I am currently mixing a project and find myself facing the same
question that arrives every time I have a track with vocals.
Vocal reverb as a channel insert or as a send.
Generally on backing vocals a send is most suitable, but
I seem to constantly be testing on lead vocals.
While it is typical to have a dry or slight delay added to
lead vocals now, rather than reverb, most of the people I work
with want to drown their voice in reverb as it helps ( in their minds )
to obscure all the flaws that they hear.
Normally I end up using a send, and keeping the reverb return
on it's own channel, and keeping it low in the mix.
Basically to the point where you only realize it was there when you mute it.
Most of my studio experience is from the days when we recorded
on tape, and you had limited options for how to use effects.
So I just wonder what is typical for the rest of the site members.
What do you do?
Thu, 2010-09-02 20:05
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Generally I'll setup reverbs and delays as sends, even if there's a reverb that only the lead vocal goes through, or a delay that only one guitar goes through. That way I can alter the reverb or delay effect chain separately from the main signal chain or chains that may have several inserts applied in a particular order to get a desired effect.
One of the things I liked best about the ASSR series is that it validated many practices I use in my studio which I originally arrived at more through intuition than experience. Like the suggestion in the series, I have the vocalist reverb on the headphone monitors only (settings always noted). I record the vocalist(s) dry and add reverb and effects to the track as best fits the overall feel of the song during the mixing/editing of the recording. For a full band recording, I will also use reverb on the whole band in their headphone monitors only to help provide that warmth of sound that assists the groove and good vibe. Again, I record everyone dry except I do include a track for each instrument that has all of the player's effects as-is from the session.
I think it is important to give performers the reverb they want during a session. It provides them with the feel and positive feedback they need to raise the level of their performance. By using it on the headphone monitors only, you leave yourself the flexibility to adjust the reverb on the dry recorded track to what sounds best for the song.
Wild River Sound Studio
Personally if its somthing I'm printing to ill just use a plug-in right on the channel, but it kinda depends.
Most of the time I perfer a very subtle delay vs reverb, and I find an old school tape delay adds a little warmth and charecter. But again, it depends.
Most of the time when I use a delay or echo I have an Fx send set-up, its cleaner in the project and then I can make adjustments if need be! Plus its nice to have in the event that you want the effect to be the same for more than one track, say... an acoustic guitar micd with a cond. And a dyn., to be able to send directly to a reverb (or delay or whatever) and have both tracks effected the same way, is handy.
Sadly I've never got the opertunity to work with much "out-of-the-box" equipment, but id imagine you can do somthing similar!
"Who says you need a guitar" - Jack White
Like you I'm testing vocals a lot, but at the moment I use sends for ergo reasons - its faster to get to and adjust reverb sends in my personal Pro-tools setup than inserts are. I'm also influenced by the reason I might be capturing (some) takes as separate tracks. If I want the signal chain for each lead vocal take to be the same, then I use a shared lead vocal send so that there is less overhead, and so when I A/B those takes I know I'm comparing the performance and not something different in the effects. If the signal chain is different, mikes different, etc. then I use seperate sends. I love not being locked in.