Reverb vs Soundstage

[herb]

Having listened to some well known to me material on YouTube through a PC and Grado phones I am distracted by a lot of reverb, This is not presented on my main system, though admitting that it is rather flat earth. How easy is to add reverb at the mastering stage? How commonly is it done? I know from my Quad 57s experience with BBC Radio 3 broadcasts that reverb is added but that it is important for the soundstage illusion.

How important is soundstage to the HiFi experience admitting that imaging is a good test of equipment. Most of my listening is to classical music.

 

[Tony L]

Do you have any specific examples?

PS Adding reverb to any audio file is easy. You don’t need anything more than a basic DAW such as Apple’s Garageband. The choice of FX options a package like that offers, even running on a smartphone, is way more than say Trevor Horn ever had at Sarm studios in the 1980s!

 

[herb]

Thanks Tony interesting

This Mingus album from 1957

I know things get complicated with live opera.

 

[gustav_errata]

Also, in general it's much easier to hear spatial effects like reverb and delay in headphones. When mixing, it's good to check that they're not overpowering in headphones. Old recordings probably didn't take that into consideration.

 

[Tony L]

This Mingus album from 1957

I’ve got a ‘70s Japanese copy of that one, I’ll dig it out sometime. With early jazz there can be some quite profound differences between the stereo and mono issues, so make sure you are comparing like with like there.

One quite famous example of reverb being added is Miles Davis‘ soundtrack to the film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud which was released in two versions, one under that name, the other as ‘Jazz Track’. One flooded with reverb (I think the film version), the other fairly dry. It was a live recording, he apparently recorded it in real time whilst watching the film. Its a great album in either form.