Tune a reverb to the key of a song using a comb filter

[Reasonistas]

I follow Morgan Page's @MPQuickTips on Twitter and today he give this tip "Tune a reverb to the key of a song using a comb filter". Has anyone ever tried this in Reason? If so, how did you accomplish it?

I will try passing the reverb through Thor's comb filter or the kHs Comb Filter and tune it to key of the song (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies).

MP Quick Tips.png (141.99 KiB) Viewed 2451 times

[Djstarski]

TBH i do not think its necessary to do this . First time i`ve ever heard of this and there is enough things to control in a mix already with messing around tuning a reverb . But if its something that others want to mess with , go for it .

[Loque]

I like this idea. Never tried this. Keep in mind, that afaik its mono only. You cannot tune one filter differently. You need tge Distributor to do this polyphonic. Well, maybe if you use the filter in Thor were you send the Reverb in. This also requires the instrument within the same Combinator and set KBD on, if available for that filter. If there is no KBD, you can try the mod matrix,but this is mono again.

I am not really familar with what the comp filter does, but you can send note signals as CV to control any filter.

[nooomy]

What exactly are you tuning? A reverb is just a bunch of delays of a sound?

Its like tuning a delay?? Eeh

[Loque]

What exactly are you tuning? A reverb is just a bunch of delays of a sound?

Its like tuning a delay?? Eeh

He wants to tune the filter. Got it?

[Djstarski]

What exactly are you tuning? A reverb is just a bunch of delays of a sound?

Its like tuning a delay?? Eeh

He wants to tune the filter. Got it?

This post is about tuning reverb with a comb filter .

[Djstarski]

TBH i do not think its necessary to do this . First time i`ve ever heard of this and there is enough things to control in a mix already without messing around with tuning a reverb . But if its something that others want to mess with , go for it .

[Galaxy]

I think he means use a comb filter as a resonator. Such a douch, try to offer a tip to your followers with little info to even execute it or understand context.

This is the exact type of useless advice that helps no one but the poster to gain more followers. It's like watching Dave Pensado, as useful as some of his stuff is, he never explains why he's doing what he does, "just use this $300 plugin and turn it up, don't know why, but it sounds pretty cool doesn't it?"

[Buddaka]

This is an interesting technique, never heard or thought of this. I think it's like shifting the frequency of the reverb using a comb filter. Makes me wanna put Echobode or Polar in my send's reverb. Cool stuff, thanks for sharing!

[nooomy]

But IF you play a sound that is correctly tuned the reverb will also be correctly tuned.

The reverb is just a bunch of delays of the original sound. Just turn off all modulation and you don't have to worry about your tuning of your reverb :p

I wouldn't call this tuning. I would say it more like

"putting a comb filter in the same freq as the fundamental key of the song on the reverb is a cool effect"

[Peter]

But IF you play a sound that is correctly tuned the reverb will also be correctly tuned.

I think you're misunderstanding the meaning of "key of the track" (edit: or that percussive elements need to be tuned to the tonic in order to be "correctly tuned" when this is not necessary). If you have a percussive element hitting at G# and the song is in C minor, he is saying you should tune the reverb of that G# percussive element to C! I personally don't agree with this because I don't want pretty progressive house songs. Techno and tech house oriented producers crave dissonance (or at least they should). If you want a better tip, I'd say to tune your actual percussive elements to form triads instead of fiddling with reverb, but I won't waste my time with that!

[normen]

What exactly are you tuning? A reverb is just a bunch of delays of a sound?

Its like tuning a delay?? Eeh

Hm yeah, I don't really get it either. A reverb is by definition "tuned" to whatever goes into it. Only thing I can see happening is that when the song actually plays a tonic chord (i.e. the root note) you get a resonance effect and its louder... Add to that the comb filtering happening anyway in a reverb can be altered by its parameters (i.e. room size etc).

Any sound examples for what this is supposed to do?

[Peter]

Hm yeah, I don't really get it either. A reverb is by definition "tuned" to whatever goes into it. Only thing I can see happening is that when the song actually plays a tonic chord (i.e. the root note) you get a resonance effect and its louder...

Oh whoops I thought Morgan Page was specifically talking about percussive reverbs for some reason (which would make sense)! What the hell?! Yeah he should've been more specific! I'm going to sleep now.

[Reasonistas]

I'm as confused as all of you, hence the thread. I'm intrigued by these techniques, even if they serve little purpose to improve a mix. I will try to find an example and share it here if I find anything.

[Ocean of Waves]

But IF you play a sound that is correctly tuned the reverb will also be correctly tuned.

I think you're misunderstanding the meaning of "key of the track" (edit: or that percussive elements need to be tuned to the tonic in order to be "correctly tuned" when this is not necessary). If you have a percussive element hitting at G# and the song is in C minor, he is saying you should tune the reverb of that G# percussive element to C! I personally don't agree with this because I don't want pretty progressive house songs. Techno and tech house oriented producers crave dissonance (or at least they should). If you want a better tip, I'd say to tune your actual percussive elements to form triads instead of fiddling with reverb, but I won't waste my time with that!

I agree with you on this, although the technique intrigues me, I want to abuse it!
To me Morgan Page's music is so over the top sanitized, you could eat from it. His music doesn't tickle me but is mixed flawless.

[Peter]

I agree with you on this, although the technique intrigues me, I want to abuse it!

Oh now I'm interested! Tuning a reverb, perhaps just momentarily, to the seventh degree or second degree of the scale to create some tension seems intriguing!

[Peter]

I'm intrigued by these techniques, even if they serve little purpose to improve a mix. I will try to find an example and share it here if I find anything.

Tuning a reverb would be more of a musical and compositional choice in my opinion rather than improving a mix. Just like how they recommend tuning kicks to the first or fifth of the scale, although once again, dissonance-craving techno producers might tune it to the seventh to create tension with the tonic bass. That is a compositional and musical decision. As for the reverb, the mixing aspect is deciding what kind of reverb and how much to apply of course then maybe give the reverb its own mix channel to make the compositional tweaks.

?

[Peter]

Anyways, I'll see what I can pull off with the kHs Resonator RE.

Edit Addition: I would initially try this with percussion reverb and then set the resonator accordingly. Melodic elements might be overkill but could be worth a try.