Reverb Calculator — FX1/FX2 Setup by Genre and BPM

Genre

Vocal

Tempo

Drums

Reverb FX1 · short

Reverb FX2 · long

Set the vocal's send to 0 and, listening to the vocal inside the whole mix, raise the FX1 return until switching it on and off makes an obvious difference; same for FX2 with FX1 muted. Every other source takes its number from the table.

Source	Send to FX1	Send to FX2
Vocal	—	—
Backing vocals	—	—
Snare	—	—
Kick	—	—
Percussion	—	—
Drum bus (all kit)	—	—
Bass	—	—
Rhythm guitar	—	—
Solo / lead guitar	—	—
Pads / keys	—	—

The method

The way we set up reverb in a mix: we set the reverb level for the vocal, and every other instrument takes its relative level from the table.

Pick the genre, vocal, tempo and drum setup at the top.
Build two FX buses in the DAW: FX1 short, FX2 long. A reverb on each, Mix 100 %, the rest of the knobs from the card.
Set the vocal’s send to FX1 at 0 — exactly unity, post-fader. We never touch it again.
Mute FX2, pull the FX1 return fader all the way down and raise it slowly, listening to the vocal inside the whole mix. Then check it with the return’s Mute button: on, the reverb is there; off, it is gone — and you hear that clearly, without listening for it. We are not after the threshold of audibility, we are after that difference. If you have to listen for it, the return is still too low.
Same for FX2, with FX1 muted: send at 0, raise the return to the same clear difference.
Open both buses and set the sends for every other source — post-fader as well.

Change the tempo or the vocal and the Decay changes with it, so the bus levels get set again. Change the genre and the reverb type changes too, and so do the other sources' sends: a rhythm guitar going from pop to metal drops to OFF on both buses. The vocal’s send stays at zero, always.

We are Darwin’s Cat, a band. We made this for ourselves, and for everyone else who makes music.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why use reverb in a mix at all?

A dry recording sounds like the instruments are right against your ear, in no room at all. Reverb puts them in a room together. You can hear that they are playing in one place, some of them closer, some further back. Without it the mix is flat. With it you get depth.

Why not just set the reverb by ear?

Reverb is the one thing your ears stop hearing honestly. Within a few minutes you stop noticing it. It starts to feel like there is too little, you add some more, and the mix drifts into mud without you hearing it happen. The tool gives you a starting point instead: two buses, the settings named after your own plugin, and a table of send levels relative to the vocal.

What is a send, and what does 0 (unity) mean?

A send is the control on a track that copies its sound to a reverb. The track itself keeps playing exactly as before. 0, also called unity, means the copy leaves at the same level as the track: nothing added, nothing taken away. It is a level relative to the track, not an absolute one — below zero the copy is quieter, above zero louder.

Does it have to be a vocal?

Usually yes — the vocal is what carries the song. But the method works the same way from a lead guitar, a sax or a violin: the reference is whichever part the listener follows first. Everything else is measured from it.

What is an FX bus, and why use one?

An FX bus is a separate channel with one reverb on it, shared by every track that sends to it. Tracks send copies of their sound, and the reverb comes back through the return. The song then has two shared spaces instead of ten different ones, and each is controlled from a single fader.

Should the send be pre-fader or post-fader?

Post-fader. Turn a track down and its reverb comes down with it, so the balance between dry and wet stays put. Pre-fader, the reverb stays where it was, and a quiet track ends up drowning in it.

How far up should the return go?

Up to a difference we hear at once, not up to a threshold. We click the return's Mute button: unmuted, the reverb is there; muted, it is gone. That difference has to be obvious immediately, with no listening for it. If we have to listen for it, we raise the return further.

Does this method work for everyone?

Yes, as a starting point. After that the song decides: some parts want less reverb, some want more. What the method gives you is a fixed point, so you can tell how far you have moved and in which direction.

I only have one reverb plugin. What do I do?

Load it twice. One plugin, two instances: one on FX1 with the short settings, one on FX2 with the long ones. Short and long reverbs differ by their settings, not by the plugin they run in.

Why do the numbers change when I change the tempo?

A reverb tail lives in the time of the song. The faster the tempo, the less room there is between notes, and the sooner the tail starts landing on whatever plays next. So faster songs get shorter tails.

The reverb is swallowing the words. What do I change?

The pre-delay, which is the gap between the sound itself and the reverb behind it. Make the gap longer and the tail steps back from the word, so the lyrics stay clear. The pre-delay is on the card, so start there. The vocal's send stays where it is: if the pre-delay was not enough, bring the return down instead.

My reverb has no low cut or high cut. What do I do?

Put an EQ on the FX bus next to the reverb and make the cuts from the card there. We suggest starting with it placed before the reverb.

How should I split the drums?

With a programmed kit it is simple: the snare goes to its own channel, the kick stays in the bus. That is what we do, and the numbers in the table assume it. More tracks change nothing about the principle: in a mix, drums are three things — the kit, the kick and the snare. Toms can ride with the snare or stay with the kit. Programmed or recorded, the principle is the same.

Why are the kick and bass dry, and what is the 300 Hz about?

Low frequencies smear inside a reverb. A kick or a bass sent into one turns into a rumble that covers the whole song, so they stay out of it. If your drums are on a single bus and you cannot take the kick out, protect the reverb with a filter instead: the low cut moves up to 300 Hz.

Can I add reverb to the whole mix during mastering?

No. During mastering the reverb covers everything at once, including the kick and bass that need to stay dry. You get a general rumble instead of a room, and there is no way to take it off later. Reverb belongs in the mix, on individual tracks.

Can I use the same preset for every song?

Yes. If the album is consistent, one genre and similar tempos, a single pair of buses will carry the whole record and hold it together. Where one song is clearly slower or faster than the rest, rebuild the pair for that song.

Which reverbs do you use yourselves?

LX480 Essentials and ValhallaVintageVerb. Our songs are mixed on those two. Before them we used a Yamaha REV-X, which is also good. Pro-R 2 and LX480 v4 come out less often: they are fun, but more for special effects than for mixing. The hardware Lexicons get used constantly, just not in a mix — on monitoring and live.