Reverb Chamber

[hardtoe]

Just wondering how many of you have ever made / used a reverb chamber to get some interesting space in the mix - I have a tiny "extra" room in my studio (see diagram), which I first though I was going to use as a booth, but I am now more interested in a verb box - first of all am I out to lunch or does this seem like it might pay off (maybe for an early reflection type vibe, rather than a big room effect obviously)?

Any suggestions for what might make it sound cool (ie round pillars, sheet metal, ping pong balls, etc.)

Thanks

Orion Paradis


PS - on a side note, the front half of the building my studio is in is a dance studio (70' long by 20' wide, vaulted ceiling) - I got this very cool drum room sound by putting a ribbon in the hall between the two spaces with one head recording the 70' bounce back. I have included some examples for any interested - I wish this could be my verb chamber, but it is often being used.

[BT_]

used to take a small powered monitor,put it on an aux send on the console and pipe it into a small bathroom that was all tile...the shower door would almost act like a delay time adjustment, if the stereo mics were set just right....these mics returned to the console on stereo aux returns..

as far as mics you have to play with different patterns/placement and see what works best...

in the end it was a great "small tiled room" and unique to my world..

b
t

[hardtoe]

I guess highly reflective is probably a good idea for a tight verb - I've got a big piece of mirror I can put in there to start things off...

I like the delay time shower door - awesome! I'm not sure about stereo though - I was gonna go mono, but maybe I should try both...

[Sandyrb]

Any suggestions for what might make it sound cool.

Here's an idea for ya. A bit off-the-wall but hey, it's worth a try.

A couple of years ago I somehow came into possession of a huge corrugated tube from an industrial vacuum cleaner. Me being me, I wondered if there might be an acoustic use for it. After all, if you talk through it you can impersonate Darth Vader. "Bring the princess to me, I want her alive! But if you can't manage alive I'll settle for still warm" etc.

So one day I wrapped a Beyer M201 round with foam and crammed it into the end of the tube which I left on the floor in the drum room. Holy cow! This thing sounded HUGE! Not only was it giving all the wonderfully dirty acoustics you'd expect from the pipe, but it was introducing a whole mish-mash of different delays, all at crazy phase angles. Awesome!

Not long after that I tried it again, dual miking a screamer with it. With it being on a separate track I could mix in as much as I needed. Using it as an FX send it sounded quite strange but nonetheless intriguing. The band seemed to love it so great.

So here's an idea... go grab a tube like this from the local dump, stick it in your early reflection chamber and thrust a mic into its opening. It'll add to the perceived size of the room and you might get some really interesting results like I did. :)

"The emperor is not as forgiving as I."

Cheers,

[hardtoe]

I had kind of fantasized about having a tube in there, so this is all I need to push me over the edge. I know some real high-end reverb chambers had columns in them (mind you they were using the columns for some kind of diffusion, not as a tunnel, but I like the extreme sound mangling possibilities).

I just looked at your link and I see you're in Saskatoon - small world - I am in Regina - haha!

[Sandyrb]

I just looked at your link and I see you're in Saskatoon - small world - I am in Regina - haha!

How bizarre! We should totally meet up for a beer when I'm next down that way. Or when you're up this way. The number's on the website; give me a call or something. :)

Cheers,

[hardtoe]

Cool, I'll do that - just send me a pm if your on your way to Regina and we'll hook up...

[albert]

I believe that echo chambers are excellent. I have a steam room at home which is all marble with a sloped ceiling which is perfect for this. The thing for me though is that I find digital conversion very painful, (although this has improved lately for me with the beautiful Lynx Auroras), and I actually prefer to get it all together when possible.

i.e. I will record the actual keyboard or guitar performance through an amplifier then use a close dynamic, another mic about one foot away, and a large diaphragm capacitor or whatever sounds right way up by the ceiling to get lots of "air".

This has worked wonder for me. :) I like it because it is soooo much in tight early reflections that when it comes to the mix, I never need to add digital reverb. I have a few recording which I have done without any digital reverb (no aglo, no convo, none of it), just perhaps one slapback echo on vox is ever it really. If anyone cares to hear it, I will share with you, I would post directly here but the music has all been released on vinyl and I would feel strange posting it here.

Attached is a photograph of a beautiful polytone combo amp in my home's steamroom, there is also a mic on a tall stand in another part of the small room, but it's to the left out of the frame.

[albert]

oh, and one more note,

I have never been able to make convolution reverb work for me, it has simply never had enough parameters for me to make it sound the way I desire.

Anyone care to create a new thread about the way they use algorithmic vs convolution?

[Aski]

albert,

I would love to hear your room... Post some samples please.

[albert]

albert,

I would love to hear your room... Post some samples please.

I just put some mp3s up for you;

http://thephantomofthestereo.com/mtmalbert

the drone synth and guitar had a lot of room in there, and I used digital delay lines to delay the signals of the reverb to make it a bit larger sometimes, etc etc, I have an input sheet with more info somewhere

[Aski]

I just put some mp3s up for you;

http://thephantomofthestereo.com/mtmalbert

the drone synth and guitar had a lot of room in there, and I used digital delay lines to delay the signals of the reverb to make it a bit larger sometimes, etc etc, I have an input sheet with more info somewhere

Cool music man.... and I really like all of the production/engineering/tones you got goin on there...

[hardtoe]

That rocks = some very original and awesome tonality!

[albert]

Thanks a lot for listening guys, happy you dig it.