Maybe Zoom ms70cdr would be nice for this purpose ?
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I keep an Eventide Blackhole pedal on an Octatrack stereo output. Gives a density that helps fill things in.
That density often (but not always) veils any track reverbs I used as well, and so allows me to reassign those reverb FX to EQ or compressors instead, and so the result is an even better sounding mix.
iZotope Ozone used to have a great mid side mastering reverb but v4 was the last version that had it. I’ve made an Ableton effect rack with some M4L mid/side decoders and NI Raum to get the functionality back. Mostly using it for mastering jobs of very dry tracks that come in.
I have some mastering clients that have DAT recordings from the late 90s, vinyls they put out before they could afford a reverb, or a mixer with aux sends. Wanting to re-release things digitally with an updated sound. Subtle Reverb of the side band only, above 800hz, works just about every time.
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Thanks. So I’m gonna have to try this, for sure. I like to keep my stuff dry, but wouldn’t mind a bigger room for that dryiness … uh … yeah.
So what kind of settings are we talking here? Small room? Very low mix amount? Short decay? Filter out the low frequencies?
I have to say that the Mercury7 is my favorite reverb. Currently on loan to my brother, but I’m antsy to get it back one of these days. Right now, I’m trying out subtle application of the red panda context v2. It’s on stereo cue 1 from the SiX, but I usually have all track sends on with various send amounts. I think it helps with cohesion, and space. Plus, you can swing that send knob over to Max for funsies, when those snare hits come through.
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Yea, one of the reasons I bought the Blackhole was the 2 band eq.
I cut the lows, and adjust the highs in real-time, to taste.
Mix is usually around 9 or 10 o’clock. I’ll tweak the mix to be a wetter during breakdowns sometimes, helps me live out the pioneer DJ dream for at least 2 bars 
Decay is short-ish, almost plate style, but I’ll elongate it on more sparse tunes, and shorten it on busier tunes. Gravity knob is also fun to tweak on more minimal tracks.
The need for these program dependent changes is why I bought such a knobby reverb 
Freeze/infinite capabilities are also good to have for real-time performance needs. I’m excited about Dreadbox’s forthcoming stereo i/o shimmer reverb. Though the filtration looks to be either LPF or HPF. I’ll probably buy it regardless. Put whichever one is best live on my OT, and the other can live on my MKS-70. I love gear.
Seriously good and not to be ignored. I only got the Blackhole instead, due to budget restrictions.
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I should have mailed you $20 to make up the difference! Hehe.
And for that matter there are so many reverbs that would work well on master. They don’t have to be ultra complex algorithms.
So focus on connectivity, interface, and budget.
Plenty of good and cheap rackmounts as well. Lexicon racks… TC M-One XL sounds great for $150-$200. Many of these racks have spdif, so you can setup a system where you record the dry from your gear over analog jacks into your interface, and the wet from the reverb over digital.
Good if you have a fear of commitment and don’t want to sacrifice another pair of analog inputs on your interface.
I had store credit at a store that didn’t stock the Mercury 7 
This made the difference rather big.
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This is a good point. I have found that I don’t tweak the reverb much. I dialed in a preset and have just left it there. So, keeping it simple for master is probably best. That way it’s just there, doing it’s little (but important) job.
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Is there some funny canceling going on in the reverb, if it‘s applied to the sideband? Or are you taking the sideband as a source for the reverb that‘s going to regular left/right.
I hope you understand what I mean, left right reverb mid side 
It is reverberating the sonic information that only exists in the side band. So using that as a source.
It is ignoring sonic information that is mono.
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This is kinda genre dependent I suppose but…
Never for mastering someone else’s track unless they specifically ask, and then I’d ask them to get that done in the mix if possible.
Unless your listening environment is perfecto, you’re gonna miss things that the reverb is doing to the mix, surely?
Obviously for creative effect of your own stuff it’s fine, and for blending between tracks… but if I’m mastering someone’s track and they’ve used reverb on the final mix, it usually sounds crap in certain places. This doesn’t really apply to drone/noise stuff perhaps?
I wonder if maybe the OTO Bam might be something for this. But maybe that’s overkill like the Chase Bliss pedal as well. Tho I’ve seen a fellow musician or two use the Bam specifically on the master, here on Nauts and elsewhere.
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This track is OP-1 into Oto Bam and that’s it. Starts off dry then Bam fades in, so you can get a sense of what it’s doing.
Another OP-1 + Bam ambient piece (plus a mashup of field recordings from Octatrack):
I usually use reverbs as a send effect but Oto Bam sounds great on the master of ambient tracks
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Dear lord that’s lovely. Thank you for sharing this. I’m enjoying this just because it’s great music, reverb or not.
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I just watched the Blawan talk from the recent Thomann synth event. It seems he runs the main out (mono) from his modular setup into a delay pedal and then into the Blue sky before it hits the PA.
…well there is no right or wrong…
but additional reverb on masterbus is pretty questionable…
if it’s done, it’s done for very detailed cosmetic purpose…with pretty hi end algorithms that run very short room responses…
any longer tails will only end up in special effect department…
and in live use…it’s always a mess that gets out of hand for sure…
it can be great for subgroups…of course, though…
but on an all containing master, it’s shortcut cheating that won’t work in average at all…
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I love dry mixes but they never turn out good in reality. I think some amount of reverb on the master (even just 2% or 3% mix) is necessary. I remind myself that even the “dry” mixes I like over my monitors are still getting some degree of natural reverb from the room.
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If you are going to experiment in software, I recommend Valhalla Vintage Verb. It is amazing. And since you are looking at the Oto Bam, they probably have somewhat similar algorithms, since they are both inspired by those vintage units.
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Thank you for the kind words! 
I think Bam would suit your music well, but it’s definitely not lacking without Bam.
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