Does your reverb plugin have presets? Always a good place to start and then tweak to your liking.
Does it have a room setting preset ? Something like that might be good :)

Remember that the reverb might sound over the top when solo'd but might sound just right in the mix!

No plug-ins. That's why I was wondering if anyone had settings that they could share with me to achieve the desired effect.

About all you can do is to experiment. Nobody here knows what settings will be good for that particular tune. How much, how long, etc., depends on everything going on.

There are several ways to do it. You could apply reverb to the entire original track, but then you'd be stuck with that, unless you hit "Undo", and you could mangle your original. You may be able to use it in an effects bus type of thing. or, you could always just copy the track to another track, process the new track, thus not having to fear ruining the original. That may be best.

You could apply maybe a bit of pre-delay, apply a room size, etc., and make it mostly wet. Then, just bring it up to mix in with the original. So, you'll have complete and separate control over that track without touching the original, unless you want to.

If it doesn't sound right, try something else until it does. Anyone here would have to hear it, and then only a few more seasoned folks may be able to accurately guess about the parameters that would make it sound good.

I think the rest of us would just experiment starting from an educated guess to get it fairly close.

Kapt.Krunch

Well, yes, I understand that experimentation is the key to find a best-fit reverb based on the vocals; however, I'm still a novice with recording, and I don't understand what many of the controls offered by my mixing program do to the track's sound. I was hoping that someone could give me some general advice re: the specific properties of a typical "polished" reverb. I can't begin experimenting based on an educated guess because I don't have one. ;-)

For example, when I recorded my own vocals in a professional studio, there was a pre-set reverb in the monitor from the beginning of the session... I'm assuming that there are some basic principles that one can safely apply to any vocals to achieve the effect that I described in my original post... Any help?

Thanks again to all who replied.

In the case of reverbs.
I like the sound of 'Plate's' and for Jazz, maybe a small to med size room. (1 sec or less of decay)
"Plates" tend to preserve the sound of the vocal.
"Hall" settings tend to sound very washy and a bit too blurry for my tastes.
If you want more defined vocals, then add a pre-delay of 100-200ms
If you're using reverb such as I just described then do not add echo or delay.
That should be as good a starting point as any.

The best thing to remember when youre recording is that the difference between you and the professional is the equipment and the experience. Your main goal shouldn't be trying to figure out specifics, but just try to make everything sound right. I'm sure it's pretty obvious to you, but sometimes we get caught up in things, so just remember, we're all striving for the same thing - to sound good!

Music mixing is NOT about educated guessing....Its about educating your hearing.