Mahlon, this is a common misconception. In nature, a source  _closer_ to the listener will have a longer delay between the direct signal and the first reflections form surrounding walls - simply because the source will have a larger distance to those walls than another source at the back of a stage, close (at least) to one wall.

... of course, this doesn't contradict the principle "If it sounds right, it is right!", so don't be shy to use the solution you seem to like :-)

 Thanks Dietz for the clarification. Does this hold true in the non-natural world of electronic reverberation? I ask because, unless I'm hearing it wrongly, it does seem to set the sound farther back in space. Now you make me wonder if that is just an illusion to my ears -- because I know that often times, I end up hearing what I want to hear.

Thanks,
Mahlon

edited

Yep, I was also confused when reading this for the first time, but it seems to be true, even for the virtual space.

About Predelay

> sound speed 300m/s > 1m = 3.3ms

Imagine you are standing in the center of a church.

Now clap your hands!

After some ms you will get back the first echos - perhaps from the floor or other close surfaces (after 3-6ms).

Because these reflections arive after a very short time and in nearly every room situation our brain ignores them perhaps

more or less.

Then you will get back the first bundle of reflections from the closest walls and other surfaces (after 15ms - 30ms = 5m - 10m = church?).

These are the "early reflections". Our ears and our brain can "produce" an impression of the room size with this time delay between

direct clap sound and the delayed reflection sound.

So when you increase the predelay time you increase the room size impression which also can give an impression of "farther away" on

the other hand. Of course, there are lots of other parameters which are influencing the building a room impression in our brain such

as the volume balance "direct sound - delayed sound", density of the early reflections... as Dietz mentioned above.

Back to our clap... More and more reflections will now reach your ears. They are mixed into each other. Further you will get

reflections of the reflections... this part of the acoustic feedback we call "reverb".

Beat

I find the speaker placement feature in Altiverb pretty good at placing instruments three dimensionally in a concert hall

@bobulusbillman said:

I find the speaker placement feature in Altiverb pretty good at placing instruments three dimensionally in a concert hall

Hm ... as an avowed fan of AltiVerb I have to admit that this is its only feature that always failed to convince me.

 Hey Dietz - I have always had my predelays on the tails 40ms-50-60 (front to back) - but flipped them per your post.   I must say I do like it.

Thanks and all the best,

Rob

I have opened a discussion on my most recent mix, to which some of your suggestions have been applied. Please lend me your ears, guys! Be gentle, but honest. If that combination is possible at all. 😉

Thanks a lot!
Heiko

Jumping in a little late in this thread... I'll add this to the top-roll-off suggestion: Rather than just cutting highs, I find it sometimes helps to decrease the presence, which means cutting around 4-6 kHz with a rather wide Q. Timpani benefit trememdously from it, for instance; without it, they sound like the conductor is standing on top of them. :-P

@Dietz said:

Hm ... as an avowed fan of AltiVerb I have to admit that this is its only feature that always failed to convince me.

Same here. 

and what about this plug : KickHaas VST

Maybe it will help!

http://www.sknote.it/

Thanks. Looks interesting. Definitely worth a try! Though the band in the audiodemo sounds a lot like me playing in the bathroom. ;)

Cheers, Heiko