One quick way to getting job security when running sound at church is making
vocalist happy. One tool to do that is with proper use of reverb. Today we're gonna
dive into reverb on live vocals. Once you master this, you'll have another tool in
your tool belt, and you'll be like a hipster coffee connoisseur. "Mmm, I like
the texture of this one; it's got a nice smooth finish." if you're new here go
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post new videos every week on helping you make every worship mix an
enjoyable one. Oh! and stay to the end to get a free guide on making sure that
you're winning with sound at your church. Singing is hard, and we want to support
our singers with every little bit possible, and it really helps to add a
little bit of reverb to add some sustain on those long notes or when they're
almost out of breath. Reverb can help our vocals feel thicker and wider. It adds
richness in the time domain, so things can still feel clear but then also warm
at the same time. When it comes to types of reverb, a Hall is
really hard to beat. A plate can also be really fun, but it can sometimes be a
little bit bright right out of the box. We'll talk about EQing your effects in just a
minute. In general we want to time our reverb to
the tempo of the song. For a slower song we're gonna want a longer reverb; with a
faster song we're gonna want a shorter reverb time. If you just want a happy
medium, pick something around two seconds. Reverb that's time to the music makes it
feel like it's part of the mix itself, not just something else you're adding on
top. If you really want to nerd out, divide 240 by the tempo of the song.
That'll give you the whole note measurement. If you want to make it a
half note, divide that by two. Let's take the basic reverb that's built into the
console and listen to different reverb times. On this song I'm gonna run it up
higher than I would normally, and then we'll tuck it back in the mix later. All
right let's start with about... one second of decay.
Let's listen to 1.6 seconds. This is about a half note for this song.
Alright, now let's kick it up to 3.3 seconds This would be a
whole note for this tempo.
Alright, I really like the whole note one on this one. The 3.3 seconds
really fits the tempo of the song; gives it a nice richness, especially
since those notes are a little longer. Now I've got this turned up way too much
but what's a good amount for reverb? A good rule of thumb is to make it more
conspicuous in its absence than in its presence. Basically, what that means is
you want to be able to miss it when it's gone, but not really notice it when it's
there. So when mixing in your reverb, you turn it up to about with a place where you
can hear it, and then back it off a little bit. Hit mute and see if it went
away. Unmute it and see if it came back. When you can tell that it's gone more
than you can tell that it's there, that's when it's about in the right spot. Okay
but I'm gonna save you a bunch of trial-and-error. -12dB is a
great starting place. Sometimes I'll trim the output of my
reverb return so that it comes down 12 dB so that I can put my fader right around
zero. That gives me a lot more control over the fine tuning of the balance of
the reverb in the mix. Now you might not even need much reverb, because you're in
a reverberant space in the first place. There's distance between you and the
speakers. In a live setting, you don't have to have reverb on all the time.
Now let's take your professionalism to another level and add pre-delay.
Pre-delay is the little bit of gap between the original signal coming in
and when the reverb actually starts. Pre-delay adds some separation between your
vocal and the reverb. If the reverb is pushing the vocal back in the mix, pre-delay
is pushing the reverb back from the vocal. Now let's listen to that same
reverb with different pre-delay times. Alright we've got it pushed up so it's
drowning, but let's take a listen.
Do you hear how it got a little more separation? Let's kick it up to 100 and
see what that feels like.
Alright now let's kick it all the way up to 150 milliseconds
All right now that we've heard the difference way out in front, let's hear
what it sounds like kind of tucked in. Now granted, I'm listening to a big PA in
a big room so it might sound a little different, but we'll give it a shot. We'll
start with it dry, and then I'll add it in.
Alright, it kind of fills it in, adds a little bit more sustain on those long
notes. Kind of gives it a nice texture that I missed when it was gone, but I
didn't really notice it while it was there. All right let's be like Emeril and
kick it up a notch. Now we're gonna add EQ to our reverb send. I don't EQ the
reverb return; I want to get rid of the stuff that I don't want in the reverb
before it gets to the reverb. All the S's and T's I want out. All the Rumble
I want out. So rolling up the high-pass filter to
about 200; rolling down the low-pass filter gets rid of those S's and really
cleans up our reverb we can push it up more, and add a little bit more space
without getting it cluttery. On the SSL, the stem has the EQ built into the
channel strip that has the reverb on it. We just have to make sure that the EQ is
before the insert in the channel strip. On any other console, you'll have to put
an EQ on the mix or aux send that's feeding your reverb. Alright here's the
reverb with the filters applied.
Another thing you can do is have your low-pass filter a little bit higher and
cut some 2k with the EQ. This helps un-clutter it a little bit more, in a little
different way
Alright, with just the vocals and the reverb I'm gonna turn off the filters and
the EQ, and then put them back on again. See what she can hear.
It just makes me happy every time I turn it back on. I love it.
Now we can roll the high-pass filter up even higher to get even thinner reverb, but
then we're not gonna get any warmth out of our reverb over the time domain. That
might be helpful for you and whatever mix your doing, but again it's just
another thing to consider.
So if you're gonna start putting EQ on your reverb send, type EQ in the comments
below. Now here are some other controls that
you may have seen and wondered about on your EQ. The diffusion is how closely
together all the different reflections are on your reverb. The further away
you are from the speakers, the lower you want the diffusion. Too high of diffusion
can give you that drowning vocal sound, and nobody likes that. Modulation adds
some variable pitch shift to your reverb. It can be tricky to get right and take
you straight back to the 80s, so use sparingly. Don't ever, ever send modulated
reverb or delay to a singer's monitor mix. It'll throw off their pitch faster than
someone can say, "Have you considered serving as an usher?" If these reverb
tips were helpful for you, go ahead and hit thumbs up to let me know. Click
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video. I'm posting videos every week to help you make every worship mix an
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download my free guide, "How to Lead Your Church Sound Team." The link's in the
comments below. We'll see you next time.