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Why I never use my reverb pedal in the studio

SV
@sam.varney
6 weeks agoAsked in Tone Talk
Got into a polite argument with the engineer on the last session about this. He wanted me to print bass with a small room reverb on it. I refused. Posting because I want to know if I'm being a snob or if I'm right. My position: bass is the foundation of the low end. Reverb on bass smears the attack and the tail across the kick drum's frequency range. The whole reason the mix is going to feel tight is because the bass and kick are clean and aligned. Any reverb on the bass during tracking is a decision that can't be undone in mixing. If the producer wants a washy bass in the final mix, they can add a parallel reverb buss in post and high-pass it at 200Hz. That way I keep my dry low end and they get their texture. But printing reverb on the source signal is committing to a mistake you can't unmake. The bass is louder when you play less of it. The bass is also louder when you don't blur it. Am I being old-fashioned? Has anyone here printed bass with reverb and not regretted it?
4 replies

4 replies

  • KT
    @kobu.tinker6 weeks ago
    You're right. Print dry, add wet in post, high-pass any wet bus at minimum 150Hz. The engineer's making a tracking-stage decision that's actually a mix-stage decision. That's a workflow problem on his end, not a sound problem on yours. Stand your ground.
  • LF
    @lo.flannery6 weeks ago
    I print bass dry every time. The one exception was an Americana session where the producer wanted the bass to feel like it was in the same room as the upright piano and we printed it with a plate at like 8% wet. That was a song-specific call and we knew we couldn't undo it. We still tracked a dry version on a second pass just in case.
  • MA
    @mira.alves6 weeks ago
    Bass through the Sunn Beta has so much character on its own that adding ambience is like putting hot sauce on a steak. You can do it but you're covering up the thing you paid for. Print dry.
  • DK
    @dani.kowalski6 weeks ago
    I'm the wrong person to ask, I want reverb on everything. But even I'd say bass is the exception. The bass holds the room down. If the bass is in the reverb, the reverb has nothing to push against.

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