else I did was mono in and mono out.

[cgarges]

[cgarges]

[vvv]

I'm just a bedio recordist but have gone nuts in the last year on mic's and pre's and compressors.
I already had some decent instruments and amps and monitors, and I did recently buy a OK keyboard.

So is that my next step to achieving sonic nirvana - outboard reverbs?

I know a plate would be, but I don't think I have the room.
At the moment I use plug-ins, what sound better than the old 12 bit Alesis and DOD 'verbs I have.

Somehow, tho', I suspect that such effects will remain ITB for me ...
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[Black Cross Recordings]

I try to keep all reverbs mono where possible, allows me to place things in the mix easier.

On the odd occasion I may splash some stereo reverb on mono drums to widen them slightly, or even across backing vocals to push them away from the lead vocal.

"So is that my next step to achieving sonic nirvana - outboard reverbs?"

Have you tried the spring reverb tank from an old guitar/keyboard amp method? Using your mixer as a pre/post amp to get the springs shifting? It's a nice step into outboard gear, real good fun too!

[vvv]

I haven't but as I posted in the Line2Amp thread, I just built one of those re-amp tings, and I do have amps with springs (nothing seperate) so mebbe ...

I think Paul Westerberg as Grandpaboy claimed he put a whole album thru a Fender Twin that way.

FWIW, I like a stereo tape-delay patch on lead guitar sometimes, makes it bigger. I was mixing a guy's song yesterday and I submixed a near and room amp track thru such a delay on the room track only with the both guitar tracks panned about 3:00. The guitar goes thru the whole song and so when he took a solo I panned the sub-mixed stereo track left to about 11:00 and it made for a kinda cool and different sound.
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