reverb plug in with Harmonics (other than Shimmer)

[joninc]

I am looking for a plug reverb that can do the upper harmonic, sparkly reverb trails without having to be epic in length (like Valhalla Shimmer).

[Nick Sevilla]

One trick that I sometimes do, which is easy to do in DAW land:

Duplicate the track that you want the shimmer to go on.

Use a hipass filter / EQ to filter out EVERYTHING except the very top end, say from 12K upwards, or whatever you need. You can compress, de ess, mess with, distort, mangle and otherwise manipulate this top end to get what you need before sending it to the reverb. Make SURE this track is NOT in the mix buss (in Pro Tools I turn the output track to either an unused buss, or to "none", this does not affect that tracks send busses at all.)

Note: If the recording does NOT have ENOUGH top end, you can use an aural exciter type processor, or a harmonic distortion device, even a guitar pedal will do, like an overdrive, to create more top end than there was there to begin with. Just experiment.

Send this to the same reverb, or to another instance of the same reverb plugin. This reverb then is in the mix buss. you can add as much as you need, and even automate it to accentuate only certain parts, like only the verse / only the chorus.

This way you have full control of amount of shimmer, plus you have the same reverb affecting the shimmer, so it is more consistent. Of course, if you need something with more contrast / different reverb, then do something different. There are no rules.

And, you end up not spending money on a new toy.

Cheers