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Essentially you want something that combines either in parallel or in sequence the delay -> reverb so mimic various rooms.  Using a tool to get the correct bouncing and frequency range after the sound bounces off different walls will give you the ability to program each of these effectively mimicking a room.  There are several VSTs and tools that do this and you can create your own fx chains to do something similar. Running them in parallel is a quick way to trick the ear to think it's in a room - however, the correct way would be to set up several to mimic each surface in the room or to use the profile tool I mentioned - which will take in the initial delay and the spread after the first bounce/reflection.  Either way, it's really using both delay and reverb to mimic the physics of how sound bounces off (delay) and spreads/decays (reverb) off each surface in your room.  I understand that the tooling is different, but to science, it's the same, we're just mimicking the behavior with something that decays and something that repeats with less volume (and other effects). I hope this helps!

I have a final problem with my newly finished Crisis Core remix, where I added some tempo automations to slow down the final chords gradually from 121 bpm to 115 bmp in 6 fine steps (120 bpm, 119 bpm, 118 bpm, 117 bpm, 116 bpm and 115 bpm). But this caused some sort of subliminal but still noticeable crackling noises (in the project as well as in the exported audio file) at the points with the tempo change markers. I think I've already found the cause behind this problem, but maybe some of you can contribute some further information, experience or maybe even a solution to even circumvent the nasty sound artefacts. The problem sounds like this:   Tempo Automations - Crackling Noises.mp3 It's strange that the crackling noises in the exported audio files are always in this little area with the tempo automations, but from export to export or from replay to replay the noises are slightly different (in one exported audio file the crackling noises might be less loud and much more around the first tempo change markers, but in another exported audio file the noises are louder and more around the final tempo markers). There are no hints that it could be due to some hardware issues. And my PC is also pretty powerful (i-6700 processor system - 4 cores with 3,4 GHz base frequency as well as 8 threads in total, 32 GB DDR-4 RAM, still far over 1 TB of free HDD space and a good Steinberg UR44 audio interface). I also checked the settings in my DAW, already used the highest ASIO buffer size and tried out all kinds of settings in the resampling, bouncing and dithering section - but no difference regarding the crackling noises in the area with the tempo change markers. ... The thing is, that these crackling noises seem to be only caused by the source signal. The aux reverb sends played alone didn't contain any unwanted noises, as you can hear in this audio sample:   Tempo Automations - No Crackling Noises In The Aux Reverb Send Tracks.mp3 And after focusing more on the source signals of the two instruments (harp playing the melody and acoustic guitar playing the chords), I found out that only one of the two instruments causes this problem with the clicks or crackling noises - the harp:   Tempo Automations - Crackling Noises Only In The Harp Track.mp3 The acoustic guitar, on the other hand, is completely free of crackling noises during the final tempo automations, as you can hear in the following audio sample:   Tempo Automations - No Crackling Noises In The Acoustic Guitar Track.mp3 ... So could this be a VSTi-based issue (even with a VSTi that was created for this DAW?), or is it rather a problem caused by something completely different? ... As it seems, this phenomenon of crackling noises during tempo automations seems to annoy users of all kinds of DAWs and samplers: https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=248259#p1815867 https://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=306707 https://harderstate.com/viewtopic.php?t=13757 https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=174397 https://www.logicprohelp.com/forums/topic/122298-clicks-and-pops-during-tempo-changes/ https://forum.synapse-audio.com/viewtopic.php?p=118754&sid=9f368a4bf687d83282f07bf8d1ff33a1 https://vi-control.net/community/threads/kontakt-delay-clicking-with-tempo-changes.18614/ … And it was right in the latter links that I came across the point that these clicking noises during the tempo automations can be caused by delay effects. Indeed, this makes sense, which is why in the end only the harp is affected by these unwanted sound artifacts. In contrast to the acoustic guitar, I have activated an internal delay directly in the VSTi interface of the harp. I also use a slight delay for the acoustic guitar - but this is added via a separate aux send together with some convolution reverb. And as a separate aux send, the delay effect doesn't seem to cause any problems during the tempo automations, no matter how much I turn up the delay in all its settings. So if I deactivate the internal delay in the harp VSTi interface, the crackling noises are gone as well, as you can hear in the last audio sample:   Tempo Automations - No More Crackling Noises In The Harp Track After Deactivating Internal Delay From Harp VSTi Interface.mp3 … Why it is that direct delay effects in the source signal track cause problems or crackling noises with tempo automations, but delay effects that are added via aux sends apparently work without problems at the critical points with tempo change markers, is completely beyond my technical or digital imagination. Perhaps someone can gently explain this to the readers, even if they are not the presidents of the local math and physics clubs or some die-hard computer scientists with a degree in military or space technology. This is a bit frustrating, especially since I can't really reproduce the original delay from the VSTi with a comparable delay as an aux send. It somehow always sounds different (even with similar settings), which could perhaps be due to the signal chain in the digital process sequence, which apparently produces a different sound with the VSTi's internal delay. I have also just found out that even with an aux send delay for the harp, if I turn it up properly, it can also produce crackling noises - much less crackling noises than with the VSTi's internal delay, but still perceivable crackling noises. … So if this ends up in the final question "Rather delay effects or rather tempo automations?", I would tend to go with the delay effects instead of the few unremarkable tempo automations for the final chords in this case. Maybe I find a circumvention to slow down the last chords by shifting and stretching the last MIDI notes a bit out of the timing pattern. But if you have a better solution for this problem, please let me know. ))    

Howdy, folks. You may recognize me as Zack! on the OC ReMix discord. I've been enjoying OCR since roughly 2002, and a few months ago I was reminiscing about the OCR podcast in its various incarnations and how much I missed them. I voiced this in the 25th birthday hangout, and @Liontamer encouraged me to get off my butt and just restart the pod. So I did. Check it out here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2445308.rss Ad-free, not trying to make a single cent off of this, and I keep the language tame so that you can listen with kids if you want to. I'm very much an amateur at this, hoping to get better at it as I go. I learn a little more every recording and editing session, so fingers crossed a few more of these and thing will be half decent. If you're reading this, episode 2 is out, so go grab it if you're interested. I'm aware that a few of the voiceovers sound, well, awful. I had the wrong mic selected, didn't notice until edit time, and I have a cold now so my voice is all funny. I figure you guys can deal with a couple minutes of webcam mic. The format is roughly news, new remixes with my worthless commentary on them, some random segment that strokes my ego, and then one final Russian Remix Roulette track. I remember them rolling a die and playing a RRR track on the very first incarnation of the OCR pod, and I wanted to keep it going. Question for the powers that be: any objections to me using the OCR logo as the pod's thumbnail?

I think we should make a better distinction between reverb and delay. Reverb creates impressions of more or less natural reflections in a simulated space or environment with variable parameters such as room size, damping, dryness/wetness (ratio of the loudness of the source signal to the loudness of the reverb) for a specific acoustic source signal, an instrument for example. Delay, on the other hand, is a time-based effect that generates multiplications of the source signal in subsequent intervals according to defined parameters (such as the duration of an interval, feedback or decrease in the loudness of the signal from interval to interval or maybe some special behavior of the delay effects in the stereo image with ping-pong delay, for example). This thread is primarily concerned with the delay effect and its possibilities for simulating specific realistic room conditions. And I may have simply overestimated the potential of a delay effect in this respect, especially when it comes to the exact positioning of a source signal in a defined simulated room. I almost think that a delay effect is more about creating a sense of certain distances to reflective surfaces such as walls, ceilings or, for example, the heavily delayed echo in a valley surrounded by mountains without getting specific information about the position of the signal source and the direction and path of the sound, but only information about the distance that the main part of the sound travels from the signal source via the reflective surfaces back to the source signal). In addition, Delay can perhaps also simulate the characteristics of certain surfaces (for example, very smooth surface structures that emit strong reflections in many subsequent intervals or rather dull, absorbent surfaces that damp sound waves so strongly from the first impact that hardly any audible echos can be perceived afterwards). Furthermore, delay can produce a noticeable broadening of a signal or a kind of chorus effect if the interval time (i.e. the delay time) for the subsequent signals is greatly reduced. But Delay as a stand-alone effect obviously cannot create the impression of complex spatial relationships or even provide concrete indications of the exact positioning of the source signal in a room or other location, which is why delay as a solo effect sounds more artificial than natural. ... On the other hand, I came across a very interesting thing with the delay effect that could be more relevant for mixing and clarity in the mix. I found this out the other days during the rather lengthy final checks of my Crisis Core remix, which included checking all tracks, aux sends, plugins, settings and MIDI objects again and which is now finally complete apart from a small problem (cracking noises in the newly added tempo automations in the final chords). For example, in certain parts of the soundtrack there were tracks with instruments that were opposite each other in the panorama and both had a delay effect. And I changed the delay parameters until I found the best possible settings in terms of clarity in the mix in line with my sound design intentions, which resulted in a primarily more mirror-symmetrical arrangement of the delay parameters and a another specific setting for delay times of the left and right side in a stereo delay plugin. So, in this experiment I found out that I achieved the best clarity in the mix if I make the delay settings like this: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) For the instrument that is panned more to the right side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms) on the right side (so you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms) on the opposing left side (so you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) 2) For the instrument that is panned more to the left side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms, or maybe 330 ms this time) on the left side (same purpose like in the first example above - you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms, or maybe only 190 ms this time) on the opposing right side (same purpose like in the first example above - you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) ... Nevertheless, if you really want to have a rather chorus-like short delay with only 50 ms on the right side where also the instrument is located in the panorama (and with the longer delay time on the other side) according to your sound design vision, then you should rather go for this setting (but maybe you can turn down the feedback of the delay for the other side a bit or make the delay time even shorter on the left side in this case). But if some delay effects don't follow a more specific purpose in your sound design vision and are only supposed to add a greater feeling of distance for your instrument, voice, synth or other audio source, then try at least to balance out delay effects against each other in the panorama if at least two instruments with delay effects play simultaneously at some points in your soundtrack. And sometimes, a little bit less of overwhelming effects can be the greater blessing for the clarity of the mix. Especially in terms of a clean mix, it is crucial to know exactly what a certain plugin effect is doing in the mix in the context of the source signal and how it's interfering with the whole soundscape. ... This might have literally delayed my ambitions for remixes and mixes a bit, but I hope this can at least help someone figure out how to set good delay parameters for a better mix. ...   If it's more about reverb than delay, rather post it in this thread: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/49135-creating-a-realistic-impression-of-depth-in-stereo-mixes/ That could indeed be very interesting. ))

Undertale - Ruins Remix