Power Ballad Reverb

[ITHertz]

Hi Folks,

I'm currently working on a "power ballad" mix that has a fairly exposed vocal at the start (like all Power Ballads lol). This means that the vocal reverb is also going to be exposed so I want to get it sounding right. I'm using A Great Big World's "Say Something" as a reference.

I'm looking for any tutorials or articles that explain how vocal reverbs like this are created? The producer for Say Something was Dan Romer so if anyone has any info about his approach then that would be helpful too.

One thing I notice about the Say Something vocal reverb is that there's no tail ringing out in the spaces between vocal lines so I wonder if the reverb return was ridden? You can really hear the reverb tail on the "I" in the third line of the first verse however it's not there at the end of the line.

Cheers,

Chris

[Sam Inglis]

Interesting... that vocal is much dryer than I'd expected for a power ballad! To my ears the reverb is fairly short and dark, and it has a sort of airless quality to it. As a wild stab in the dark it sounds a tiny bit reminiscent of IRs from early digital devices like the EMT 250, so that might be a starting point?

I don't think it's being ridden, it's just that the reverb is more obvious on the higher-pitched and louder vocal notes.

[AlasdairEaston]

That song's a slight guilty pleasure for me. That's the first time I've seen the video though and wish I hadn't. It's a bit heavy-handed.

Anyway, re. the reverb. There is something longer going on in places. It's more noticeable on her voice than his. It's easiest to hear at the very end, like the final phrase at 3:31. There's either a delay fed into a luxuriously long reverb, or maybe just a long reverb on it's own. Either way it's mixed low and definitely gives a sense of a bigger space.

It's already there at 2:18. There's a whispered part from Christina Aguilera alongside her sung part there. Maybe it's just on the whispered part? It's hard to tell.

Funny to see the janitor in the video though, waiting to put that piano away once they've finished with it. At 2:40 he's hanging his head thinking "how long is this going to take??".

A

[Zukan]

IT remember the hair. You can't truthfully replicate a power ballad verb without the correct bell bottoms and glitter.

Don't mention it.

[The Red Bladder]

Lexicon 'Small Church' from a 480 or a 960. It's my favourite reverb on the 960.

[Sam Inglis]

There's a whispered part from Christina Aguilera alongside her sung part there. Maybe it's just on the whispered part?

That's a good point... there seem to be two versions of this song. I was listening to the other one which doesn't have Christina Aguilera on it...

[apaclin]

Seems like it's ridden. The thing that I would do is automating the send amount (how much dry signal is fed to the reverb).

Also the reverb length and the high cut seem to be automated too.