Using Delay On Vocals Instead Of Reverb

[@hauntedbytheliving1175]

This is an important lesson for beginners and a great reminder for pros. Spike Stent is one of the very best and he religiously barely ever uses reverb. The only thing I would add is a preamp emulation on the send after the effect for added weight and dimension. Treating/mixing sends rather than leaving them “dry” is one of the biggest sound components missing in amateur ITB mixes, adding to the “sterile” and “flat” sound. When you work on a console the added tone is built into the workflow for you. Also, even when a song calls for reverb, side-chaining/ducking is an essential technique to avoid the masking and muddiness. I know you’re aware, just mentioning this for and new mixers wondering how to implement reverb properly when a delay doesn’t cut it. I side chain the bass with the kick, reverbs/delays with the vocal, room mics with kick/snare and more. Sometimes very subtle and just affecting specific frequency ranges. It’s invisible until you turn it off and things get buried in the mix. I use “Trackspacer” and it does the job well. The last thing I’d mention regarding vocal reverbs is just how effective a “mono” reverb on vocals and snare be… especially something with a distinct sound/density like spring reverb or tape delay. Again, sounds simple but a vital technique for many of the best engineers in the biz, like Eric Valentine. Really blew me away how such a simple concept could work so well once I finally tried it. Anyway, great video, man! Cheers!

[@BetterMixes]

Some great tips there! Especially the preamp emulation one. That can definitely be helpful, especially when using a clean delay plugin. Thanks for watching!

[@hauntedbytheliving1175]

Thanks for the great content! Been at it for 20+ years, learning the old way from experienced engineers. Now that those days are mostly gone, it’s channels like yours passing on these important real world tips. If I had a dime for every recording suffering from this exact issue I would be a very wealthy man. This is THE sound of project studio demos(and the cure). I hope young engineers are paying attention. Keep it up 👍🏻

[@johnbrinckman9946]

Before I watched your video, I wasn't even concerned with muddy reverb. But what a difference Delay makes, using it separately on the left and the right. Crisp clear vocals!

[@BetterMixes]

I'm glad it worked for you! It really can make a big difference.

[@TikiHorea]

awesome tutorial, dude! very easy to understand the concept.

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks Tiki!

[@mikeheath2551]

Thanks!

[@BetterMixes]

Thank YOU! I'm glad you liked the video!

[@gianlucagigliotti4026]

Good one! Just a suggestion, in the end it would be nice to Mute the send, to reference fx vs nofx Thanks for your job!

[@BetterMixes]

Ah, yes. Good call. That would have been a good idea! I'll try to remember to do that in future videos!

[@BrokenStringBohol]

Subbed.. Than lk u for this great video. But it should be more effective if u have and ABC comparison.

[@BetterMixes]

I'm glad you liked it! And you're right, that would have been a good idea!

[@BrokenStringBohol]

@@BetterMixes your welcome. waiting for ur next content.

[@dominic_lacroix]

Thanks for sharing! Would you use this instead of the haas effect or to replace a doubler/widener?

[@RobinApplewood]

It works in dense mixes sure, where delays are less noticeable. But I prefer reverb on more spacious mixes. There is no one-size-fits all as you know, so to say that reverb makes a mix amateur is actually a bit of an amateur comment. Great video either way

[@BetterMixes]

That's totally fair! I definitely didn't articulate that very well. Tons of reverb can definitely sound great in the right context. Like take The Lumineers for instance. Those vocals are absolutely swimming in reverb, and they sound incredible! I was more referring to that sound that I think most of us ended up with at some point early in our mixing careers where the vocal has a ton of verb but feels completely disconnected from the rest of the mix.

[@hauntedbytheliving1175]

A fine comment, sir! I get what you’re saying and the point is valid. In his defense I never heard him say that reverb makes a mix amateur… a more accurate paraphrase might be “Reverb CAN make a mix amateur… here’s an example of how it can happen and here’s one method to fix it” From my perspective, he describes a very common poor implementation of applying reverb, describes why someone might not be achieving professional results by slapping a reverb on this way and offers a solution. “With our lead vocal, we just really want that front and center. So, by having all this reverb on it, it’s just kinda pushing it back and it’s not sitting so great. And I hear this a lot in a lot of people’s mixes and to me it’s kind of a sign of a more amateur mix… because when you hear a really great mix, in most styles of modern music the vocal is really “dry” but still has that 3D feel to it… once you add enough reverb to get that 3D feel, you’re sort of drenched in reverb” So, yeah… this advice is by no means “universal”/for every song, which I take as the essence of your comment. Very true indeed, but it provokes an obvious question: Did he ever claim it was? There are a couple of similar comments on this video, it seems like select people have a compulsive response to rush in and say “Nuh uh! Not ALWAYS!” which made me go back and try to find where says that this always applies to every situation… which of course he never does. I catch myself rushing to judgement and being hyper-critical all the time, I’m always trying to temper my responses with humility and restraint though I don’t always succeed. Just wanted to share my perspective on your comment, where I agree but also where it might have been a little presumptive/severe. Again, as I can unintentionally come off the wrong way: I hope I didn’t offend. No disrespect intended! Please have a good one 👍🏻

[@gera6511]

Wonderful, what is the name of the song?)

[@BetterMixes]

The song is called Take It by Street Lights At Midnight. I originally recorded this about 10 years ago, and I don't know if the original version is still online anywhere, but I remixed this for a mixing course I'm working on!

[@cosmo7847]

@@BetterMixes I did found the original mix and it was from 2012 GOD DAMN!

[@ppshekinabefreiung556]

not true, that "most mixes" uses less reverb and dly`s. sometimes we use up to 4 of them together only for voice.

[@BetterMixes]

I think you may have misunderstood what I meant. I should have been more clear in the video. As I mentioned towards the end, I ended up with something like 3 delays and a reverb or two on this vocal in the final mix. It's not the number of delays and reverbs that's less, but the amount of actual effect. There are obvious exceptions to this of course. Like I worked on The Lumineers' Cleopatra, and the vocals are absolutely swimming in those mixes which sounds exactly right for that sound, but for most modern rock and pop-based genres, the vocals in pro mixes tend to be pretty dry (even if there are 4 different effects adding to the bit of space).

[@ppshekinabefreiung556]

@@BetterMixes Thank you for your response. Then i missunderstand you and weve the same approach :-) and your answer describes my methode of work: Not overglueing with massive FX Levels, but to precisely deploy "Room", that fades from one to another. I wish you a wonderfull day.

[@ramspencer5492]

While delay is very important as well, you did everything you could to make the reverb sound really bad... No predelay, no reverb ducking... Not a very good reverb for that vocal... Very bright, not EQ'd...and a really dense mix, rock song example! Even if you didn't want a reverb that you can really great as "reverb".... It's party of that server of space.... And not just because of the tail... I'm sort of misrepresented reverb in those video!

[@BetterMixes]

Yeah, this isn't exactly one of the videos I'm most proud of! I do still think this is a great technique to know, and it works quite well for some tracks, but yeah, for other tracks, reverb is 100% the vibe (or a combination of both!). I mean, I worked on a Lumineers record a while back; their vocals are absolutely swimming in reverb and it sounds amazing! I think back when I made this video, I was heavily influenced by and trying to emulate a few certain KZbinrs who were always very definitive with "this is right, this is wrong". Nowadays, that kind of thing drives me nuts as I know nothing in audio is ever black and white. So yeah, if I saw this video today, I'd probably be yelling at me in the comments too 😆