Any hidden sonic probs with Reverb on overheads?

[alanfc]

hi,
I tried something last night on one of our mixes, thats kind of a big fantasy + rock tune. Reverb on the snare alone just wasn't cutting it- plus the cymbals were , well, uninspiring. So I tried some sick compression and a Large Room reverb on the Overheads. ..Holy Sh*t. I couldn't believe how cool it sounded.

however,
there must be some problem with this thats going to bite me in the ass I just know it.....
Whats to watch out for in this scenario?
thanks

[Mark Alan Miller]

I'd watch out for low end in the OHs getting into the reverb and muddying the mix... otherwise:

Does it sound good? Really good? Great, even?
Then you're fine.

[alanfc]

yeah I was wondering about that... last night I made a low shelf/rolloff/whatever and found that the higher the hz I dragged it, the lesser effect the reverb I 'd hear. So I =think= I struck a balance between the benfits of the cut and keeping the reverby sound. I'll go in more detail now tonight since I've gotten permission from =someone/anyone= (you, you're responsible for this now) that I'm OK
Thank you

[jspartz]

I tend to think that less is more when putting reverb on cymbals. However, I really like how they bring out the sizzle and shine in the sound.

Jason

[LittleDogAudio]

Not only would I be careful about the low-end content coming from the overheads but watch the phase. For some reason, reverb on OV's don't seem to fold into mono very nicely. Now I know not many of you are that concerned about mono, but if you listen to a boom box with the speakers 6" away from each other, your not getting very good stereo info.

Just My .02
Chris

[alanfc]

thanks guys

I am indeed fairly concerned about Mono because once this thing is finished and we "market" it from our website (for fun) , we want the sound samples to sound good on PC speakers and and little sources like that. Thats the issue of Translation I know, but even with PC speakers I can hear whats missing when I listen to my work. I want to leave no stone unturned and have no regrets.

[joel hamilton]

I wind up with a little verb on the OH almost every mix I do (rock anyway).

I love it. Gives the cymbals a little "slowness" which I like.

The only drawback is that you can never tell anyone you put reverb on the OH.,,
They just think the "room mics" sound awesome....

[fremitus]

for what it's worth. computer speakers, though limited, generally have excellent stereo imaging, why? cuz they are damn near an equilateral triangle when set up by default (your head is part of said triangle) so don't worry about mono with them unless you need a terribly small mp3 in which case, don't do it at all...

um as for overheads and compression and all... opinion coming here:
if you have a decent kick sound with a direct mic, rolloff most of the stuff below 240Hz, and beat the pants out of 'em. if for some reason you have a couple of 1176's, use them and push in all of the ratio buttons at once. blackfaced one's love this, later ones not as much, but still an extreme push pull on overheads. personally, i really like Anthony Demaria's ADL-1000 for this action. listen to the drums on weezer's pinkerton album. that'll give you some inspirado. that puig guy with two first names is cool... hell, listen to 'when the levee breaks' how much bigger can it get?

[Scodiddly]

Do what you should do with every mix - take a test CD out for a drive in your car. You'll quickly discover if things are getting muddied up.

[alanfc]

excellent thank you

we had a "vintage" mic as a room mic and I keep and hide the room track on all these songs every day - I can never decide. To me it sounds like trash. If a room mic is supposed to capture somthing magical like everyone says it is, our room didn't have it. The only way I could salvage it was to cut a wide swath downwards around 420-somthing hz. I don't care I've really resigned to just muting it. Now, discovering this reverb on the overheads, goodness, I can recreate any type of room imaginable (yeah right). I won't tell anyone.

as far as compression, I don't even know what a real 1176 looks like although I read about them every day. In my Sonar I do have some presets/starters in the category of "vintage" which include the 1176 and the LA-2A. I've gravitated towards the LA-2A one the most for the overheads.
Trouble is, I get addicted to FX very easily. This song I first used the reverb for, it totally wanted the reverb. It is cock-rocky fantasy type song and the drummer loves to play it. I can tell by his snare attack (and at rehearsal too) . The next song up is a mellow tune which will want this treatment too. After that =maybe= a little for each song to pretend like a good room. Mixing a live drummer is alot of fun. Although I'll have to break the news to him about triggers on Radio Rock kicks pretty soon. And triggers/samples I ain't doin under any circumstances. I'm the oldest and the only one who know what he's doing with this stuff, so they must listen to me.!

[nacho459]

I usually put a little verb on the overheads, hat, and toms along with the snare, Sometimes even on the ambient mics. I work in a pretty small room so I usually use verb to make things sound more natural, I know it sounds weird, but it adds depth to the drums. I think it kinda sounds fake to have verb only on the snare.

[alanfc]

hey thanks

how about,

making a stereo track of the full kit with no FX, then a little tastfully carefully applied reverb on that to simulate a =good= room.?

[alanfc]

bump for the full kit question

[Rigsby]

If a room mic is supposed to capture somthing magical like everyone says it is, our room didn't have it.

I guess you're only going to get a good room sound in a good room, if the room sounds bad then the better the micing of that room, effectively the worse the sound could get. Sad but true.

I think cowtrax has a good point of view on this, if you like it., think it sounds great then go with it, just check a few different speakers just in case.

[NeglectedFred]

I often use just a smidgen of a mono verb on each overhead, I tweek the parameters a little between channels so that there is more of a stereo image created.

Sometimes, depending on the song, I'll even use up to 2 seconds of verb, but I run it so sparingly under the mix that you hardly even notice it's there, until you mute it, and your ears are craving it back.