Old 12-09-2017, 08:57 PM   #1
Flaneurette
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Default How to recreate this reverb?

Does anyone know how to recreate this reverb on this song:

Lightnin' Hopkins - Woke Up This Morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BATlJwKB8ts

It's in the vocals as well as the guitar. Any clue on what they used back then? It sounds so dreamy.
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Old 12-10-2017, 12:07 AM   #2
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I must admit, that's pretty awesome.

What I'm hearing is: More or less dry near the transients, with the energy of the reverb very soon after flowing from the center towards the edged, with the energy slowly reducing and the signal moving away within late reflections.

It rather fascinating. How the reverb is dissipating from the center and fading into hard left and sometimes right.

The harmonica living in the far left is way down there in the back, in that place where the vocal seem to be going...

I really don't know how they did it. I'm not an analogue type of person, nor have I experimented with placing microphones in various large rooms. If I was going to do this in the BOX with VST's, I'd try to set up a convolution hall (or parking garage lot?) type reverb with pre-delay, then have that signal auto-pan from center to the sides.

The guitar reverb tail seems to pan left in time. But not always.

I guess I'd have the center track of vocal very up and close; perhaps a parallel crushed track blended in (I can hear the smacking of his lips, like he is really up close to the microphone ( or very compressed track)).

I'm not sure how to auto pan a reverb signal, but if it's on its own track it shouldn't be to difficult.

As I re-listen to the song, I suspect some manual panning of the reverb; I say this because the guitar is not always going to the right. Sometimes it's dead center and other times the reverb tail is going left.

So, ditch the auto-pan and use envelops to send the reverb in different spatial locations. This will take some effort. I'd keep it dead center for most the time, but at the end of phrases I'd pan in some magic.

I like how the bass is living on the right side. Just goes to show that bass doesn't always need to be dead center.
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Old 12-10-2017, 01:00 AM   #3
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Beautiful isn't it?

It has a very fast fade-out, as if it's moving away quickly from the center to the left, like a passing train. Yet sometimes it seems to linger... must be production as well.
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Old 12-10-2017, 03:22 AM   #4
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(grin) I have worked with some of the older blues guys back in the 70s & believe me there wasnt any fancy production work going on when this was recorded. Very likely this was recorded in someones front room, on the porch, or in a wooden shed.

As to how you could acheive the same sound, who knows? Buy a shed?
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Old 12-10-2017, 11:27 AM   #5
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Some of what comes across as stereo effect on some of the reverb tails is probably an artifact from the hard panned elements mixed with an originally mono reverb return and then slammed through some compressor.
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Old 12-12-2017, 11:02 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
(grin) I have worked with some of the older blues guys back in the 70s & believe me there wasnt any fancy production work going on when this was recorded. Very likely this was recorded in someones front room, on the porch, or in a wooden shed.

As to how you could acheive the same sound, who knows? Buy a shed?
That makes it even more fascinating! The reverb is pretty long, almost 1.5 second (perfect reverberation time for Baroque music)

I am guessing it's run through a spring reverb? Those old spring tanks. Used to own one. Was a great thing. Hold it shake it and it would influence the reverb.

The hard left/right panning probably makes this interesting too, as most today's reverb is all over the place.
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Old 12-12-2017, 11:07 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flaneurette View Post
That makes it even more fascinating! The reverb is pretty long, almost 1.5 second (perfect reverberation time for Baroque music)

I am guessing it's run through a spring reverb? Those old spring tanks. Used to own one. Was a great thing. Hold it shake it and it would influence the reverb.

The hard left/right panning probably makes this interesting too, as most today's reverb is all over the place.
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Old 12-12-2017, 11:18 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flaneurette View Post
I agree. It's interesting...

Reminds me a bit of quadraphonic audio, used to own such a system a long time ago.
You mean like an artifact when decoded quad (from the encoded into 2 channels and decoded on playback formats) goes wrong? Or are you commenting on a particular 4.0 surround mix?
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Old 12-12-2017, 11:20 AM   #9
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You mean like an artifact when decoded quad (from the encoded into 2 channels and decoded on playback formats) goes wrong? Or are you commenting on a particular 4.0 surround mix?
Oh, never mind. I was mixed up a moment ago. Yeah I meant that it sounded like something that would sound great on a quad, with all the panning that is going on i.e. all separate channels. Who knows, maybe that was their aim, to create the illusion of space.
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Old 12-12-2017, 12:32 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flaneurette View Post
I am guessing it's run through a spring reverb? Those old spring tanks. Used to own one. Was a great thing. Hold it shake it and it would influence the reverb.
Yeah, I had a mic/mix stereo spring verb that was 4 feet tall. It sounded good and on re-listening to the song, it could very well be.
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Old 12-12-2017, 12:40 PM   #11
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I could be wrong but i hear a plate reverb panned on the left.
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Old 12-12-2017, 01:12 PM   #12
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I could be wrong but i hear a plate reverb panned on the left.
That's how I heard it as well.
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Old 11-19-2018, 06:22 PM   #13
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i hear it as added after the fact.....
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Old 02-21-2019, 08:54 AM   #14
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Nothing like a real space...sweet.
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Old 02-21-2019, 10:12 AM   #15
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These older blues records were made cheaply. They used older studios with limited equipment. I'm not sure how many mics there were, but definitely few enough that they "mixed" by arranging the band around the mic. Singer nearest, loudest instruments furthest away.

The harp sounds like it's in the corner. That's not a fader or reverb thing. He's literally standing that far back.

Also, many of these studios would set up a speaker and mic in the basement, if it was concrete. Voila! An echo chamber. That would be fed into the mix to taste. Very basic stuff, but really effective.

I found some cool chamber IRs on the Resources page. I'll see if I can't find a link.

https://stash.reaper.fm/browse.php?q...=th&o=nd&pp=24

There it is!
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