Hi.
Using a global reverb in the final stage of a mix, especially when
using Jamin in Ardour, may improve tremendously the global quality of the
sound. But I wonder what kind of reverb can be used to obtain the most
neutral and most efficient effect, considering that, by definition, I
don't know on what audio system my mix will be heard.
I know such a question implies subjective preferences, and
depends on the kind of music being mastered. But I imagine some advices
could be given to avoid the most common mistakes, also :
- What's the best kind of reverb to use ? A plate one ? I am
mostly satsified with the gverb plugin, but maybe a plate one would be
more efficient, regarding to the immense type of existing audio systems. I
find the TAP reverbs far too agressive for being used in this final stage,
am I wrong ?
- Are there typical setups for this kind of use (length, tail,
damping) ?
- What's the best place to put this reverb ? On a bus of Ardour,
at the output of Jamin, or directly on the master track, after the return
of Jamin ? Or during another step, after having bounced all the mix through
Jamin on a dedicated track ?
- Are there some things to take care of, not to get too many
things blurred, especially reverbs applied during the mix only to some
instruments ? For example, if I use a special, somewhat strong, reverb on
a snare, is there a special way to setup this reverb, or the global one,
for it and the snare itself not to get drowned in a sea of blurred and
vague background noise ?
- More generally, is this kind of practice very common in
mastering, or is it better to do such a thing before this final step ?
Of course I know I can try and try myself to get the best kind of
result, and also search Google to find tons of contradictory practices :),
but I would really welcome some advices as I'm not yet really
professionnal in mastering :).
So thank you very much in advance,
Y.
