reverb on drums?

[lillpeter]

hi!
how much, where and why? i your opinion.

thanks!
peter

[stinkpot]

just enough, no more.
and anywhere it needs it - room mic... little on snare
the less digital verb the better IMO.

this is one of those hard questions to answer without knowing any context. it's all about the context.

[jpmorris]

If you're low on tracks, reverb is also handy as a way of turning a mono drum track into a stereo one at mixdown ;)

[8th_note]

Experiment with compression first before applying reverb to drums. The compression affects the kind of thwack or boof you're looking for. You may get much of your room sound from compressing the overheads or individual drums and this will affect your reverb decisions. Once you've decided how much, if any, compression you're going to use, start playing with reverb on a track by track basis, as well as trying different verbs on groups if you are micing your drums individually.

[thethingwiththestuff]

i think one of the silliest sounds was that of the real tightly tuned kit, with lots of verb on the snare, and like, a completely dry kick drum. totally '93.

as someone else said, the less digital verb, the better. try some reamping first, or maybe sticking a mic in the next room or something during tracking. you can also try delaying room mics 15-30ms (find the delay time that gives you the "size" you want, but induces the least phase problems). also, i second the use of compression. just be careful with it...

there are many ways to avoid digital reverb, and the techniques i described keep your drier sounds and ambiences on the same planet.

[fremitus]

totally '93.
that's hot. man i miss the days of recording drums all crazy compressed and cranked with a saucy snare. i miss albums by hum. anyone else?
(this is not a hijack)

Use two reverbs, one hall set to damn near 3 sec's with a huge predelay, and a second verb on the same send that's a chamber with next to no predelay and a 1.3sec decay (approx.). crank it! then bring it back until it sounds real again. just one way, there are three billion others. no more no less.

[Rick Hunter]

man, none...ever, because its cheesy.

Use lots of room mics and make sure your drummer has a headband.

[thethingwiththestuff]

man, none...ever, because its cheesy.

Use lots of room mics and make sure your drummer has a headband.

i was trying to find the nicest way of saying that.

[mjau]

totally '93.
that's hot. man i miss the days of recording drums all crazy compressed and cranked with a saucy snare. i miss albums by hum. anyone else?
(this is not a hijack)

Use two reverbs, one hall set to damn near 3 sec's with a huge predelay, and a second verb on the same send that's a chamber with next to no predelay and a 1.3sec decay (approx.). crank it! then bring it back until it sounds real again. just one way, there are three billion others. no more no less.

Hum...yeah...awesome.
I've recently discovered the beauty of two overlapping reverbs, as well. I use my tc m300 for shorter, more realistic sounding reverb, and something like an alesis microverb for huge, crazy sounds.

[stinkpot]

as much as i'd like to be able to throw my digital reverb units into lake michigan, i still need them sometimes for just a hair extra space around the drums. my room's just that small.
it's funny, though, the more pissed i get about it, the more creative i get. the laundry chute has been found to be an interesting place to stick a mic, as well as various other strange places...

[Brett Siler]

First you ask what you are using the reverb for. Are you gonna use it for an effect or to simulate a certain room? Then you have to think of what kinda genre it is, and what would fit for the song.

[soundguy]

I usually set the reverb on 3 and feed a parallel buss, that works pretty well for me.

dave

[Rick Hunter]

Dave,

you are totally off base. Everybody knows you set it to 5.

[andyg666]

totally depends on what the song needs. sometimes you might want some gated reverb on the kick. other times you might want to gate the snare and send it to a plate... other times you might want everything dry as a bone... do what's right for the song and don't fall into the trap of setting your reverb or EQ settings before you use your ears and your sense of musicality to tell you what's right...

[Rick Hunter]

GODDDLESSSSHHHEEEEETHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAN.