Send to reverb on all tracks?

[roman.i]

Question in a context of electronic music.
I haven't seen anyone using a send reverb for placing elements in a space, including kick, bass, etc, , just a little bit, so they don't sound too dry.
Is this practice used solely in live music?
I'm not talking about the creative use of reverb, as adding a big reverb on a lead synth.

Any insights on that?

[DCrown]

https://youtu.be/nvktYptRUJA?si=UhkCE313opmLws9P

This video gives you some examples

[roman.i]

Have you read my question? This is totally irrelevant video.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

A couple of things:

1. In electronic music, do you really need to simulate all instruments being in the same space? The instruments were never "real" in the first place.

2. Remember, back in the day, studios didn't have a lot of hardware reverbs to bus every different instrument to. Maybe they had a plate and a chamber. In the late 70s and 80s, maybe they had a Lexicon AND an AMS or QRS (and maybe still a real plate). But not a ton of reverbs. So there was no choice but to either print reverb, or send multiple instruments to the same verb. It was a limitation.

3. In the early days of DAWs (late 90s, early to mid 2000s), processing power created a similar limitation. Reverbs were CPU intensive at the time (there were hardly any good ones too) and so sending multiple instruments to one verb was a way to save CPU.

4. In the modern era, sending multiple instruments to one reverb can actually COST MORE CPU power because of how multi-threading works with modern CPUs and how DAWs implement it. You can be creating a CPU bottleneck in your DAW today if it's processing all bussed tracks on the same thread versus using multiple inserts on separate tracks that can all be load balanced and processed separately.

So yeah...I wouldn't worry about it. I've long given up on the idea of putting all instruments "in one space." 1) It never sounds like what it claims to do, and 2) it may not be what's best for modern tracks/production anyway.

[No_Use]

In case of electronic sounds/samples I tend to (at least) put a tiny bit of (stereo) ambience on everything (via sends).
Dead dry and mono sounds unnatural imo.

[Vortifex]

I did put a reverb as the first fx on my master once, set to a short decay of about 0.2s, highpassed to around 600hz, with only about 5% wet. In the context of that track it sounded great, but it's not something I'd recommend as standard procedure

But on individual tracks, a bit of subtle room reverb with a short decay can bring them to life without sounding like they've been obviously processed.

[roman.i]

Right, a little bit of reverb pushes elements into the mix and sounds a bit better, but then every element may have some resonant area that doesn't sound good with a reverb.
It may create some additional work to send every track through an aux channel to get rid of the annoying frequencies before sending to a reverb. I know in some daws this maybe easier with an insert, not in Logic.
By the way, the question is if that is a common practice to put a reverb on every channel, not about how to do this via insert or send.
I just thought reverb on send was just an easier option. Inserting the same reverb on each channel is just more work.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

By the way, the question is if that is a common practice to put a reverb on every channel, not about how to do this via insert or send.
I just thought reverb on send was just an easier option. Inserting the same reverb on each channel is just more work.

You'll probably find that you want different reverbs for different things and having just one won't get you the best mix.

Example: kick might benefit from a short ambience for some air, snare might want something longer, or a non-lin/gated type thing, maybe you want a tiny touch of room on other drums, nothing on bass or a short ambience on bass, longer, more obvious reverbs on vocals or leads, etc. Sometimes, when you think you need reverb, you actually want delay.

You could setup multiple reverb sends for different types (ambience/reflections, room, hall) and experiment with that. Some people will even include delay sends. Or use some sends and some inserts! There's lots of approaches.

There's no better way to figure out what works for you than to experiment. Everyone will literally approach these things differently, and sometimes differently in different songs. Feels like you're looking for a bit of a "just tell me the one answer" type of response and that's not how any of this works other than "if it sounds good, then it is good".

[Samiver]

I make electronic music and often use sends on everything. Only important part is how much you are sending and having different settings for the verbs appropriate for the sound (kick, snare, leads etc). Usually the amount sent for kicks and bass etc are very minimal.

[kenny saunders]

Its probably better to use a send in most cases. I tend to have at least 3 sends: a close, medium and far one, maybe a special one with shimmer or sidechain or something.

Not sure if having the same reverb algorithm on all reverbs makes it more 'holistic' or not?

[imrae]

Its probably better to use a send in most cases. I tend to have at least 3 sends: a close, medium and far one, maybe a special one with shimmer or sidechain or something.

I also use this kind of scheme. Often one of the sends is a slapback delay rather than a reverb. You can push things back and forth in the space by using different blends.

[DCrown]

Since electronic music usually is faster (bpm), I wouldn't use too many different reverbs causing too many reflections at the same time, it could sound too chaotic, confusing and muddy for a listener.
Reverb on slower tracks/mixes generally is more effective and pleasant giving the listener a sense of space when a reverb builds up.
Reverb on all tracks in electronic music?
You usually don't want to mimic a live band character, that's when sending tracks to one room reverb makes sense.
Low end rumble could become a problem unless you use a lc on reverb send,
eq can enhance the effect of reverb either cutting or boosting depending on the instrument/track.
To avoid a mix getting wishy-washy and muddy delay might be a better choice.

[BONES]

Right, a little bit of reverb pushes elements into the mix and sounds a bit better, but then every element may have some resonant area that doesn't sound good with a reverb.
It may create some additional work to send every track through an aux channel to get rid of the annoying frequencies before sending to a reverb.

If you are getting annoying frequencies in your reverb, I'd suggest you are using too much wet signal. If it is really a big enough problem, though, you could place an EQ after the reverb and get rid of the "annoying frequencies" there.

By the way, the question is if that is a common practice to put a reverb on every channel, not about how to do this via insert or send.

I imagine it probably is but that's only because there is so much really bad advice being passed around via the internet.

I just thought reverb on send was just an easier option. Inserting the same reverb on each channel is just more work.

You are 100% correct on both counts and I agree that it's not a bad idea most of the time to do it.

You'll probably find that you want different reverbs for different things and having just one won't get you the best mix.

I think he covered that in his first post.

Everyone will literally approach these things differently

And most of them will be wrong.

Feels like you're looking for a bit of a "just tell me the one answer" type of response

No, he asked something quite specific if you read his first post thoroughly. I'm sure he'll know better than to bother at all next time.

[Gam456]

I use 90% of the time in parallel. Serial is more for ambient effect.
Personnaly on every single track.

[dionenoid]

Question in a context of electronic music.
I haven't seen anyone using a send reverb for placing elements in a space, including kick, bass, etc, , just a little bit, so they don't sound too dry.
Is this practice used solely in live music?
I'm not talking about the creative use of reverb, as adding a big reverb on a lead synth.

Any insights on that?

With electronic music you'd often be automating/eq-ing/sidechaining signals. So for one it's just more practical to use inserts for individual channels, rather than some general sends.

Reverb sends on drums is not common in electronic music anyway. You want your drums to cut through the mix and using some general reverb send will have the opposite effect. Using less reverb also helps with getting your mixes louder and your drums tighter and punchier.

Placing elements in a mix is better done using panning, eq-ing and sidechaining. You'd use the same reverb sends only if you want certain elements to blend in with others, for example when using layers.

It's also unpractical when sending out tracks for (stem) mastering, remixes or collabs ; You don't want to end up having a mix of signals running through the same reverb. Any change in one of the tracks will then end up sounding completely off.

And also ; most electronic music is not produced in a well-treated expensive studio with perfect translation. That small touch of reverb/ambience will sound completely different when your track gets played somewhere else, whether it being a listeners phone or a big PA system. You're actually correcting for your space rather than adding space.