Anderton Nuendo dual-reverb trick?

[Cruel Hoax]

So, my buddy and I were talking about the dismal qualities of Nuendo's Reverb A (harsh) and Reberb B (muddy).

 

He says he remembers an article by Anderton a while back with a trick combining he two, filtering out the highs for 'Verb A, and the lows for 'Verb B, or some such technique, with Anderton saying it rivals any hardware 'verb he's used. Powerful words, from a reviewer I trust as motivated by ears, not advertiser concerns.

 

After fruitless googling and searching musicplayer.com and eqmag.com, I'd like to politely ask if Craig could see his way clear to enlightening us a bit in the details of this technique.

 

Me myself, when given a "cheap" verb to use, often use 2 or more instances of it, with the first acting as an early-reflection-generator, and subsequent instances acting as diffusors, then back-of-the-hall-erators. (Yep, them's tech-nickle terms! Yee-haw!)

 

Many thanks for your consideration toward a new guy with a low post count.

 

-Hoax

[Anderton]

<>

 

Well, he remembered a lot of it right, BUT I did NOT say it rivals any hardware verb I've used!!! It does, however, sound a whole helluva lot better than either reverb by itself.

 

This tip was published in the June 2003 issue of EQ, and also in my "Cubase SX/SL Mixing and Mastering" book (subliminal message: buy it ). Anyway, I found the text for the article in EQ, and here it is. Sorry there aren't any graphics, but this should get the point across. Let us know how this works for you.

 

------------------------------------------

Cubase SX:

Building a Better Reverb

 

By Craig Anderton

 

OBJECTIVE Create a better, lusher reverb using tools already in Cubase SX.

 

BACKGROUND Of the two Cubase SX reverbs, B is somewhat grainier and has a lower, bassier timbre. A is smoother and brighter. Neither is particularly satisfying by itself, but combining the two in parallel as Send Effects creates a richer, more authentic reverb effect.

 

STEP BY STEP Youre five steps away from a better reverb.

 

1. Click on Devices, then click on VST Send Effects.

2. Click on one of the send effects fields, then select Reverb A. Similarly, click on another send effects field and select Reverb B.

3. Set the Reverb B parameters: Predelay = 9 ms, High Cut Filter 15.0, Low Cut 4.3, Room Size = 75, Reverb Time = 1.84s, Mix = 0 dry/100 wet

4. Set the Reverb A parameters: Room Size = 100%, Reverb Time = 1.74s, PreDelay = 21.0 ms, Damp = 0.0, Mix = 0%.

5. To add reverb to a track, turn up its effects send controls to both reverbs. Adjust for the best sound quality; I generally set the send level to A slightly higher than to B.

 

TIPS

 

* The given settings are a good point of departure, but feel free to experiment.

* Its usually best to set similar decay time values for the two reverbs.

* Both reverbs have a hard time handling sharp transients without splattering a bit; setting different predelays in the 8-25 ms range can help diffuse the sound.

* Experiment to find the magic level balance where one reverb fills in the others holes.

[Cruel Hoax]

Excellent! Thank you so much for taking the time.

 

I'll try this in my next Nuendo mixdown, as well as recommending it to my SX friends.

 

Once again, thanks for the thoughtful and detailed reply.

 

-Hoax