Reverb Techniques in Mixing

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Reverb techniques for a great stereo image...

Good reverb techniques can really make or break a stereo image. It's one of the key elements for creating a good sense of space in a mix.

With reverb it’s very much a case of less is more, and by less I mean less different types of reverb rather then less reverb level in the mix or less reverb decay. Too often I’ve seen engineers use a different reverb for each instrument. This is particularly true when dealing with synths and virtual instruments as these plug-ins often add reverb to the sound it outputs.

Too many reverbs in the mix make it difficult to establish one coherent space. When you combine reverbs you effectively superimpose different spaces, and as much as that can work beautifully, it can also create havoc. Not for the faint hearted!

Most modern reverb algorithms are extremely complex, this is thanks to leaps and bounds in the world of computer processing. In today's world most reverbs are truly stereo, which means they not only output in stereo, something which reverbs have been doing for decades, but they also take stereo inputs. So, if you want the best out of your reverb you should feed it a stereo signal.

Not so long ago, in my mind anyway, it was very common for mixing desks, whether virtual or real, to have a limited number of auxiliary busses. This meant you often had no choice but to feed a reverb unit in mono, because you simply didn’t have enough auxes to go around. In today’s world that goes right out the window. Most DAWs have unlimited or near unlimited number of auxiliary busses available to us. So, if you want the best result in accurate spacial positioning, always use your reverbs fed from a stereo bus.

Reverb techniques when panning...

A DAW should usually take the pan position of a channel and apply the same panning or balance to the aux bus’ output. If it doesn’t and requires a manual pan position applied to a stereo aux send, then you should make sure that you set the aux’s pan position exactly the same as the channels pan position in the mix.

Reverb techniques when equalising...

Now, let’s consider the use of EQ on our reverb. Most reverb units, whether of the plug-in or hardware type, will have some degree of EQ available to the user, and that’s all great. Most reverb algorithm developers focus on reverb development. Leave the EQ work to a piece of software or hardware made for the purpose. Use a dedicated EQ!

I always EQ the reverb’s output at the desk and bypass any EQ in the reverb unit. I find that working this way allows for much more accurate EQ moulding of my reverb. The mind is a funny thing and often you won’t approach an EQ the same way in a reverb unit as you would on your usual day to day EQ. This is true on a sub-conscious level, the mind associates the reverb unit with a different set of listening parameters than that of an EQ. So, I find I can be a lot more objective when I EQ a reverb on my usual EQ device.

Multiple reverb techniques...

Most songs will need more than one reverb of course, usually a minimum set-up is one short reverb, one longer reverb and a delay. Combining reverb can be tricky as I mentioned earlier because you essentially try to superimpose multiple virtual spaces. That is one of the reasons why having the same type of EQ type on all the FX returns is of huge benefit when trying to get the reverbs to work together in a coherent way.

If you decide, for example, to apply a soft boost at particular mid-range frequency on one reverb’s return, you know that you can apply a matching cut on the other reverb’s return, confident that it will be a perfect match in bell shape and other EQ characteristics.

Built-in instrument reverbs...

This brings us to instruments with built in reverbs, such as keys or guitar pedals, which come into your mix with reverb attached! Much like the quality the EQ on a reverb unit, the reverb on an instrument is usually not very good when compared with the real thing. Besides, you also face a heap of disadvantages when you work that way...

• Any EQ you want to apply to that instrument you also apply to the reverb.
• Any EQ you want to apply to the reverb you also apply to the instrument.
• (... there’s a pattern here!)
• Any panning you want to apply the instrument you also apply the whole reverb space.
• Often you will feed the instrument into the mix in mono, this results in mono reverb, which can be very one dimensional.

You see the point though, anything you do to one you do to the other, and on top of that you are very likely to struggle to make all these different lower quality reverbs work well as one intelligible image. So, remove the internal reverb on the instruments and use your mix reverbs instead.

I hope you've found some useful tips in this article!

Here is a summary of the reverb techniques covered...

1. Don’t use too many different reverbs, try to stick to 2 or 3.
2. Use reverbs in true stereo for more accurate positioning.
3. EQ you reverbs on the mix return rather than in the reverbs unit.
4. Don’t use instrument reverbs but your mix reverbs instead.