A Natural Vocal Reverb
A short, sympathetic reverb for vocals that need air without push-back.
In Ableton Live: Reverb. For "Ambience" use Quality: Eco, Size: 30, Decay: 0.5 s. For "Room Tone" switch to Hall with Decay 1.5–2 s. Drop the Dry/Wet to 100% wet on the return.
Routing in Ableton Live: Create a Return track (Cmd/Ctrl + Option/Alt + T), drop the reverb/delay on it, and use each track's Send knob to bus into it.
The trick with vocal reverb is that you almost always want less than you think. A long, lush tail is satisfying in solo but turns to mush in a busy mix. Start short and add only as much as you need to feel something.
- Create an aux return and send the vocal to it. Set the reverb to 100% wet.
- Audition each algorithm (room, hall, chamber, plate) for a few seconds each. Pick the one that flatters the voice — plates often win for pop and electronic music.
- Start the decay at around 4 seconds for reference, then slowly shorten it. On most vocals you'll land between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds.
- Bring up the pre-delay. 30–100 ms is the sweet spot — long enough that the dry vocal stays out in front of the tail.
- Use distance or the early/late reflection balance to taste. More late reflections = lusher, but the vocal will move back in the mix as you do.
- Insert an EQ before the reverb. High-pass until the mix starts to feel thin and back off, then shelve down anything that's piercing or up anything that feels dark. Cut 3–10 dB around 300–500 Hz if mud is creeping in.
- Pull the aux fader down to silence and bring it up until you only just notice it under the dry vocal. Then go one decibel quieter than that.