Mix engineers can often find themselves fixing problems in the client’s audio before they can get to work. With baked-in reverb on stems and tracks being one of them, we show one way to dry up audio effectively with just a handful of controls…
In Summary
Zynaptiq UNVEIL’s Focus control can be used to effectively remove or reduce reverb that has been printed into stems and tracks. Here we demonstrate its effectiveness and explain some of its other controls.
Going Deeper
Self-Recordists
The changes in the studio landscape of the last twenty years or so have included a big shift in who does what. Before this, recording musicians were made up of either enthusiast or semi-pro artists with access to more limited gear than that used by pros. For everything else, there was the professional recording engineer.
Back in the present, even big names often find themselves at both ends of the mic lead, with the awesome power of the DAW at their service. Although there isn’t much that cannot be done in the computer, it goes that musicians can’t know everything when it comes to the intricacies of flying an entire mix. Step forward the ears and skill of a dedicated engineer.
Picking Up The Pieces
Artists can make a great job of recording themselves, but the mix engineer receiving stems or tracks will often have to navigate some mix decisions that have been baked into their client’s precious audio. While technical surprises such as noise or clipped audio can crop up, far more often it’s artistic decisions that need to be worked with. With stems, it’s not uncommon for over-generous reverb to show up; luckily it’s possible to dry up audio after the event with the right tool.
Reverb Rehab
Zynaptiq are known for their collection of audio utilities and intelligent tools to fix, morph, or otherwise manipulate audio in ways that go beyond traditional treatments. UNVEIL is billed by them as a real-time de-reverberation and signal focussing treatment; in this role it can work well for soaking up extra ambiences imprinted within stems and tracks.
In the video we use it to rein in a cavernous snare reverb in a drum stem as well as the same treatment baked into the backing vocals. We show how its Focus control may be all that’s needed to get back the desired amount of reverb. We also highlight its other features that can be used to refine the results.
Home And Dry?
While very few de-reverb processes can be completely transparent, UNVEIL works well to restore reverb levels as the mix engineer sees fit. This works especially well on longer reverbs with a big late component for UNVEIL to grab onto, although tighter more reflective ambiences can also be helped as well with a little investigation of the controls.
With self-recorded productions no longer restricted to hobbyism or demos for ‘proper’ recordings, artists have a lot to get right in the studio. Luckily, with a second pair of engineering ears with access to tools such as UNVEIL, it’s now possible to ask the question “Would you like some more vocal on your reverb?”…
A Word About This Article
As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.