Transcript
In this video I’m going to explain how to use the reverb audio effect. I’m going to go over what reverb is, the different types of reverb, the basic parameters of reverb, and give you some tips on how to apply reverb to your tracks.
I am Daniel, the founder of SoundShock Audio, a site dedicated to the modern music producer. For those of you who don’t know I release YouTube tutorials every week so if you want to learn all things electronic music production when it comes to mixing, mastering, sound design, and arrangement subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss when I release a new video.
We have all heard about reverb before, and many of us are using it in our tracks right now, but a lot of producers are unsure about how to apply the different types of parameters of reverb to your song in a positive way to achieve a more professional sounding mix.
What is Reverb?
Of course, the most basic question to answer here is: What is reverb? Reverb, or reverberation, is the way that sound waves reflect off various surfaces before reaching the listener’s ears. Reverb is composed of a series of tightly spaced echoes that are heard as a single sound. The number of echoes and the way they decay plays a major role in shaping the sound that you hear as reverb. Many factors influence the sound of a reverb. Some are related to the space. These include, the dimensions of the actual space (the length. the width in the height). What the space is made of, including the walls, the carpet or other flooring, and the ceiling. These factors affect the diffusion of the sound, which means what the sound bounces off. In any space, first we hear the direct sound which is followed by the reverberation and wash of energy as the sound decays to silence.
The Basic Parameters of a Reverb Effect
Now we’ll going to go over the three basic parameters of a reverb effect: dry/wet, decay (time) and pre-delay. Of course, there are other parameters, but these are the basic ones you need to understand to be able to apply reverb to your tracks right after reading this tutorial.
The first basic parameter is called dry/wet. This determines the amount of the dry, reverberated sound in your mix. The second parameter is called decay or time of your reverb. This determines how long it takes for the reflections (echoes) in the room to run out of energy and become inaudible. The last basic parameter is the pre-delay. This determines the time between the end of the initial sound and the time the first reflection becomes audible this. Using pre-delay gives your mix a little more transparency by leaving some space between the original sound and its reverb. So, if you don’t want your sounds be completely washed away you should and add a little pre-delay. Also, using pre-delay gives the feeling of a bigger space.
Types of Reverb: Room Reverb, Hall Reverb, Chamber Reverb and Plate Reverb
Now we’ll discuss the four most common types of reverbs and also what type of elements these reverbs sound best on. The four most common types of reverb are: room reverb, hall reverb, chamber reverb and plate reverb. The first three types are related to the size of the acoustic space and the last one, plate reverb, is more two-dimensional.
ROOM REVERB
The first type of reverb is room reverb. Room reverbs are designed to simulate the natural sound of an acoustic space. Generally, a room reverb operates with under one second of decay time. Room reverbs make up a majority of the natural sounding reverbs you hear.
Room reverbs can be set for any size space, from a closet to a gymnasium. This type of reverb is good for adding realism to instruments. Adding a room reverb to most of your dry sounding elements in your song usually works well, especially with your synthesizers. That’s because synthesizers can use a bit more realism added to their synthetic character.
HALL REVERB
Next up is hall reverb. This is one of the most common types of reverb. It is designed to produce the effect of a sound reverberating in a large hall. With a hall reverb, the decay time usually lasts from 1.2 seconds to 4 seconds. Using a hall reverb gives a large, spacious, thick, sound that makes the higher frequencies sound duller. A hall reverb is great for getting a three-dimensional sound and filling out your mix without crowding the foreground. However, be careful here, as too much of this reverb can cause your mix to sound distant and washed out.
Elements that work well using hall reverb include: pads, strings, vocals, and other instruments that you want to take up a large amount of space in the mix. I would usually avoid using a hall reverb on percussion instruments.
CHAMBER REVERB
The third type is chamber reverb. Chamber reverbs were originally designed for orchestras. They are very similar to hall reverbs, except that they involve a bit of a smaller space. The decay time of a chamber reverb is around 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds. Chamber reverbs are good to use if you want to add clear, large, and lush space to your sound without it being as overpowering as a hall reverb can be sometimes. Like hall reverb, you need to be careful not to add too much chamber reverb to your sounds because this can wash away your mix and make it sound distant. Elements that work well using chamber reverbs include: synths, strings, vocals, and any other instruments that you want to be a little clearer and take up a larger space in the mix (but not as large as using a hall reverb). Again, I would avoid using Chamber Reverb on percussion and drum instruments.
PLATE REVERB
The last type of reverb, the plate reverb, is a man-made reverb which imitates transducers sending and receiving a signal through a sheet of metal. Plate reverb sounds similar to hall reverb, but it usually sounds flatter or more two-dimensional, whereas hall reverb sounds more three-dimensional. Plate reverb is great for adding length and size to a sound without making it sound distant or small, because it doesn’t add depth or distance like the other three types of reverbs. So, if you want to have a full, thick, reverb sound, but still keep your elements in the front of the mix, then you should add a plate reverb. Great instruments that work well with plate reverb are the vocals, drums, and real instruments. However, you need to be careful here because adding too much of plate reverb to your mix can leave it sounding flat. Remember, experimentation is key here. So, don’t feel that you should be only using one type of reverb for specific sounds. Experiment with different types and see how it changes your music!
SETTING YOUR CHAMBER REVERB
For this tutorial I am to using the waves IR Live reverb which I chose because it has very simple controls and a nice graphic display which shows the effect of the reverb. However, the information in this tutorial will apply to whatever reverb you choose to use because all of the other reverbs are going to have the same basic controls. Also, and if you are looking for great free reverb plugins look at the plugins here on SoundShock where you will find the best free reverb plugins on the web.
The Best Reverb Plugins
To see the effect of using reverb, listen to a track which doesn’t have any reverb on any of its instruments. It will sound very dry and unnatural, without any real depth in it
I’d like to share with you a technique I use for applying reverb to my tracks. You could, of course, add a reverb to each individual sound. You could load up a reverb plug-in on the track of each individual instrument, but that is very CPU heavy. Instead, what I like to do, is first to add return /send tracks and then add the reverb. That way, you’re only using one instance of the plug-in and when you send the sound to this reverb. That way you don’t have to use multiple instances of the reverb plug-in. Every Daw has return and send channels that you can route other tracks to, so this technique is applicable to any Daw. You need to send audio to the returns so return A has the hall reverb, return B has the room reverb, return C has the plate reverb, and D has the chamber reverb. Another reason I like to use the return and sends for my reverb is to have more of a cohesive space. If I only have three or four reverbs running at one time, that means I’m loading multiple instruments into the same reverb and putting it in a specific space, rather than having a bunch of different reverb plug-ins with a bunch of different settings on different instruments. This helps glue the mix together a little bit better.
To explain this better, I’m going to go over each individual reverb: the hall, the room, the plate, and the chamber. Also, I’m going to go over the settings that I use for each type. Finally, I’ll apply reverb to individual instruments. When I’m in the mixing phase, I begin by setting up the four reverbs as explained above. Then I start applying the reverb to the individual sounds.
Tips for Adding Reverb to Your Tracks
Let’s begin with the first reverb, the hall reverb. Remember, the hall reverb is used to add a three-dimensional, large, and a lush sound to your mix. So, you usually want to turn your pre-delay all the way down because you want the sound to really fill out. With a hall reverb, you want the space to shine through and not the original sound and, for that, you need a low setting for your pre-delay. Remember, the pre-delay is how long it takes for the reverb to start playing. For example, you might set it the reverb pre-delay to around 168 milliseconds after the initial sound. Next you need to set the decay or time of the reverb, for example you could set this at around 3 seconds which results in a fairly long “tail” or decay. Of course, you can experiment with this and hear what it sounds like with a shorter decay.
The dry/wet should always be set at 100% when you put your reverb on your returns and sends.
You want to have the dry/wet at 100% because you want to be applying 100% of the effected signal. [Note: if you want to use the reverb plug-in on an individual track, you are need to set it lower.] Also, you will want to have a little bit of EQ on your hall reverb. Most reverb plugins need to have a very basic EQ to take out some of the low frequencies which might muddy up the mix. Since the hall is a large reverb, keeping the low-end under control is important. You may also need an EQ to roll off a little bit of the high frequencies.
SETTING YOUR HALL REVERB
In your room reverb, you may want to set the pre-delay to around 48 milliseconds which allows the initial sound to come through a bit before the reverb comes into the room. For room reverb, use a fairly short to medium decay time, because you don’t want too much of a splash. If this reverb is set up very high, it will cloudy up the mix. For the room reverb, like for the hall reverb, the dry/wet is at 100%. Also, the EQ here has a very similar EQ curve to the hall reverb. You may want to remove the lower frequencies so it doesn’t cloudy up the mix and boost the high frequencies as we want this reverb to come through the mix.
SETTING YOUR CHAMBER REVERB
The last reverb in this example is the chamber reverb. Remember, the chamber reverb is similar to the hall reverb but it’s not quite as large and powerful as the hall reverb. To avoid drowning out your sounds, try using an 18 milliseconds pre-delay. This is different than the hall reverb where I recommend setting the pre-delay at 0 which means the reverb will immediately start affecting the sound. Try setting the reverb decay time at about 2 seconds. Then, set the dry/wet at 100% again. EQ to remove frequencies from the low end and boost the high frequencies for the shimmer.
After all four reverbs are set, it’s time to add your instruments. When I add reverb, I like to add enough reverb so it sounds just noticeable in the mix. It can be very easy to get carried away with the amount of reverb that you apply, so always bring it back a little until it is barely noticeable. Using minimal reverb avoids clouding up your mix, but still adds depth, space, and glue to your mix.
USING REVERB ON DRUMS
The next one in this example is the plate reverb. Remember, the plate reverb is good for adding a big, lush sound without overpowering the mix while keeping it a little more under control. You could try setting the pre-delay at around 62 milliseconds so it will let the initial sound come through before the reverb starts playing. With plate reverbs, the decay time should be fairly short. You could try setting the decay for about 0.89 seconds. Plate reverbs usually have a short reverb time because if you use a long decay time it will wash out the sound. Set the dry/wet at 100% again and then the EQ curve should be very similar to the curve for room reverb, because we want this to come through in the mix and we don’t want muddy it up.
The last reverb in this example is the chamber reverb. Remember, the chamber reverb is similar to the hall reverb but it’s not quite as large and powerful as the hall reverb. To avoid drowning out your sounds, try using an 18 milliseconds pre-delay. This is different than the hall reverb where I recommend setting the pre-delay at 0 which means the reverb will immediately start affecting the sound. Try setting the reverb decay time at about 2 seconds. Then, set the dry/wet at 100% again. EQ to remove frequencies from the low end and boost the high frequencies for the shimmer.
After all four reverbs are set, it’s time to add your instruments. When I add reverb, I like to add enough reverb so it sounds just noticeable in the mix. It can be very easy to get carried away with the amount of reverb that you apply, so always bring it back a little until it is barely noticeable. Using minimal reverb avoids clouding up your mix, but still adds depth, space, and glue to your mix.
Starting with the drums. You have four options for which reverb to use for your drums. I usually use a room reverb for drums. Hall and chamber reverbs don’t work well, because these reverbs are very large and lush which takes away some of the transients and really clouds up the mix. Plate reverb can work well on your drums. The difference is that room reverb gives but a little smaller sound while plate reverb is more lush and large. Now, listen to the drums with the reverb you have chosen, and listen for the little pre-delay that we added to the reverb set-up. This pre-delay is particularly good for drums because you want to have the transients come through first before it gets washed away. The drums should be nice and punchy.
USING REVERB ON DRUMS
Starting with the drums. You have four options for which reverb to use for your drums. I usually use a room reverb for drums. Hall and chamber reverbs don’t work well, because these reverbs are very large and lush which takes away some of the transients and really clouds up the mix. Plate reverb can work well on your drums. The difference is that room reverb gives but a little smaller sound while plate reverb is more lush and large. Now, listen to the drums with the reverb you have chosen, and listen for the little pre-delay that we added to the reverb set-up. This pre-delay is particularly good for drums because you want to have the transients come through first before it gets washed away. The drums should be nice and punchy.
USING REVERB ON SYNTHS
Next is your synths. Which of the four types of reverb should you use on your synths? First you to listen need to listen to the synth group together and decide where the different elements should lie. Should they sit more in the front? should they have more space? Should they have less space? For example, let’s talk about the pad. The pad is a background instrument. You probably want it to be in the background and take up a lot of space. In that case, a hall reverb works great. The hall reverb gives the pad more height while keeping it in the background
USING REVERB ON A PLUCK
Next let’s go over the pluck. If it is a supporting sound, not the main pluck, you want it to take up a lot of space in the mix but not be too much in the background. In that case, a good choice of for the pluck is the chamber reverb. Using this reverb will give it space but will keep it from having a completely washed out sound like we have for the pad. Also, using the chamber reverb will give it more height and more width, while still being a bit in the foreground of the mix.
USING REVERB ON LEADS
Next, let’s go on over to the lead. Since the lead should be at the very front of the mix, this is what you want a listener to pay attention to the most. You don’t want to drown away the sound. You want to keep it fairly in the foreground, but have a large space. The plate reverb is perfect for this and the plate will give more of a two-dimensional sound, which will keep the pluck in the foreground while giving it a lot of depth.
USING REVERB ON BASSES
The last element to add reverb to are the basses. A lot of producers will say not to add any reverb to your basses, but in all our reverbs we have removed the low frequencies. As we have discussed, all sounds in the natural world have reverb and the sounds that don’t have reverb seem unnatural. So, as long as you’re removing the low frequencies from your other reverbs, it is okay to add a reverb to your basses. However, you don’t want a very long tail for the basses as that would muddy up the mix. For this reason, choose a shorter reverb. The room reverb works well here. You should usually keep bass reverbs fairly short with a good amount pre-delay, so they give depth without causing any problems in the mix.
DON’T USE REVERB ON THE SUB
Those are all the main instruments that you usually add reverb to. Never add any reverb to the sub, because adding reverb to any sub frequencies would just muddy up the mix. This is the only element you should always avoid adding reverb to.
ADJUSTING THE REVERB
When you finish adding reverb to your elements listen to the effect. After mixing the reverbs, you should go back into the individual sounds and adjust the amounts of reverb that you used to fit your track with all the instruments playing.
THE FINISHED TRACK
After you finish these adjustments, listen to the completed track. There should be so a lot more depth in the mix. It should seem wider and the elements should sound more glued together. The result is a more professional sounding mix.
So that explains the technique that I like to use for adding a reverb to my mixes. I hope this helps you understand what reverb is and how to use it in your own mixes.
