Which reverb scenario is the more useful, more "musical'?

Which reverb scenario is generally considered the more useful and the more "musical":

• a room which returns lower frequencies earlier than the higher frequencies, or

• a room which returns higher frequencies earlier than it does the lower frequencies

thanks, ras

I am no expert in reverb, but it seems to me that both those are suboptimal.

Rooms definitely have a frequency dependent component in their reverb response due to the different reflectivity of different materials and shapes, but I don't see why creating a reverb that delays signals dependent on their spectrum is desirable. OTOH, this type of delay can be a useful effect, and I think that is at least partially what an Aphex Aural exciter does.

In a real room all frequencies over the full spectrum travel at the same speed, and therfor arrive at the same time at our ear, this no matter at what point you stand in the room.

I never seen an artifical reverberator who has a frequency dependent delay. Also it would get complicated to split the frequency of a single reverberator into bands, and modifying the arrival time of the reflexion seperate for each band.

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I'm with Angelo on this - - normally frequency dependence in a reverb refers primarily to amplitude, not time delay. Are you connecting Spektral Delay in series with your reverb plug or something?

Which reverb scenario is generally considered the more useful and the more "musical":

 

at different rates with regards to frequency.

yes, they travel at teh same speed, but the high freqs will attenuate more as time goes on, as compared to the lower freq.

SPEKTRAL DELAY is very groovy , but that's not what I'm working with.

Again, I'm working with Voxengo IMPULSE MODELER, the very neat little proggie that allows you to design your own virtual reverb rooms by designing the "floorplan" on a grid.... a room can be as simple (just a box) or as complex (a many-walled silo filled with carefully positioned reflector walls and baffles) as you like.

Before you design a virtual room, you have to define your Materials, your "building materials", like glass, wood, cement, plaster, or any other "fantasy" material you like.

When you design a Material, you tell IMPULSE MODELER which frequencies the Material will attenuate greatly, and which frequencies will be attenuated only slightly (if at all).

Because one can design "fantasy" Materials, one can create a Wall which reflects and attenuates quite specific frequencies up and down the audible spectrum. (If all this sounds like fun, it is.) basically you create a "bright" or "dark" room, etc.

I guess what I'm asking (and I will fully admit, as I've done numerous times on this Forum, that I am pretty much a newbie when it comes to MP&E Theory, though I've spent aeons as a performing musician) is, if I were to create my ideal Vocal Chamber with IM, what kind of "fantasy" material could I make Walls with which would reflect my voice as nicely and as musically as possible? My rough guess is, you'd want to attenuate frequencies which are obnoxious and let ring the ones which are pleasing (or, to be precise, the frequencies which convey the mood or meaning of the song at hand).

Are you saying that all frequencies of sound, up-and-down the audible spectrum, travel at exactly the same rate of speed? But they attenuate in amplitude at differing rates? Who knew.

Yep, it's sort of like the speed of light - - it isn't absolute, it varies slightly depending on the media it passes through, but it does not change with frequency. For sound in air, it is 1100 ft/sec (or, more usefully, ~1 foot /mSec).

Try telling it you want rough surfaced limestone. That's what I have on 2 walls of my studio. It sounds fabulous!