Originally posted by Dr_simon
I had always thought of reverb as a way to cover up flat / sharp spots on vocal tracks ![/B]

Actually you shouldn't settle for any flat/sharp points in the vocal track, or even rely on anything to cover it up. Sounds discouraging but there is an easy way around this, and I think your completely capable of doing this. It also saves time from trying to do vocals a billion times to get it exactly right. A good way to fix this is over-dub your vocals, or re-record by punching in and punching out bad lines. Since your using 4 tracks for vocals anyways this shouldn't be a problem. Record one track of vocals, then listen for anything that sounds off, simple mistakes, or something that doesn't sound right (maybe rhythm wasn't tight enough). Re-record that line on a different track until you get it right. Do this until you have corrected each line that was off. Then bounce both tracks down to a single track, replacing the bad lines with corrected line. This is even easier and will produce much better results if you have a digital recorder. Then you can just simply cut and paste the fixed line over the bad line, or punch-in and punch-out.

*Note - when you correct something, make sure you do the whole line over, not just a word or two. That will sound funny cause it will sound like when they cut out the foul language out in a movie on cable. Simply the words will not flow. If your worried about volume differences, it won't be a problem if you follow the same vocal arrangement and use compression. You can also use this for other instruments like guitar and bass, always punch in at the beginning of a measure and out at the beginning of the next measure. Always check the tracks right after recording, make corrections then. NOT next week, even a small bump on a settings and the part you fixed will not fit smoothly with the original track.

Originally posted by Dr_simon
The idea of using it to move vocal around spatially is new to me, I will try it...cool![/B]

The idea of reverb is simple. Take someone talking from one end of a train tunnel (as an example), while you stand and listen at the other end of the train tunnel. This effect can be reproduced by using Hall Reverb, and turning the reverb setting all the way up. :) Now if the guy stood about half-way in the tunnel, you would turn the reverb setting half-way to get this effect. Here's the simple rule with this example: Farther away the less original vocal and more reverb effect, closer the person the more original vocal the less reverb. Each reverb is named for the environment it simulates, like Hall is for long hallways, and Room is for a room simulation. The other settings are used to control the environment, like density, reflection, and room size. Reverb gives the listen the ability to place the band playing in a room or environment(3D rather than 2D), a must for good production. Gate reverb is a little different and it's used primarily for drums, if you need me to explain. Let me know. Plate reverb, which is my choice for vocals, produces a nice smooth and dense reverberation. It's doesn't necessarily give much distance, but enough to set it away from other instruments and keeping it still upfront where you want it. The only instruments you don’t want to use reverb on is, the bass guitar and bass drum. You want these instruments to be sharp and impactful, not buried in a distance or reverb. Plus reverb isn’t good for low-end instruments because the effect produces a cloudy ‘wooohs’.

About the newsletter, give me a couple of days to revise it, maybe see if anyone has any questions before I send you the final copy.

Hope this helps and cheers to you too.