Jay Bennett's comment re front-back space

[A.David.MacKinnon]

The trick with having reverb sound natural is to turn it down until it's just at the point where you're not sure if you can hear it at all. Once you find the sweet spot you'll notice something missing if you mute the reverb return.

[Rigsby]

Room mics can help alot (if the room sounds good). I've had really good results aranging the players around a stereo room mic and using close mics to fill in what the room mic misses. You'll spend alot of time moving people around the room untill it sounds good and everyone will have to get a good take togeather but the results are worth it.
This doesn't work with all types of music but for quieter bands it can be great.

Yeah, i'm down with this, it's a good technique IMO, especially for the quieter, organic, jazz-orientated sort of music i'm interested in. It also feels very collaborative in all senses, not just when the music's actually being played. IMO most bands in that vein play best when altogether musically, physically, intellectually and emotionally and this really helps with this. A relaxed atmosphere and plenty of time is obviously pretty essential here too as rushing and worrying about time and feeling tense and pressured are obviously heightened in this situation where if one person screws up you have to start all over again (although edits are possible). My long-term goal is to always have the tape rolling so there's no 'okay, take four' aspect of the recording and everybody just relaxes and plays and at some point you have a take, but sadly it's not a set-up i have just yet.

[Rigsby]

...not for larger recordings anyway.

[joeysimms]

Yeah, it is a good lesson to learn to know how to use reverb so it sounds natural and not like someone slapped a reverb preset onto something. That is one aspect I'm still struggling with.

I agree with junkshop about the sweet spot, where you almost don't hear it until you mute it. Also, I will stop the tape in the middle of the take to hear the tail. If it's too much, I turn it doewn a little more.

[spankenstein]

The trick with having reverb sound natural is to turn it down until it's just at the point where you're not sure if you can hear it at all. Once you find the sweet spot you'll notice something missing if you mute the reverb return.

The mute button is a wonderful tool!

[soundhack]

Yeah, it is a good lesson to learn to know how to use reverb so it sounds natural and not like someone slapped a reverb preset onto something. That is one aspect I'm still struggling with.

I agree with junkshop about the sweet spot, where you almost don't hear it until you mute it. Also, I will stop the tape in the middle of the take to hear the tail. If it's too much, I turn it doewn a little more.

I like this technique. I've also had good luck routing the reverb through an EQ and dropping off the high end. This way I can get much closer to an actual room reverb sound. Tweaking the pre-delay helps too (think of it as the distance to the closest wall).

[discs of tron]

I believe I read somewhere that Jimmy Page was known to mutter "distance makes depth" while in the studio, referring to distance miking.

being that we're talking about zep, my guess is that page was just uttering some obscure humping reference, sort of like "the bigger the waistband, the deeper the quicksand."

[Rigsby]

Yeah, it is a good lesson to learn to know how to use reverb so it sounds natural and not like someone slapped a reverb preset onto something. That is one aspect I'm still struggling with.

I agree with junkshop about the sweet spot, where you almost don't hear it until you mute it. Also, I will stop the tape in the middle of the take to hear the tail. If it's too much, I turn it doewn a little more.

I like this technique. I've also had good luck routing the reverb through an EQ and dropping off the high end. This way I can get much closer to an actual room reverb sound. Tweaking the pre-delay helps too (think of it as the distance to the closest wall).

Yeah, i use the mute a lot too when i'm forced to use digital reverb, and i'd agree that rolling off the high end's a good tool too. Most 'verbs are too bright for me, i'm not used to being in small rooms with that kind of sound, just sounds too fake otherwise IMO.

[kdarr]

I believe I read somewhere that Jimmy Page was known to mutter "distance makes depth" while in the studio, referring to distance miking.

being that we're talking about zep, my guess is that page was just uttering some obscure humping reference, sort of like "the bigger the waistband, the deeper the quicksand."

Or so I have read...

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[Rigsby]

Can i just let everyone know at this point that while page may have made some interesting points about distance micing, it was actually my father that cut his hair.