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What are members thoughts on REVERB for Shads numbers?

I use the H&CSE. Does anyone think it's a good idea to use a reverb pedal? If so which one do you use/recommend?

Dave

I believe the Shadows did not use reverb much at all, and if so it was added by the recording engineers. its certainly the case that on some numbers , mainly in the Burns era, there is very little echo and a trace of what might be called reverb. The problem is if you combine echo and reverb you will find that the echo can be much diluted and quite indistinct which may be undesirable. I also own a H & C echo which I find is absolutely fine without any reverb. Having said that I do have a TC Electronics reverb unit which is excellent, but if you combine the two you have to be very careful with the level of reverb. Although the H & C does not have any reverb patches as such, it is possible to achieve a reverb - like effect by reducing the echo level and maybe feedback . This works quite well on patches 9 - 12, and I have found surprisingly well on patch 31.
See what you think.
John

Ever since the 1950s, all commercial recordings (other than recordings of classical music) have had reverb artificially added to them. That certainly includes recordings made by Cliff Richard and The Shadows and is by no means limited to lead guitar. The Abbey Road reverb system is legendary, along with its sister-installation at Capitol Records in Hollywood (sometimes alleged to have been designed by Les Paul himself).

Thanks John and Jim for your replies. Yes - I agree patches 9 - 12 produce a good Reverb effect. In fact in another band I use Patch 12 to fill out the sound, and 9 or 11 for some Shads numbers.
Thanks again Dave

I always thought the whole group had reverb added for KonTiki and a few other early tracks...

Listen to the drums on Quatermasster's Stores or (particularly) on Midnight.

Chambers full of reverb!

Studio reverb isn't an "effect" as such. It is used frequently as a way of placing an instrument within the stereo sound picture. Even an instrument or voice recorded flat in mono can be presented stereophonically with a bit of reverb-laden "air" around it.

JimN wrote:Ever since the 1950s, all commercial recordings (other than recordings of classical music) have had reverb artificially added to them. That certainly includes recordings made by Cliff Richard and The Shadows and is by no means limited to lead guitar. The Abbey Road reverb system is legendary, along with its sister-installation at Capitol Records in Hollywood (sometimes alleged to have been designed by Les Paul himself).

In the early years, it was the famous "echo chamber" which was was used for reverb at Abbey Road...



Didier

Reverb is a massive tool in any recording, even though it isn’t always obvious.
Shadows records had considereble but variable amounts used on them, but Hank didn’t add anything other than his echo to his own part. It’s what the engineer did that brings out th magic.
On ‘Move It’ for example, The Shadows wern’t there nor did they exist, but the record sounds like them. Their sound was pre made if you wish.
Also, if you listen to George Harrison’s guitar on ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, there’s a hint of Hank’s or Ernie Shears early rock & Roll sound.
It’s Abbey Road studio that made the sound exactly that way though, as other groups with similar line ups, recording at other studios never sounded as appealing, even with similar guitars, amps and drums. It’s the studio that is the key.

What about FBI? If there is any echo on Hank's guitar it's minimal. The whole recording sounds like it's been processed through the Abbey Road chamber! Echo chamber probably isn't the right phrase really, it should be reverberation chamber!
Echo and reverb are two distinctly different things. What you hear in a cathedral is reverb which is the result of the sound bouncing off the structure and returning to your ear in less than 0.1 of a second, since there are thousands of these reflected sounds coming from all over the interior they combine and the result is one long continuous sound wave. Echo is the result of a sound wave taking LONGER than 0.1 of a second to reach your ears. If the wave reaches your ear at 0.3, 0.5, and 1 seconds, then you will hear three distinct echos one after the other rather like sort of thing you get on an outdoor PA when you hear the sounds from different speakers at slightly different times which is like the 6 heads on a tape ECHO machine. Complicated I know, but I do get frustrated at people who constantly call echo, reverb, and vice versa! I hope this might help to show the difference between the two.

An interesting article about the recording of "Move it" in Abbey Road : https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... rd-move-it

Didier