# Built in Reverb in Virtual Instruments plus Valhala



## GingerMaestro (Apr 9, 2019)

Apologies, this is probably a very basic newbie question, but I have just bought Valhalla reverb to use in my mixes along with my various libraries, predominantly Embertone and Project Sam. Are there any rules regarding the use of the built in reverbs on the Instruments when using an external reverb like Valhalla. ie do you just turn the VI reverb OFF (ie dry) and send everything to Valhalla, so everything sounds like it’s in the same room ? or use a mixture of the two. Any basic advice would be gratefully received. Thanks Ginger


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## dog1978 (Apr 9, 2019)

I always turn off the reverb of Kontakt, because it uses CPU, too. But I use the room sound.


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## Vardaro (Apr 9, 2019)

To avoid a "room in a room" mess I turn off VI and Kontakt reverb.
If there is some "room" already, ("damp" rather than "wet"?!), I only add "tail" without the early reflections.


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## richardt4520 (Apr 9, 2019)

There are no rules other than does it sound the way you want it to? I'd say good but that's subjective and also for some things, you don't want it to if that's the effect you're going for. lol My personal preference with orchestral libraries is to use the closer mics on most libraries and a reverb plugin to put them somewhat in the same space unless it's brass, where the space is a huge part of the sound (Cinebrass, Forzo, for instance). Then I use a reverb setting that's close or complimentary to the brass library. There are numerous ways to approach it though and people get amazing results with all sorts of approaches though.


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## GingerMaestro (Apr 9, 2019)

Thank you, this is really useful. Does anyone have any “basic” Valhalla Room Reverb settings that would get me going as a basic template for a general “standard” orchestral mix ? Thank you


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## bill5 (Apr 9, 2019)

I always turn off VI reverbs and never liked the concept at all. If I want reverb, I'll use a plugin that specializes in that. It'd be like KFC selling burgers. Besides there are enough reverbs to choose from as it is, the last thing I need is another one to figure out.


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## barbie (Apr 10, 2019)

Are there any rules regarding the use of the built in reverbs on the Instruments when using an external reverb like Valhalla. ie do you just turn the VI reverb OFF (ie dry) and send everything to Valhalla, so everything sounds like it’s in the same room ?


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## robgb (Apr 10, 2019)

There are different approaches, depending on what libraries you're using. If you're mixing libraries, you will get a variety of room sounds from dry to very wet that you'll have to deal with. Unfortunately, some libraries were recorded with that ambience built in, so it becomes a challenge to get other libraries into the same space. You can't simply turn the wetness off and start from scratch. One technique I use is to add Acon Deverberation plugin to the very wet libraries to tame the room tails a bit. I then use a combination of room mics that I created myself using algorithmic and convolution reverbs, send each instrument to those and adjust for desired wetness.


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## CGR (Apr 10, 2019)

barbie said:


> Are there any rules regarding the use of the built in reverbs on the Instruments when using an external reverb like Valhalla. ie do you just turn the VI reverb OFF (ie dry) and send everything to Valhalla, so everything sounds like it’s in the same room ?


Why have you just quoted a section of the original OP's post?


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## dog1978 (Apr 18, 2019)

GingerMaestro said:


> Thank you, this is really useful. Does anyone have any “basic” Valhalla Room Reverb settings that would get me going as a basic template for a general “standard” orchestral mix ? Thank you


Large Hall is where I start


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## StevenOBrien (Apr 18, 2019)

If you mean built in reverb FX, I generally turn those off unless they're giving a room sound to a dry instrument. If you mean room sound, I generally keep instruments at their factory mix settings unless I need to change it.

I like the Ulm Munster preset in ValhallaRoom. I'd recommend throwing it on the master bus, but leaving the Mix at 0% for as long as possible. If it sounds fine without extra reverb, don't add any. I think there's an all too common tendency to saturate everything in way too much reverb.

Don't overthink it. I spent many years stressing about making everything in my template sound like it was in the same room. Nowadays I just throw a patch on with its default settings, and I think everything sounds much better that way.


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