making a reverb chamber

[jhg]

So, I want to turn a back/storage area into a reverb chamber.

It has 18.5' height, (plus a skylight in one area), the main open area is about 8ft wide and 7 feet wide - where would be best to place a speaker? I've played with putting a bass amp near the bottom(open stair case running through) and a mic up near the ceiling and it sounded allright.

Any recomendations on speaker placement, etc? Thanks.

Regards,

Joel

[nathanvacha]

Man, I saw in some studio the guy had the coolest concept ever. He turned a small room into a stere reverb chamber by splitting the room with a slightly diagonal wall so that each side was symetrical, but not square or rectangular. There were a pair of speakers, one in each "chamber" and there was a miniature soundlock... doors face to face so he could open them a little bit and actually (manually) control the stereo field of the 'verb. I 'spose it requires a pair of mics as well, but a very very cool idea. If I could remember where I saw it, I'd send you a link. Chances are it's someone on here though, so someone else may know.

As far as your actual question, regarding speaker placement... no, I have no difinitive answer. I'd put it pretty closely backed up to a wall, though, so you get some space before it hits a wall. I guess moving it closer facing a wall gives you shorter predelay though?

[Dave Peck]

You really have to play around with it, but a good rule of thumb is to keep the direct signal from the speaker out of the mics as much as possible. So for example, you might put the speaker a few feet off the floor and angled down toward a corner, while putting the mics above and behind the speaker. Try different mics as well, especially omnis. Another tip - sweep a sine wave through the speaker very slowly, and listen for rattling noises in the room (or from the speaker). Also, be sure your reverb chamber is soundproof so noises outside the chamber don't 'contaminate' your reverb returns.

DP

[overclock]

at the soundstation (RIP) we had an empty 2 story tower attached to the live room. I was told that when it used to be a fire station, they would hang the firehoses there to dry. We had a pulley at the top tp hoist mics and an old lowerable door for the 'send' level. Pretty cool. Ya i know that doesn't answer yer question. Maybe we can try blasting stuff at high volume out yer window and recording it from my back porch. There maybe a way to filter out the bodega buzz.

- b

[C/G]

Cool thread. I thought about doing some guerilla style reverb in my tile bathroom at home but just never got around to trying it. I realize it is kind of a low-fi approach but now I'm inspired to try it again.

[dbbubba]

Once while recording a drummer in my living room I noticed that the sound in the kitchen was really happening for a reverb.

Later I took two speakers into the living room, piped in the drums I wanted to add verb to into the speakers via an aux. I had two SM57s on the kitchen spaced about eight feet apart. The sound could enter the kitchen on either side of a brick fireplace (two door openings) and the kitchen was obvuiusly quite live.

The surprising thing is that the resulting ambience/reverb when added to the mix is much larger sounding than when you are hearing it live in the room. The sound seems much larger than it does when you are listeningl to the sound of the room live.

I wish I could supply actual details about a good chamber, but a studio that I once "aquired" had a beautiful sounding chamber until about a month before I moved in.
The owner allowed the tenant on the other side of the building to bust it up and use the warehouse space it was housed in. Such a shame because it was built on plans from a very famous '60s L.A. room. The studio was built on the same plans as Devonshire Sound studio B which I believe was also built upon plans from another "famous" Hollywood room design. Unfortunately, I never had the actual plans myself.

I recall how great that chamver sounded to thins day and it was 1976 when I last actually heard it. It was that good. It is still benchmark for reverb sounds for me. You can hear it on Willy Nelson's "Redheaded Stranger" album. If you wanna' listen to some vintage Willy.

Just experiment.

Danny Brown

[Bob Olhsson]

57s are your friends in chambers because they don't pick up any low-end at a distance.

[d46163]

Here's the ultimate reverb chamber:

http://www.silophone.net


You can upload your own sounds...it's addictive!

-d

[newguy]

Originally Posted by nathanvacha

Man, I saw in some studio the guy had the coolest concept ever. He turned a small room into a stere reverb chamber by splitting the room with a slightly diagonal wall so that each side was symetrical, but not square or rectangular. There were a pair of speakers, one in each "chamber" and there was a miniature soundlock... doors face to face so he could open them a little bit and actually (manually) control the stereo field of the 'verb. I 'spose it requires a pair of mics as well, but a very very cool idea. If I could remember where I saw it, I'd send you a link. Chances are it's someone on here though, so someone else may know.

As far as your actual question, regarding speaker placement... no, I have no rsome space before it hits a wall. I guess moving it closer facing a wall gives you shorter predelay though?

http://www.mixthis.com/livechambers.html

Related stuff:

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/ind...t/12134/11771/

[C/G]

Originally Posted by d46163

Here's the ultimate reverb chamber:

http://www.silophone.net


You can upload your own sounds...it's addictive!

-d

I've checked that site out before and the silophone is really cool. Everyone needs one in their backyard.

[overclock]

Originally Posted by d46163

Here's the ultimate reverb chamber:

http://www.silophone.net


You can upload your own sounds...it's addictive!

-d

wow. i read about this a few years back in wired mag and immediately went and tried some of my favorite samples. looking at the list, it seems that the wait is much shorter now and you are able to upload larger files. maybe we can convince them to up the bandwidth on that audiostream. bwahh ha ha.

- b

[Nutmeg II.]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

...Later I took two speakers into the living room, piped in the drums I wanted to add verb to into the speakers via an aux. I had two SM57s on the kitchen spaced about eight feet apart. The sound could enter the kitchen on either side of a brick fireplace (two door openings) and the kitchen was obvuiusly quite live.

The surprising thing is that the resulting ambience/reverb when added to the mix is much larger sounding than when you are hearing it live in the room. The sound seems much larger than it does when you are listeningl to the sound of the room live...

No suprice at all, becaus your ears aren't 8 feet apart. If they are then there must be something wrong with you!