Please define this magical sound effect

[RainbowStorm]

I don't know if this effect is resonance or if it is related to resonance somehow, but it is like magic and you want to be in it forever...! Lately when I've been in the studio I have discovered a really interesting effect that creates a very pleasant feeling inside, it's kind of like a vacuum feeling that makes you feel warm inside. I just thought that you might be able to define it. I would love to make my recordings full of this smooth beautiful effect... I'll describe how it is acheived...

You mix a reverb effect and AFTER that you put a compressor/limiter. Then you set a certain reverb/compression ratio until you can feel the effect. It is something with the effect tail starting a kind of wave when the limiter starts working against its dissapearing. It's NOT possible to get this effect if the reverb is placed AFTER the compressor! I was using the Waves IR-1 reverb in combination with Waves C1 and Waves L2 to create this effect.

So what is this magical wave-alike effect called? What happens theoretically in the mix when this effect smooths everything out really nicely? Where can I read more about this very interesting effect caused by placing a compressor effect after a reverb? It's exactly this effect that all my favorite recordings have a lot of and I want to emphasize it the best I can...

So if you have any suggestions, please post...

[pan]

Its called "pumping"

When the signal slowly recovers from the gain reduction of the transient, the usually softer elements of the signal become louder until the next hit brings them down again.

Release-time is your friend;-)

Search for: Mix/Drum-Bus(s)-Compression

n

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by pan

Its called "pumping"

When the signal slowly recovers from the gain reduction of the transient, the usually softer elements of the signal become louder until the next hit brings them down again.

Release-time is your friend;-)

Search for: Mix/Drum-Bus(s)-Compression

n

Thanks for your reply! Hmm... I am aware of the pumping effect, but this is different, it is beautiful and cannot be produced without the reverb effect, so in that case it is pumping of reverb. I noticed that the reverb tail from the piano's 4 - 6 KHz frequencies is sounding like a wave, the reverb gets a louder reverb delayed when the signal recovers. I feel that what happens is that when the piano is playing the reverb tail is returning in a wave kind of motion, which makes the whole sound really smooth and kind of light. But you might be right, it might be pumping causing the effect, controlled by the correct release time.

Any other suggestions?

[krs]

Seasickness?

[castle]

Originally Posted by krs

Seasickness?

Or drugs?

[orange]

could you post an example...might be easier than explaining it.

si

[Renie]

or reference a track?

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by TonyCrazyMan

I don't know if this effect is resonance or if it is related to resonance somehow, but it is like magic and you want to be in it forever...! Lately when I've been in the studio I have discovered a really interesting effect that creates a very pleasant feeling inside, it's kind of like a vacuum feeling that makes you feel warm inside. I just thought that you might be able to define it. I would love to make my recordings full of this smooth beautiful effect...
So what is this magical wave-alike effect called?

it's called Courvosier. Or perhaps Pre-Teen Hookers.



But seriously, there comes a time when you have to pat yourself on the back and say "I've invented something unique, & therefore I can call it whatever I want!" Or, following a long-standing tradition in both music and audio production: "I've happened upon something previously unknown to me despite the fact that other practitioners have used this for ages, & therefore I'm arrogant enough to call it whatever I want!" (Eg, "Frippertronics")

So stop worrying about what this effect is called and just use it, enjoy it, and come up with a name that works for *you* and the collaborators you work with. Then next time you need this sound you don't have to spend three paragraphs describing it; you can just say "let's put some Courvosier on the piano."

[RainbowStorm]

I lost the effect when I was playing around with the mix, I think I have a backup though, so if I can recognise that effect again I will try to capture it.

I have heard a lot of recordings with exactly this effect, but I cannot exactly point on a certain recording right now, but I will try to find it...

I have experienced this effect two times in the studio, the first time I was so excited about the effect that I was repeating it at least 20 times, I just sat their with a bunch of reverbs and compressors and suddenly the song was full of life, really emotional! At that time I really didn't know what the key was, the setup was so complex, but it was like I had turned my studio into a really professional sounding one!

The second time I experienced the effect was totally by accident too... That was recently...

Now I think I know what really happens, I will try this some more over the next couple of days...! I have found two things about the setups that are similar. This is how you create the wonderful effect:

1) Put a very long reverb (6-7 seconds), rather dry on the track you want the effect to be applied on, post fader
2) Put a compressor/limiter on top of the reverb with rather high ratio, post fader. Limit until the reverb tail is pumping, control the release parameter for that.

I think what really happens is that when the signal is being released from the limiting the reverb tail gets amplified. Because of the long reverb it stays amplified in the mix before the next tones are triggered. What happens is that the reverb tails then get layered and when that happens they create resonance. As the track is playing, depending on what is played the reverb tail layer can get so thick all of a sudden that the resonance gets really strong and shadows the whole mix, if the instrument is dominant to the mix. That smooths out the song really nicely! That's why the effect is not constant but you can feel it on many different places in the song. I'm not sure, but I think that the Waves IR-1 is extra good at producing such a reverb tail! So in order to create the effect, the following criterias need to be met:

A) Both a reverb and a compressor effect is needed
B) The reverb needs to be long
C) The compressor needs to be placed after the reverb

Exactly how the compressor should be setup in order to create the effect I'm not sure about, but I think the ratio should be high, the release time moderate to long, the attack time low and the threshold level rather low.

My theory is that the longer the reverb is, the lower the thresold level is and the longer the release time is, the stronger the effect becomes...! So in order to keep the mud factor low you need to keep the wetness very dry. I actually think the effect creates the same kind of feeling as when you are playing outdoors a calm afternoon! It's an awesome effect!!!

One more thing, I think the effect can only be applied on non-modulated tracks and with a non-modulated reverb tail, but I'm not sure...

But I think reverb resonance is what it's called...

[SiliconAudioLab]

This is known as the "Walters" effect.

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by SiliconAudioLab

This is known as the "Walters" effect.

Interesting, are you familiar with it...?!

[SiliconAudioLab]

Kind of... the Walters effect comes and goes around here. Shows up, then nothing in a long long time. I'm thinkin' the compressor effect is what's really going on.

Anyone else?

[Saudade]

if I'm not wrong what he's trying to say is that the tail of the reverb (which sustains the previous "sound") spills over to and mixes with the next incoming sounds. I think the "resonance" he described, which only happens in "certain places in the song" comes from the effect musicians sometimes call "beating".

"Beating" is the wavy ringing that we hear when we tune a slightly out of tune string to the one adjacent that is in tune. Don't really know how to describe it, but if you're a guitarist, and you tune by lets say the 5th string 5th fret harmonic to the 4th string 7th fret harmonic. You will hear a "wavering" effect which is called "beating", caused by the slight dissonance of the fundamental freq of the two strings. Then we tune the two strings until they both are resonating at the same freq which produces a single harmonious "wave".

Am I making sense?

anyway what I think he is hearing is the same thing going on when the reverb tail of certain chords of harmonies/riffs spills over to the next bar which contains certain chords that "clashes" (dissonant) with the previous one. And, certain degree of dissonance causes the "warmth" and organic sounds he describes, which also explains why he somehow couldn't really recreate the effect by will....

[pan]

So its about overtones?

A tapedelay by any chance?

Great guessing game without examples...

[Ruphus]

While you guess about the technical phenomenon I spin about the organic one.

The described "vacuum effect" sounds like being about solar plexus. A region also called a chakra in Yoga / meditation regards.

In my experience perceivable whenever in joy, sexually turned on etc. positive sensations.

This region in fact can be used very efficiently intentionally.
There is a lady who instructs industrial cheifs, political VIPs etc. in how to get controlled, relaxed and well prepared for straining situations like before speeches and thelike events.

The point is that you can achieve the state of being fresh and relaxed like from meditation by just a simple physical technique.

This works by tensioning muscles surrounding the solar plexus. It is a bit long-winded to learn for one not being used to trigger those muscles, but it pays big deal to achieve it.

Once succeeding in accessing that muscle group it is like turning on a switch that immediately releases all superfluous tension. ( When I do it - much too rarely though - for instance my vertebra of the upper back crackle in the same time as a bunch of tensioned muscles release.)

You get into a pleasant state immediately, having plenty reserve in breath and neural resource.

For instance I had a singer last time being too tensioned and shallow breathed. I showed her a bit of that and additonally how to stand right and there we went with nice tracks within minutes.

Ruphus