building a reverb chamber

gwamba · Post by **gwamba** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:28 pm

[b]allright so...this is probably goin to make some one go.."not again"
but...i want to build a reverb chamber....have tryed a bunch of stuff but nothing really made me go "THATS IT"
i had one of my albums mixed(by craig shoemaker) at the distillary in coasta messa,and they had this thing that looked like a fidge out of an old van conversion,and it sounded great,it was unreal.......i was to involved with the project to ask many questions..ive looked on the web,and cant seem to find what im lookin for(mabey i wont)
some kinda diagram,parts list ect....anyone.....anyone.......
thanx in advance......
[/b]

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:20 pm

Room + speaker + microphone = reverb chamber.
Tweek the variables til you have what you want. Enjoy.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:40 pm

i've used a half-empty 2 car garage for this.

works great as long as the traffic is light.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:48 pm

oh, i should mention that limiting the bandwidth (frequency range, IOW) of the signal going to the amp for the speaker helps alot.

i think the 1960s Abbey Road standard was leaving in only the 600Hz to 10KHz range?

EDIT: i cheated by using the effects loop return to feed the output section of a guitar amp and letting that do the bandpassing for me.

Rob Christensen · Post by **Rob Christensen** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:13 pm

There's instructions on building an echo chamber in the book "Analog Recording - Using Analog Gear In Today's Home Studio" by David Simmons. Though there's not a lot of information that most Tape Op types don't already know, it's an interesting book with lots of in-the-studio photos of sixties artists.

gwamba · Post by **gwamba** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:09 pm

thank you all.....
i have tried the room thing,and will hunt the book down,im lookin for somthing more"pluginish"but all your tips are killer..
thanx again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:18 pm

"pluginish"?

i don't quite understand...

willowhaus · Post by **willowhaus** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:02 am

Maybe he's thinking of a plate reverb? Something the size of "a fridge out of a van" wouldn't make much of a chamber.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:33 am

common mistake w using a room as a chamber is driving the room too hard. speaker level too hot. Turn it down and you'll start to hear the room.

hyde maintenance · Post by **hyde maintenance** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:57 am

Maybe an akg bx15 is the box in question?
That's a spring in those no?

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:37 am

roscoenyc wrote:common mistake w using a room as a chamber is driving the room too hard. speaker level too hot. Turn it down and you'll start to hear the room.

a very good point i should've made in one of my earlier posts.

that and the bandpassing, quite important.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:39 am

hyde maintenance wrote:Maybe an akg bx15 is the box in question?
That's a spring in those no?

maybe that's what he saw...yah, it's a spring unit.

gwamba · Post by **gwamba** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:56 pm

yea...so,i ripped apart an old peavey mixer stole the spring reverb unit ,got an old van conversion fridge,applied propper i/o's,and put a floating piece of wood coverd in foam at the top,connected to a small counter wait system,with a cranck on the out side to lower or raise,to get more or less reverb(room size...crude,but after messing with it for a month i have actually got it to work,its really quite cool,works best with guitar,but works with vocal also,ill post a pic when i get it a little more cleaned up....pluginish,i guess my first post sounded a little,hey i dont know anything,thanx for all the input,and whoever e mailed me the pic that got all this going....the sacramento train station is the best reveberation room i have ever stood inside...
i degress....
g~~~~

mixedupsteve · Post by **mixedupsteve** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:35 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/AKG-BX20E1-Stereo-S ... dZViewItem

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