Can reverb be added to a vocal track after the track is recorded or does it have to be added live?

[yeto]

Can reverb be added to a vocal track after the track is recorded or does it have to be added live?

Thank you,
yeto

 

[jude77]

Any effect can be added to a track after it's recorded.  After you record your track just drag the reverb from the effects list (on the right side of the screen) into the FX bin of your track (the FX bin is the large square box on your track).  Here's the "official" explanation from CW:

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021665814-Adding-Audio-Effects-

[jude77]

This link has a picture which may be helpful https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR X2&language=3&help=Arranging.42.html

[scook]

Current help page https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Arranging.53.html

There is a reverb module in the ProChannel too.

[yeto]

19 hours ago, jude77 said:

Any effect can be added to a track after it's recorded.  After you record your track just drag the reverb from the effects list (on the right side of the screen) into the FX bin of your track (the FX bin is the large square box on your track).  Here's the "official" explanation from CW:

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021665814-Adding-Audio-Effects-

Thank you for helping,
yeto

[yeto]

15 hours ago, scook said:

Current help page https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Arranging.53.html

There is a reverb module in the ProChannel too.

Thank you. CbB has soooooo much to offer. Thank you for taking time to share.
yeto

 

[jerrydf]

The next thing you need to consider is a specific bus for the reverb.  Applying reverb to each track is mostly unnecessary and also a big use of CPU.  The usual approach is to send all tracks (vocals, instruments, etc) to a bus, and place the reverb in that bus.  You can change the send level on each individual track. There's lots of threads on this forum dealing with this in more detail. 

Jerry

[Starship Krupa]

The usual DAW workflow is to record everything with no processing and then add it later in the mixing process. The exception is when you have an external hardware unit such as a compressor or spring or plate reverb that you want to use at the time of recording.

In most cases, when you have plug-in effects on a track during the recording process, even though you hear them while you're recording, the actual audio will be recorded "dry," without them.

Once you've got your tracks recorded, that's where, IMO, the real fun starts. Taking those raw materials and shape them into something magical. Tracking is like visiting the lumber yard, mixing is like actually putting the project together.

Welcome to the world of mixing, which is where Cakewalk stomps the living snot out of everything else I've used.

Recording, comping, MIDI editing, most everything else in CbB is....powerful, and versatile, and flexible, but has taken getting used to.

The first time I popped open the Console View, though, it was like "now that's what I'm talking about." Then I hit the button on one of the strips that pops open the ProChannel and it was truly all over.

There is a wealth of tutorials on the web, especially YouTube, about how to approach every aspect of recording and mixing, how to get started with every processor. For the specifics of how to apply the principles to CbB, we on the forum love to show off, I mean share, what we know.

For processing, the basics to start with are EQ, compression, and reverb. Find out how to apply each of them, what they do to your sounds. CbB comes with a great channel EQ in the ProChannel, and the Sonitus and BREVERB reverb plug-ins that come with it are good. The ProChannel has a couple of compressors and the Sonitus is a goodie as well. I might suggest downloading the Meldaproduction Free Bundle to get MEQualizer and MCompressor, as they were not only great to learn on but I still use them on every project.

There will inevitably be one or more people along the way who say "just use your ears," when you ask about how to use these processors, which I think is as helpful as telling someone who wants to learn to drive an automobile "just use your eyes, hands and feet." Forums will have individual conflicting opinions based on what has worked for each individual. I prefer reading or watching tutorials to get the gist and then trying it out on my own material.

There are things that I do that are not "by the book" and others that I probably need to work on.

Jerry's hint about using a bus for reverb and then using sends is a good one. That's the next step to realistic ambience, if your goal is to have your song sound as if it exists in one sonic space. But don't worry about it for now. Throw a little BREVERB on your vocal and have fun.☺

[Tezza]

A good thing when starting out, get a commercial or other song track that sounds like the song or sound you want and put it into your track, you can adjust for tempo if necessary, then get your mix or sound to sound like that, listen to where everything is sitting and how it got there and the type of reverb used and how much etc. Just mute it when you need to hear only your tracks.

It's a good way to learn and get good results quickly. Otherwise, starting from scratch without training, you will be completely lost.  Pro's do it as well.

 

[jude77]

2 hours ago, jerrydf said:

The next thing you need to consider is a specific bus for the reverb.  Applying reverb to each track is mostly unnecessary and also a big use of CPU.  The usual approach is to send all tracks (vocals, instruments, etc) to a bus, and place the reverb in that bus.  You can change the send level on each individual track. There's lots of threads on this forum dealing with this in more detail. 

Jerry

I highly recommend this approach.  Once I figured it out it helped both my mixes and my CPU hit.

[yeto]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

In most cases, when you have plug-in effects on a track during the recording process, even though you hear them while you're recording, the actual audio will be recorded "dry," without them.

This is where I am confused. I already have the vocal track recorded. I then dragged BREVERB over to the FX box. Now when I click play I hear the vocal track plus reverb which is what I want but if I now save the song will it save the reverb as well or will the vocals still be dry?

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, yeto said:

if I now save the song will it save the reverb as well or will the vocals still be dry?

If you save the Cakewalk project and then open it again, your reverb and any other effects will be as you left them. You will be able to remove them if you wish.

It's only when you Export (or bounce) that reverb or other effects get permanently applied to the finished product.

Just a quick explanation: Cakewalk, like most DAW's, performs most of its operations non-destructively, meaning that in Cakewalk, you can split your audio into clips, cut, paste, edit, add effects, delete entire takes and tracks, and your original recorded or imported raw audio tracks will still be sitting on the hard drive, untouched. There are some operations that are destructive, meaning they do change your original audio files, but they are few and are advanced operations like some forms of pitch shifting, tempo matching, and time stretching. Nothing to be concerned with until you get to that level.

The overall concept is that you have this raw audio that you record or import, and while you're doing all this mixing, processing, and editing, Cakewalk just "remembers" all your moves. Then when you tell it to export (or "mix down" or "bounce") the finished piece, it applies all of these things that you've done and spits out a finished audio file in whatever format you tell it to.

And it still leaves the original audio untouched. If you don't like how the song sounds, you can go back and start the mixing process from scratch with entirely different plug-ins. Try a different reverb if you want.

For this reason, it's hard for some DAW users to truly "finish" a mix, because we're always learning how to make it sound better. I'm not kidding. I wish I were.

[yeto]

11 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

(1) Then when you tell it to export (or "mix down" or "bounce") the finished piece, it applies all of these things that you've done and spits out a finished audio file in whatever format you tell it to.

(2)For this reason, it's hard for some DAW users to truly "finish" a mix, because we're always learning how to make it sound better. I'm not kidding. I wish I were.

(1)So when I export audio to mp3 the reverb "sticks" to the dry vocal track?

(2)I know what you mean. It took me years and "to me" a lot of money to find the right guitar, amp and pickups combination that worked for me.

[Starship Krupa]

Right. When you're playing it back in Cakewalk, and you have your reverb on there, a little compression to bring it up front, you've EQ'd out the "honks," everything sounding good and deep and fat and present and with some air, then you can stop and go to File/Export/Audio.

What you export from that dialog should sound just like what you hear on the playback.

Sometimes people have trouble with the Export process. I did for a while. It's one of those things with Cakewalk where so many options led to confusion on my part. I didn't know which ones to choose and picked the wrong ones. But if you have any questions when you get there, we can answer them. Me especially because I had some confusion of my own to sort out.?

One recommendation about exporting is that you consider what you're going to use the file for. If it's just a rough mix to listen to in the truck or give to your band so they can learn the song, MP3 is great. Doesn't take up space on your phone. But if it's to give to a radio station or something where better sound quality is important, a lossless format like FLAC (compressed) or WAV (uncompressed) might be better.

[yeto]

40 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Right. When you're playing it back in Cakewalk, and you have your reverb on there, a little compression to bring it up front, you've EQ'd out the "honks," everything sounding good and deep and fat and present and with some air, then you can stop and go to File/Export/Audio.

What you export from that dialog should sound just like what you hear on the playback.

Sometimes people have trouble with the Export process. I did for a while. It's one of those things with Cakewalk where so many options led to confusion on my part. I didn't know which ones to choose and picked the wrong ones. But if you have any questions when you get there, we can answer them. Me especially because I had some confusion of my own to sort out.?

One recommendation about exporting is that you consider what you're going to use the file for. If it's just a rough mix to listen to in the truck or give to your band so they can learn the song, MP3 is great. Doesn't take up space on your phone. But if it's to give to a radio station or something where better sound quality is important, a lossless format like FLAC (compressed) or WAV (uncompressed) might be better.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to share. All of this has been very helpful. 

Thank you,
yeto