Reverb On Drums

[Elementree]

I've had a couple cats listen to my beats and tell me I should never put reverb on my drums but I tend to enjoy a little reverb. I usually apply reverb to my snare, hats, shakers, claps ect. I found that applying reverb to a kick really doesnt sound that good though. I just posted to see if any-body had any drum reverb tips or just your general viewpoint on reverbing drums.

Peace,
Cincinnatti, OH.

 

[StressWon]

I've had a couple cats listen to my beats and tell me I should never put reverb on my drums but I tend to enjoy a little reverb. I usually apply reverb to my snare, hats, shakers, claps ect. I found that applying reverb to a kick really doesnt sound that good though. I just posted to see if any-body had any drum reverb tips or just your general viewpoint on reverbing drums.

Peace,
Cincinnatti, OH.

yeah, I like em on my snares,,,but not too much. I never putr em on a hat,,,imma try that next time

 

[Fade]

I agree, on kicks it sucks. Snares sound the best with some reverb, but I think if you do add reverb to a kick, it would probably only work with a small amount, or any reverb you might add to the final mix.

 

[5th Sequence]

I always use reverb. Snares, hihats, samples, etc. Don't use reverb on lower frequency samples though. Aside from adding reverb to snares and hihats, you should try putting all of your drums into an auxilary buss (or send buss or whatever) and put a 100% wet reverb on it. Make the reverb really tight to where it sounds like an old school basement party or something then mix it in with your regular drums. Thickens it out real nice.

Another technique I use (sometimes) is putting the compression on after the reverb. Giving the compressor a fast release time brings up the levels of the reverb trailing on the snare. If you have a good reverb sound that's not too much with the right compression settings, you can get some really nice results with that too.

 

[Qwerty]

I've had a couple cats listen to my beats and tell me I should never put reverb on my drums but I tend to enjoy a little reverb. I usually apply reverb to my snare, hats, shakers, claps ect. I found that applying reverb to a kick really doesnt sound that good though. I just posted to see if any-body had any drum reverb tips or just your general viewpoint on reverbing drums.

Peace,
Cincinnatti, OH.

Lol i remember telling you that in a show case. Well, i put some on my drums. I like puting some on the hi-hats. Usually (with Reason), i send the reverb to the Aux and connect my RedDrum to it. I use the Medium Room rvb, so it give some kind of stereo effect to the drum. It's not good to put rvb on the kick cuz it gives a dance vibe to the beat.

 

[Shonsteez]

Also, if your reverb has a EQ to designate what frequencies get reverb and what doesnt I would dip out the low end. Youl get a much more organic sound from your effect. Plus, since every song is different - there really isnt a "set" way to have yer FX parameters always dialed to, but in general cases when say applying verb to a snare for ex. - I always tend to utilize a "dryer" setting rather then a wet setting since it lets the snare still sit back in the mix without popping out too much. Like I said though, thats all personal preference and every song is different so....

 

[wrightboy]

i usually put some verb on my snare and my claps. occasionally i'll add a small amount of verb to the overall finished track. make it subtle enough that you barely hear the verb.

 

[Shonsteez]

Also, gating is a fun effect too. It adds that "tight" pocket feeling to the rhythm sometimes which is cool.

 

[Elementree]

I appreciate the feedback guys. You Querty, I appreciate you tellin me that cause I went back that day after and the Kick on "Queensbridge Elite was way verbed out man! I found out that compression and some gating is all I really need for my kicks. Cats are always tryin to beef up their kicks, but I find that layering your kicks is a better Idea than adding a bunch of effects to them. Thats how I create alot of my OWN drum sounds. Its a tip that Timbaland was talkin about in SCRATCH one time. He finds like 3 diff. kicks he likes for a track and then mixes them all together so he can get the right attack, sustain, and relase he needs. I find this works great with claps too. You can layer like 4 or five different pitched claps, and have a sick ass knuckle crunching clap if you mix it right. I've even started layering my shakers lately and I've been gettin some cool sounds

Peace,
Cincinnatti, OH.

 

[Fury]

theres nuttin wrong wit reverb on drums..its really about how u tryin to make drums sound...portishead uses crazy reverbs and that sounds hot...its about what sound ur tryin to make

 

[Burna]

Wow. Well, i'll have to try that. I don't think i ever even tried that idea before.

 

[Nuff B]

if you doin some club shit reverb sound good if you fuck with the predelay

 

[FTdub]

I put reverb on everything, i just vary the amount for each sound based on the depth that i want it to have in the soundscape. Snares always get the most.

 

[Honesty]

I use ALOT of verb in my mixes...but I make it so subtle that you can't really tell... I can't tell unless I mute the verb from the mix and I use it on kicks, snares, hats... everything...lol

 

[Hypnotist]

Acoustically, drums sound good with reverb on them. With rock bands, it's common to put room mics far from the source to get the natural sound of the room, and you sum this up with the drum mix. Some bands like to have the room sound be really present in the mix, while others prefer it to be subtle.

In hip hop, not many drums sound like rock, but you can do whatever the hell you want. Most hip hop beatmakers and producers like to add a little reverb to the snare, or leave the entire drum mix dry, which is common. Our ears are accustomed to hearing hip hop records with little to no reverb on the drums.

But then you have groups/artists who like to divert from the norm, and make everything sound really wet. Or there may be one song on the album that has light drums and a finger-snap or rim-shot that has CRAZY hall reverb on it that sounds like it's under a bridge or in a tunnel.

If you do use reverb on your drums, it should sound natural. So get a GOOD reverb unit or plug-in to make this work. Cut off the highs a little so that it sounds like it's in a real room, and not a wall with mirrors or steel panels. A room with a wood floor is really reflective, but it SOUNDS like wood, and there are usually deadening panels in the room as well, so the walls won't reflect as much.

Some people don't know this, but reverb on a kick drum is more natural than higher frequencies. Kick drums and low-frequencies sound better in a large room because the actual sound wave is longer and needs the space in the air to move around. BUT if you put an artificial reverb on it, or send the kick drum to the same reverb that everything else is going to, it will sound fake. The kick reverb should be cut in high frequencies according to the kick drum. If you hit a kick drum in a large room, frequencies that have nothing to do with the kick drum aren't going to bounce around the room. They're going to be low-frequencies. You may hear higher pitches coming from the beater hitting the head of the kick drum, but not as much as the actual ring of the kick that moves around the room.

Basically, if you're going to make it sound good, make it sound real. Or, if you want to experiment, just play around with it until it sounds good. It doesn't HAVE to sound REAL to sound GOOD. I'm just giving a couple tips that I use in accordance with natural acoustics.

Pce
Hypno

 

[MarkN]

i always put sum reverb on my drums as a whole after all if you were listening to a real drummer you would be hearing some reverberation !
if your making a club synth type track then maybe dnt bother as then they are meant to sound fake when trying to get that more real acoustic sound id always use reverb with slightly more on the snare normally !

 

[Carpe Diem]

yeah, the snare usually has the most reverb on my drums, although occassionally i put a lot on hats that sit low in the mix, i like the effect it produces... kicks lack punch when reverbed and dont hit too well...

 

[DJ Xsinna]

What I've learned about adding reverbs to drums is this: The reverb really isn't supposed to be heard by untrained ears. You only add enough to your snares, hats, percs to enhance the sounds, add some depth & pop. Use in small percentages. If you listen and study various instrumentals, you will hear a slight amount of reverb on the snares and so forth on parts where the music drops out and all you hear are drums. Dre's 2001 Instrumental CD is a good example. When the music and lyrics drop back in, you don't hear the reverb at all. That's the trick of it.