I love these quick tips from Dezz Assante - I can't wait to experiment with this recording technique

http://www.techmuzeacademy.com/video/adding-depth-and-distance-to-your-mix

Thank you so much for posting these Denis I've learned so much from this Dezz guy

hey I went through this course also.  funny

You can't help liking Dezz and his enthusiasm. He explains things in an easy way to understand too. There are few other producers that share their producing tips, I came across them whilst watching a Dezz vid.

speaking of space try using IR reverbs, they have a more convincing sound, what's great is there are quite a few free IR reverbs, and loads of IR impulse libraries that are free.

http://blog.wavosaur.com/the-5-best-free-vst-reverb/

http://www.openairlib.net/auralizationdb

these are just a couple examples, there are a ton of them, eventide makes a free IR pack, as well as others.. try them out, the reverbs sound natural, and clean.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar10/articles/lexicon.htm
Lexicon reverb plug is the best I've used. Not cheap, but I got mine free. Like you say in the above the reverb does not effect the raw sound, it cuts through nice in the mix

I have lexicon outboard reverb,  I only use the free VST stuff or ones that came with the DAW, cause I'm a cheap B. lol