less is more (reverb) ??

Someone was mentioning the rather "dry" sound of my electronic
efforts... and, to a degree, some of this is intentional.

Although I used *lots* of reverb in my Tempest theatre project, I'm
finding that I prefer to use almost *none* of it for serious tuning
works.

Even with _Sound Forge_ the reverb, even when light,
sounds "hokey..." like something extraneous to the piece.

I even tried to use "equalization" instead but, still, couldn't find
much to improve upon the original.

Maybe it's the means that _Sound Forge_ or _Cool Edit_ uses
to "reverb" sounds, but it all seems like something I would just as
soon leave out, when I go for "precision listening..."

???

JP

Joe,

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "jpehrson2" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> Someone was mentioning the rather "dry" sound of my electronic
> efforts... and, to a degree, some of this is intentional.
>
> Although I used *lots* of reverb in my Tempest theatre project, I'm
> finding that I prefer to use almost *none* of it for serious tuning
> works.

I don't understand that distinction - was the Tempest not serious?
And how could reverb disturb a piece with regard to tuning? A bad mix
will mess up a piece, no doubt, but bad mixing would mess up a 12tet
piece just as profoundly!

> Even with _Sound Forge_ the reverb, even when light,
> sounds "hokey..." like something extraneous to the piece.

Two items: the reverb in SF is not state-of-the-art, by any means,
and applying the right kind and amount of reverb is a very learned
and delicate event in itself. Mixing a piece of music is not an
afterthought or secondary task, it is part and parcel of a good
recording. Which is why many people, who don't have the
time/talent/energy to be players/composers *and* be engineers at the
same time take their material to a recording/mixing engineer. There
are people who have spent as much time becoming recording engineers
as you have spent becoming a composer.

> I even tried to use "equalization" instead but, still, couldn't
> find much to improve upon the original.

EQ has nothing to do with reverb.

> Maybe it's the means that _Sound Forge_ or _Cool Edit_ uses
> to "reverb" sounds, but it all seems like something I would just as
> soon leave out, when I go for "precision listening..."

That would also mean that any live performance of your music should
be done in halls lined with acoustic foam panels, or better yet,
anechoic chambers! But you'd never think of that, because it would
sound awful!! Music needs *air* to breath (or usually it does), and a
good application of reverb to a recording is simply standing in for
music as heard in a suitable 'space'. I fail to see how any music -
microtonal or otherwise - would be better without it in some amount.

Just to start the discussion...

Cheers,
Jon

Joe,

Although I wrote one reply, and it has some merit, Jacky's reply is *much* better, has more concrete info, and you should pay about 98% more attention to that reply than my original!

Cheers,
Jon

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "Jonathan M. Szanto" <JSZANTO@A...> wrote:

/makemicromusic/topicId_1751.html#1759

> Joe,
>
> Although I wrote one reply, and it has some merit, Jacky's reply is
*much*
> better, has more concrete info, and you should pay about 98% more
attention
> to that reply than my original!
>
> Cheers,
> Jon

Thanks to *both* of you! I'm going to try some things and I'll get
back on this...

JP

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "jacky_ligon" <jacky_ligon@y...> wrote:

/makemicromusic/topicId_unknown.html#1757

> Joseph,
>
> When it comes to applying reverb to your entire mix....

Jacky, I want to thank you so *very* much for this incredibly
informative post about post-processing. Now that I had time to study
it through carefully, it really is a valuable one for me...

You're the "electronic sound man" that's for sure... so glad you are
participating so generously on this list...

JP