^ Preferences on reverb vary a lot. Personally, I tend to find the more time I spend recording instruments and working with them in real life, the less reverb I like to use, much like how a woodworker might choose to use an oil or wax coating rather than lacquer or eurythane, to admire the grain of the wood rather than to hype it up with glossy layers.
These are aesthetic choices, so they will differ depending on the person. Some people want every piece of wood they see sanded to perfect smoothness and coated in a mm of lacquer, others want it left with chisel marks and nothing more than a little oil rubbed in. And, like both of these examples, both have pros and cons attached.
(02-05-2019, 10:07 PM)Michael Willis Wrote: [ -> ]So... maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like sometimes when I ask for feedback, I get somebody saying "AARGH! TOO MUCH REVERB!" and other times I have people encouraging me to turn up the reverb. Is it just a matter of personal preference, or am I experiencing a sort of pendulum swing of taking people's advice to the extreme?
Edit: another possibility is that "to much reverb" means turn down the decibel level of the reverb, and "you could get away with more reverb" might mean increase the room size and/or decay time.
Honestly I think I might just be projecting, as I am continuously tinkering with my own sound and reverb levels as well. Your point about decibels vs actual characteristics of the reverb is a good one.
I think your latest draft sounds good in the reverb department. "Cranking" was really not the best word choice on my part at all; I think, "It sounds good, but maybe you can turn up the reverb even more if you like?" would have expressed my actual thoughts much better. There are certain characteristics I like in your reverb here and part of me thought it might be even cooler sounding if the reverb was louder. But that isn't to say it necessarily
would be, more an encouragement to experiment further.
So really I could have articulated my suggestion much better. Sorry if I caused any confusion or consternation. I don't think you are a swinging pendulum at all
(02-06-2019, 03:20 AM)Samulis Wrote: [ -> ]much like how a woodworker might choose to use an oil or wax coating rather than lacquer or eurythane
That's a good analogy, particularly since I have dabbled a tiny bit in woodwork, mostly using power tools to make simple picture frames and such. Whereas I tend to use cheap cuts of pinewood, I generally put on a fairly heavy finish. My dad on the other hand recently procured some nice black walnut wood, and as I recall he is more minimalist about the finish.
(02-06-2019, 03:32 AM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ] I don't think you are a swinging pendulum at all
Heh, thanks. Maybe I'll take another try at tweaking the reverb after I finish the composition. I have a lot more material in my head that I would like to capture in the midi tracks. After that it might be more clear how I want the reverb to sound.
(02-06-2019, 04:08 AM)Michael Willis Wrote: [ -> ]Heh, thanks. Maybe I'll take another try at tweaking the reverb after I finish the composition. I have a lot more material in my head that I would like to capture in the midi tracks. After that it might be more clear how I want the reverb to sound.
That's probably the best idea. Focus on the music and all that other stuff can be adjusted later.
It's been stuck in my head all day, actually. So I'll be happy to hear it as it develops.
Something more practical I can say about the reverb is that there seems to be a clear separation between the front / middle / back. So nice job there. I'm still having issues figuring out what "middle" sounds like in my own settings...
(02-07-2019, 04:05 AM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ]It's been stuck in my head all day, actually. So I'll be happy to hear it as it develops.
Wow, that's really encouraging! Tonight I carved out some time to make another bit of progress, I just replaced the track on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-201997735/to...ough-draft
I'm still experimenting with dynamics, let me know if the new part is too soft.
Edit: After listening to this again the morning after, I think the export got messed up. Some of the parts sound like it's only playing the reverb and didn't capture any dry audio from some of the midi tracks. I was making some adjustments to the signal routing and might have broken stuff before exporting the audio file.
2nd Edit: I updated it again, this time I think I fixed the signal routing. Let me know what you think of the transition to the second part.