Short advice for beginners concernig Altiverb/Mix

[Felix Bartelt]

Hi guys,

I don´t want to look like I invented the wheel, but after getting so much help from this forum, I have three advices for beginners, that helped me a lot with my mix:

1. When using Altiverb positioning tracks, I found out that the small color-wheel next to the direct-gain has immense effect on the sound. In my default-setting it was set fully to IR. Since I was using different altiverbs for positioning and tail and both were set to color IR instead of flat, my instruments didn´t sound really "clear".

After turning it to fully "flat" in most of my positioning tracks, but keeping it IR in the reverb-tail, the sound is much better.

2. This might sound obvious to most of U, but it took me quite long, to figure out, how to get my mix close to known recordings.

Before, I was comparing my whole orchestra with the recording, but never got the results I wanted.
But now I´m looking for excerpts, where only one instrument is playing, so I can just adjust all settings for this instrument, realizing that some instruments also need a litte eq to sound like the recording.

3. For my taste the Teldex-Studios (10m) sound very nice for a Starwars-like piece, if U set make the room larger. In my case 150 % sounds nice.

So far from my side. As I said, it´s more or less for beginners. But maybe some of U have some hints too.

[Alex O]

Hi Felix,

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and experiences here!
And I don't think it's that obvious at all, seeing the many posts on this topic here, and at the Audioease forum.

I'm using Altiverb 6 XL in Nuendo for a month or so, and I still have a lot to learn, that much is sure!

After doing some experiments with it, I intuitively came to the following way of working, needless to say it's probably not thé way, but it works for me:

I use it as an insert on separate audio tracks, or as an insert on group tracks to which I route the appropriate spearate tracks. Occassionally I use an "overall" master Altiverb on the master track, depending my needs.

Until now I've never fiddled with the color button, early reflections, tail etc.
I just use:
- stage positioning
- mix (to get a more direct sound for certain instruments, I often set it at 3 o'clock)
- reverb time
- reverb size
- eq (rarely)

That usually gets me where I want.
Needless to say experimenting with the other parameters could probably lead to even better results. But for now, I'm already very overwhelmed by the possibilities of these few controls in combination with all the wonderful IR's on board!

Cheers,

Alex