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Convolution or Algorithmic Reverb?


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I am on the side of reverb that I like.

I don't care how it's created.

 

So, I will say that I am on both sides plus various spring reverbs, plates, echo chambers and big, fluffy sounding rooms.

I have a big, cheap floor tom, I want to install a speaker stand mount and put it behind my ribbon mic. The front side will pick up whatever sound I present to it, the back side will pick up the drum resonating, a form of reverb.

Maybe it sounds good, have not tried it yet. One of these days.

 

You can even reverse reverb and I might like that too.

For my purposes, reverb creates an illusion of space and that is pretty much that.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I am on the side of reverb that I like.

I don't care how it's created.

:yeahthat:

 

Reverb philosophy itself can be a bit divisive - there are times when realism is the goal, and there are times when 'verb is meant to be an effect (think spring). Both paths have value, IMO.

 

The designer with whom I work (Matt Hill) makes both algorithmic and convolution, and has a separate company for each technology (Reverb Foundry and LiquidSonics).

 

B

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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Yes?

 

I use both. Often with orchestral samples, since they already have a natural hall reverb, using an algorithmic reverb seems to blend them better. My main template is Orchestral Tools, recorded in the Teldex hall at ~1.4sec reverb. With synths, things like SampleModelling that are "raw", putting everything into a larger space, maybe 2.3 sec or so seems to work really well. At present, I use either 2B2C products like Breeze/Precedence to handle spatialization.

 

On acoustic instruments that I record it can vary. I do like the Eventide reverbs, and have an H9000 that I use both for monitors when tracking and then as several reverbs and delays in my Nuendo template. With the Dante interface, I can get up to 32ch of I/O out of it. Using it as a "box of DSP" reduces CPU load by about 25% compared to running SW reverbs in the template. These reverbs are very "tunable" and go from special effects and "metallic" reverbs to completely smooth, glorious tails. The eMote plugin makes it very easy to adjust the programs and to save them in the session for recall. It is a box of outboard "plugins" - I suppose not unlike the UAD hardware.

 

I would wish a Bricasti at some point.

 

I would like to try the IRCAM SPAT reverb and some of the other immersive ones. If I ever get fully into immersive, all those reverbs are algorithmic.

 

I've never owned Altiverb, but Nuendo has its own convolution reverb as a standard plugin. Sounds great if the right impulse is at hand.

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I'm with you on "both," and I'm also finding that which to apply is totally situational. With drums and rock music, I use convolution for a room sound because it makes the drums sound more realistic. On my Simplicity album, which was primarily acoustic, it was mostly algorithmic reverb because the more delicate sound worked well with the more defined acoustic instruments. My next album, Take Me Back to Tomorrow, is very electronic with lots of synths and such. I'm using mostly convolution but with my "surreal" synthesized impulses, because their "CGI-like" quality fits the electronic vibe like a glove.

 

Even within categories, there are differences. For example if I'm going to use algorithmic reverb on vocals with a dense arrangement, Breverb seems to have this ability to float above the arrangement, so you get away with a lot of reverb yet not step on the other instruments. OTOH the HD Cart reverb that's part of Dave's stable of products has a rich, thick sound, so it's ideal for something like a ballad where the arrangement is sparse - it fills in the holes.

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I would wish a Bricasti at some point.

...and well you should. They're absolutely amazing. I love mine.

 

With all due respect to my friend Matt Hill who makes the Bricasti IR-based Seventh Heaven, the real thing sounds better to my ears...but with six Blackfins (think 12 SHARCs) processing a single stereo sound in the haredware, that's not surprising.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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with six Blackfins (think 12 SHARCs) processing a single stereo sound in the hardware, that's not surprising.

 

What would be surprising is if it didn't sound better with that much hardware muscle!

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I'm on the side that often applies two reverbs in series like stomp boxes, because Synth. I often run the lot through a base amount of Space Designer (a convo) and then run separate tracks through algorithmics as needed. Every Mellotron/string patch needs its own touch of it as a given. An Eventide takes you to the head of the class easily. Down in the tech valley, I found that running an early Yamaha reverb and a Boss RV model in series could get a bit noisy, but also that they diminished one another's lacks to a surprising degree, so I accepted it as Not-An-Eventide and ran with it. Now, you have to APPLY noise by design. Great time to be in low-grade isolation!

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Not tied to either, I'm open to whatever works. I think that convolution lends itself better to longer tails. I work mostly with room/ambience reverbs and the algorithmic does a better job to my ears. There is something very effective about the ambience out of my Eventide 2016 that I have yet to hear from convolution or plugins.
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