$10 Garden Hose Reverb for Drum Recording
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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I created a garden hose reverb for drum recording that really sounds incredible as an effect for mixing. It's a great way to get an original effect that cost very little and can sound great.
This episode is all about the process of experimenting. I did several tests and found at least 3 or 4 great methods for using this technique, originally inspired by Sylvia Massy and her book, Recording Unhinged.
While her book is one of the best I've ever read, the garden hose reverb is not found (After looking 4 times through the book) in the book, however it was a technique promoted in promotion of the book.
The garden hose reverb starts by a simple rubber garden hose that is laid around the front of the drum kit. A microphone such as the shure sm57 is taped to the end of the garden hose, while the other end is taped shut to allow no sound in the other end.
The effect works extremely well. The transients are smoothed over, and the sound is a dark and cymbal free sound that is easy to mix with.
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1:08 15 ft Hose Mono SM57 No Compression
1:33 15 ft Hose Mono Lapel Mic No Compression
2:21 15 ft Hose Mono Lapel Mic With Compression (FG-Stress)
3:45 50 ft Hose Mono SM57 Next to Floor Tom
4:31 50 ft Hose Stereo! (2 x SM57)
5:33 50 ft Hose Stereo with Left SM57 Moved In Towards Middle
6:12 50 ft Hose Stereo All In Front of Snare (Not Coiled)
6:46 50 ft Hose Stereo Loose Coil
7:44 50 ft Hose MONO Factory Coil by Snare Drum
Metric: 50 ft Hose = 15.24 Meters Long, 15 ft Hose = 4.5 Meters Long
This is super cool. Nice work exploring uncharted sonic territory!
Could you not try two coiled 15ft hoses so one over by the snare and one over by the floor tom? So you could get the stereo effect that way by trying to use them like overheads?
Oh yeah, shitty is still pretty
this is so cool and inspiring thanks for sharing man great video as well.
Very cool! I've had a few people mention this, will have to try it out sometime! Nice work!
Thanks Glenn! Love your channel and thanks for stopping by!
...hi Glenn
Dang it glen I was just getting ready to send you this link.
Great demo, Ryan. I really like your calm, methodical, enthused yet not over the top approach.
Thanks MrAl!
Ditto
this is a cool idea. i've done similar with pvc plastic pipes placed around the kit, or my favorite...putting 2 m160 ribbons inside of metal trash cans in various spots of the room while tracking drums. squashed through spectrasonics 610's and eq'd a bit...it's a crazy sounding distorted reverb that can sound amazing blended into the other kit mics, or used on it's own for break down sections or just for a crazy drum sound.
The last example sounds best to my ears and is the most easy to set up and reproduce.
I think two hoses like this laid on opposite sides of the kit would give a good solid stereo image.
NEVER have I ever wanted to purchase a garden hoes so badly in my ENTIRE EXISTENCE! DUDE this is and was phenomenal!
Is that the hose they used on pet sounds?
Yes!!!!
So I split the stereo output on my interface, and balanced the levels between the two stereo sides- while I recognize that you may increase noise by evening them out with gain, tonally, they sounded fine. Maybe not perfect, but very much usable. I've intended to try this one ever since I saw Sylvia Massey speak at Sweetwater.
When you want a When the Levee Breaks kind of vibe but don't have a set of stairs handy.
Haha yes. So well said!
This channel's an absolute gem. Will have to try this!
Thanks!
I think I just found my favourite channel for audio recording and production.
Thanks!
I think mid/side EQ to put the lows centered would really help for the stereo examples.
Yeah, true an excellent idea for mixing, but I really don't like to mess with the sound for demos too much. I keep it as raw as possible to people can learn what they are hearing.
wait til you try a dryer vent 😉
❤ed it. new subscription 👍
Would love to hear it in mid/side
Sure I can cover that in my follow up video. I just have to exclude certain things to keep the length down.
Man, that is inspiring. The amazing thing is that it sounds so good. Like great presence in an expensive tuned room. Great job.
Sounds great! Now you just need a vintage hose to impress the clients 😄
Haha, yes. Mid 60's garden hose
Ah yes, this is my 1962 Flexon reverb garden hose, specifically designed for the suburban studio owner, complete with a beautiful green casing straight out of that time period and steel ends for that natural “water-like” sound that this reverb unit is known for. This is the unit behind the classic reverbs on old surfaris records (before the fender reverb units) and fish life documentaries, but is also fantastic for that modern, squirt in your face, reverb that is not so prominent today. Kids these days will never understand the value behind a decent old fashioned reverb hose.
Tyler Johnson - You got a good start there for the '62 but you forgot to elaborate on the manufacturing process!
"While are competition releases reissue after reissue with little regard for the original specs and handmade quality back when THINGS GOT DONE RIGHT they naturally get it wrong. The '62 Flexon is exclusively produced by our Custom Shop - we went to every effort to get every detail right including bringing long decommissioned fitting presses and hose feeds out of retirement and back into service only in our Custom shop -All tooling marks from the fitting press are genuine as per our 1962 process, (no over the top relic jobs here!) on a genuine double ringed #4 12-1 Threaded Coupler from American Standard with 1/2" Bakelite anti-leak washer just like the original. While our competitors outsource production of their reissues to Asian manufacturing plants -Our '62 Flexon Reverb is 100% handmade in the USA just like the original '62 that made Flexon the leader in hose reverberation. "
Suggested Retail Price: 925.00$ (1290.00 w/case)
Fantastic video, I've seen the video you mention and always wondered how it was done and what it would sound like. I like your additional experiments, really cool!! Can't wait to watch other videos and have a go myself.
Can't believe I'm so late to this channel! I love your attitude and personality. Thank you so much for sharing your passion. I love the production of Sound & Color. Your videos remind me of that tasteful lofi experimentation.
are you taping shut the other side or leaving it open? and if it is open then wouldnt you use the open end as the mic side?
I don't know if I could possibly love this video more. Amazing! Thank you for playing around with all the different ideas and giving such great descriptions and samples of it all.
1:15 Yup. Sounds like a mic in a garden hose.
Lots of cool sounds with that longer hose
Hey Ryan! I am definitely doing this. Thanks for expanding on Sylvia's idea. I always thought it was cool, but now it might be essential.
Haha, essential! It could be. I think there are a lot of fun ideas in the book, but I wanted to show how practical this idea was beyond just a fun idea.
Did you consider maybe the mics aren't matched, or the tape is different? Maybe do this again and swap the mics at some point.
Maybe one side of the hose just below the snare pointing to it in the mono configuration. Could be a good aproach of replacing the bottom mic?
I wonder what you could pull if you ise two coiled hoses as like room mics left and right of the drum kit with two Audix i5s, squash it and reverb it, EQ out some 220 to 330 and boost 3 to 5K and some top 8K high shelf and then do a Abbey Roads reverb eq on the verb. And obviously pan hard L and R for stereo image into the reverb. By the way loved this, thanks for sharing! Great inspiration for experimentation :)
You are the most underrated youtuber ever! Its so amazing man. Keep it up i love your contents
I think you should try to set up a drumrack around your kit and wrap the garden hose around the drumrack. It should pick up a way different sound right?
I see what you're doing there :) with that beat - when the levee breaks kinda vibe .... cool technique :)
Haha, I was just going for something that you could hear the length of the effect, but yes, my soul as a drummer needed to play that beat!
I’m a huge Massy fan. She’s amazing! This video was really great. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for years. Next record for sure!
Still a nice principle. What about hanging the hose in the air?
I wonder.. if you coiled the hose in a tight loop about 10" diameter and un coiled the hose about 5 ft on either end of the now center coil I feel like that might give you a bass heavy center, stereo 57 at the end of the 5 ft pipe laid around the kit for the snare and cymbals. That might keep the phase, if each "tube reverb" effect going into left and right was the result of the same mechanical device (i.e. the length of tube capturing the effect was the same for both inputs).
This experiment is awesome, I can't wait to see more. I find lots of interesting sounds are completely accidental while recording drums. The biggest accident/mistake I can think of is a mic touching drum hardware or something vibrating a mic stand, there has got to be a way to make good or interesting sounds with that accident.
Try one of those coiled sprayers that are shaped like a hose, attaching the mic there and then attach the hose.
So I'm making a list named "Record Tricks" that's not too inclusive, and this is included. This is incredibly informative in that you experimented with the variables and documented the process very well. +1
Wow nice thanks for adding this video into that list.
link us up pls!
Based on how the last version sounds, you could get really nuts by getting multiple factory coiled hoses and place them around the kit to get that nice tight reverb from basically every part of the kit and have what will (probably with some tweaking) a pretty balanced stereo image. A lot of hose though. Might get some of it stolen for bongs.
Haha. Yeah, it's like "How far do I want to do with this" or "Will I seem crazy if I do this".
Cool! I'd love to hear a stereo pair of beach balls with mics taped into them!
Do it.
Part of me wants to place the end of hoses of different lengths all over the room and use mic stands to hold them up, tape some funnels to the receiving end of each hose and an SM57 on the tail end and use those like a series of room mics with different "settings".
I wasn't sold by just the sound of the hose, but with the compressor I think it got there for me
Really cool share. The SM57 through the garden hose dampens the sound quite a bit, I'm not sure however that it adds very much delay or reverb to the recording though. Now I am wondering how much the diameter of the host has to do with the tone of the recording. In other words, what if you employed a larger diameter hose, would the tone be then deeper or would we perceive more of a delay or natural revert from it? At any rate, I thought I would propose another dynamic to the recording situation presented here.
Sounds re-wee, re-wee great
I did this but mounted it above the kit on mic stands using NT5's, I put holes on the top of the hose over the cymbals. I think you'd be surprised by the sound!
Yeah I've thought about hanging it. So you put holes in it to let sound in, or hang it or both?
Creative Sound Lab yeah I drilled holes directly over the cymbals but on top so they picked up the reflection from the ceiling cloud. I have quite a high ceiling so I got a good delayed reflection and when stereo panned it became quite a trippy phased kinda room reverb (think a super short spring rev) I still struggled with some low end until I tunnelled the kick and it became quite balanced.
Have you tried filling the hose with water?
It could sound cool, trying waterproofing would suck though
Man, I'd love to hear what it would sound like to put either end pointing inwards/outwards from the bass drum. Or have an open end inside the kick, sending it straight into the mic. Cool idea!
Nice video, man, lots of fun. Great work!
I'm not clear how the 2 mics are connected. Are they at 2 ends of one hose or do they each have a separate hose?
One hose and a mic on each end.
Creative Sound Lab thank you
You ever try a piece of sheet metal and a couple contact mics? It might be pretty cool, like an old plate reverb. I wonder how well it would work....
I would love to try that actually. Just have a permanent install on the wall perhaps.
Processing the two channels in Mid/Side will solve your L/R balance problem.
I wonder what a 2 inch pvc tube at various bend points would sound like ?
Great video!, I think to be able to get a better stereo balance you should try to "copy" the position of the first spread out hose with the other one, maybe taping them together to make sure they both follow the same path, I guess it would make for a less wide effect, like an XY configuration.
Also another idea could be to coil the hose around individual drum heads to get a close mic version of that lo fi effect.
Keep up the experimentation!
Yeah I'll have to try that. The other thing I just thought of was to back it away from the kit a little so that it's less extreme of a stereo image. Lots to try.
As a snare verb, tightly coiled would probably be great IF you dropped all the low off and gated the tail. ... If you are in the mood to try it
in front of or inside the kick would give a nice sub kick like sound id imagine.
ooooooh! Inside the kick!
Wonder what it would sound like if you stringed it up over the cymbals w/ 2 mic stands, L to R and squared up.
What if you used two different hoses, same length and brand and what not, laid out the same way, mic'd the same way, and then panned left and right? That could get you stereo probably. I think they'd be just slightly different enough for it to work.
What about further away from the kit? Or is it too hard to get gain from the 57's? also... what about two separate rolled hoses with there own mics?
Very interesting! Have you tried to lift the hose on the hight of the snare but still around the kit? I am interested to use this together with the "WURST" by Moses Schneider.
Yeah the wurst will be a dark and chewy sound so it may not be a good fit. Perhaps if your mic is a little bright it'll be fine. Just try it and adjust from there!
Hi Ryan, have you tried hanging the hose somewhat higher to maybe increase the mid/high freqs?
Ryan what if you stretched the hose out on each side of the room and backed it up like 5 feet not sure if the mics would pick the sound up hot enough but if it did maybe it would help with the stereo image because it leaves some room for the sound to spread out also would be interesting to actually put it above the kit or around the drummers neck if he's cool with it anyway love the video man saw you use the slate stuff too Everything they make is freekin awesome isn't it?
Why don't you invert polarity in the Right mic of the hose?
This is premium friggin' content!
Thanks!
I think that maybe having two different hoses, two different 57s and the possibility to place them anywhere you want is the best stereo version of this trick.
Since the first experiment (tied hose) to me sounds the best and the most natural, I'd definitely try out to put to tied hoses L and R and see what it does.
BTW mono is as good as stereo, it depends on the mix.
Miss Massy is just a great head!
Yeah I agree with you. Maybe I need to get a second hose.
You might want to try using 2.5”-3” diameter vacuum hose for cleaning pools. Then, use pillows to isolate areas (hose sections) and the mics.
Maybe elevating the hose in places, as well. Cool video!
Yeah, I've been scoping out other materials and found a 1.5 inch hose for a sump pump. I also noticed (Which no one has really commented on) that there is a lot of mechanical noise from the cymbal coming down the hose, which pillows or foam would help to isolate.
Bros before hose!
But seriously, this is a fun idea and nice to think about different ways to capture sound.
Great video and great production on it too, it's informative without being boring. And Garden hose reverb is fucking awesome!
How would it sound if you had the mic away from the kit somewhere or if you laid the hose around the edge of the room or something?
Sounds cool - I love Sylvia Massy's way of experimenting with these things, I think I'll get the book
Yeah, great book. Lots of fun stuff too that's rediculous.
I agree, very many interesting and insane setups in that book. Have you or anyone tried using an old upright piano or cembalo as a reverb tank? I have an old cembalo that could be interesting ... has anyone built such a beast using surface transducers driven from reverb sends? Would a line amp would be sufficient to drive the transducers?
For some reason, I envision rdavidr adding a 5/8" hose connector directly to a snare - to attach the hose directly... :P
I'm impressed - great experiment and it sounds great.
Thanks!
Would love to see a video of the Tame Impala drum sound, minimal micing but the compression and mixing is what is aweome, cheers
A video would be cool of course, but the simple way of doing it.. Buss the kick and snare to one channel, add Shure Level-Loc, Soundtoys Devil-Loc or Standard audio Level-or. Done :)
Sylvia is the woman!
I've done collabs with a few other big names, hopefully, her too.
What I really want to see is the hose setup inside the kick drum!
factory wrapped by snare and 50 ft uncoiled around kit with mic at floor tom. I think that will sound interesting.
you could fix the problem of the 57 not fitting in the hose by using a pvc reducer, a soup can and some duct tape
at 5 minutes... are you using BOTH hoses? the 15ft and the 50ft? or just two different mics at either end of the one 50ft hose?
i do actually like the sound of what this produces... maybe it is reproduceable with EQ or with a reverb, but at least i know with some cheap hose, and a mic i'm gonna get low to low-mid heavy very usuable room rumble - plus it would give me the frequencies i'd want from a room mic, but without having to put the room mic miles away and then start getting into proximity delay/phasing issues too. Good job :)
Nope, just one hose at a time. There's actually three hoses in the room there, but the big thick grey one had a big split down the side.
use two fully coiled (from the factory) hoses and place them equal distance away from the snare, surely thatd get close to balanced?Awesome video btw, im going to try this for sure
Yeah, I'll have to try that. I really liked the tone of the factory coiled example.
How about: cut the hose in half, each half does a half circle around the kit... the snare being dead center to one hose, and the kick is dead center in the other? Maybe this could produce a usable stereo image.
Hahahaha...that was pretty damn dope!!! You my friend are awesome!!! Thanx for this bundle of fun!!! Drummers I know are about to hate me more than they already do 😬
So you just put a mic on one end of the hose and that’s it? The other end is just open?
Cool trick, tight drumming too! Reminds me of Jon Bonham's sound.
Thanks, I play behind the beat like Bonham did.
nice one man! have u tryed to have the hose hanging on some mics stans arround the kit and mount like a room micking with teh 57s?
Yeah, i'll have to try options like that. This was just a start for sure.
nice, i'd love to see some more test on the hose, its a really cool reverb to have added to a mix i think, will try it myself, thanks for that bru. btw, freaking loved the snr reamp! i wish i would've know that technique a few years ago, i had to save so many snares with softwares like drumagog or so, but its not as good as the reamp. many thanks for that too. regards from argentina.
Loving these "audio lab" style videos. I'd love to hear how an SM57 inside of a steel trash can sounds!
Shhhh, don't give away what the next test is going to be.
what about after recording the drums playback through speakers .. have the open end of the hose in front of the speakers more even sound? and not waste an input in your interface .. a post production process?
or put a speaker in a pvc pipe and the mic at the other end
this is so cool and inspiring thanks for sharing man great video as well.
Just a thought, what if you kept both sm57s in the same spot so any non hose imaging is even, but the hose is still going around the kit? I may get some hose and try this
On a different note, I've done a little bIt of this, but I'd be curious to see you do a video with some sort of solid box with a pzm or any mic really in the box. I know me and a friend recorded an iPhone voice memo of our band and brought the low end out by sticking the phone inside a little wood cubby across the room.
Three ideas I would try, just to see:
1. Stretch or coil the cable out from the center of the drums, rather than around or bunched near; basically, think of a T-shape, with the drums at the top bar, and the coil heading down from there. The mikes could then be at either end.
2. Suspend the straightened or coiled hose from something (I thought of a couple of sawhorses, some length of wood, and simple packing string, jute cord, or even those little metal keyholder cables that form a loop) to maximize the free-floating, air-coupled surface.
3. Combine 1 and 2 above.
how about close micing with the open end of the hose?
Cool man! 👍Have you tried hanhund the hose above the drumset - like on a couple of spare mic stands? I Call that "a Tossy" 👍👍👍 It's awesome!
*that's "hanging" - not hanhund....
Thanks, I'll have to try that in the follow up video. A few people have been asking for that variation.
It's like a modern version of the Cooper Time Cube. Actually, it sounds a little smoother than the Cooper. Great price too.
Yeah I still need to send Sound into one end. This effect was taped closed at the other end. I know HoboRec did a video that uses the garden hose like cooper time cube.
Had a guitar in my lap (I almost always do, at least when I'm on the computer) and started playing along with you kinda automatically...... So, with the 57, when you cover the side vents, you are actually taking away the sort of directed and intentional comb-filtering that makes a 57 so directional. It's like a singer who cups it with his paw, you turn it into an omnidirectional dynamic mic. That's why mic-cuppers get squealing feedback from the PA at shows. Even with the tape there, it will pick up more off-axis room sound than you'd expect. There's gotta be a way to block it off and attach it to the end of the hose without the tape actually cutting off those vents. Also, I need to get that book.
Yeah, I didn't even address that. I should have called it an Omni sm57. I really don't know of a way to make it any better unless you go larger with the hose. I have an 1.5 inch coregated hose I'm playing with next week for a new episode. That'll fit the 57 inside of it.
I think even a little rubber gasket of some sort, it would probably be a plumbing part available for a buck at any big hardware store, and could fit around both hose and 57 without being snug on either. Hell, I might try this with a paper-towel roll, and if it works, I'll take video, but you MUST promise not to make fun of me, I am NOT a drummer.........
Ok I found something, and it's from a guy who I recognized from his comments on the channel here. He uses a "Expansion repair coupling" and looks like it would be the VIP way of doing this. ua-cam.com/video/o1HSW6_PP1w/v-deo.html
Hmmm........that's pretty cool, better than anything I could've imagined. I'm gonna have contact the guy to see exactly what I need to buy to put that exact assembly together and try this out, thanks!
Almost like a cooper time cube! Can you explain the microphone on the side of the kick drum? More specifically, what polar pattern are you using and what sounds are you looking for from it? Thanks!
Is it the large diaphragm mic? Most likely that is the snare under side microphone. It's in Cardioid to capture under the snare drum. With this dark of a sound (Garden hose) I found it useful to use a lot of that snare under mic to help balance out the dark tones of the garden hose.
It is the large diaphragm U67-ish mic - I guess it must be the snare bottom! To my eye, in the video, it looked like it could have been a "kick side/snare bottm/snare crush" kind of deal. It sounds great though - I will have to try that placement myself. Thanks!
Do you think you might improve the stereo image if you spread it out along the diagonal that you would take across the kick drum and snare for an XY overhead?
Perhaps. Or even moving the hose back. I'm thinking that you have to be on the snare side to pick it up.
This is awesome. Love this channel.
Thanks John!
Honestly i really love the stereo imbalance of this technique. Like if i was to use this technique in a full mix i'd probably pan the guitar over to the left to take advantage of all the empty space in the top end on that side
You should try 2 factory coiled hoses for your stereo imaging!!!
That's a thought! Maybe two hoses with the mikes forward (near the kick) to lessen the width of the image.
Really interesting concept! I'm just curious, could the off balance stereo be caused by the 57's being out of phase?
I thought about that, but in some tests the 57s were looking the same direction. Good point and it's something we all need to consider too.
Giving this a go this weekend
Cool!
Have you tried putting it further away from the drums? Might not need to EQ it as much and it would be more balanced in stereo. Reminds me of an experiment a former professor did with PVC pipes to make a short delay. It made an interesting sound with each bend in the pipes making a quiet repeat between the louder repeats
Yeah, I've thought of doing that after the fact. I'm not done with this yet, so I'll do a few more tests and if people don't think I'm getting out of hand with this stuff, I'll film a part 2 follow up video.
You could easily mount this on a wall and leave it in situ for as and when required. I'll be doing a test with my students soon so hopefully I'll pass this along...
Great. What kind of tape do you use?
I thought the first and last one sounded best. overall greatest reverb effect is the first one, shorter hose one mic other side open.
Stereo spread plugin to centre the key snare frequencies?
Yeah, i'll play around with it some more and make a follow up video.
Revisit this but try two hoses; one left and one right
What about say, a 1000ft hose, wrapped completely around the kit, from floor to over the cymbals? Like, a wall of hose. haha
Great video, and such a cool idea.