PRODUCTION: WHAT IS REVERB?
Today I begin my series entitled PRODUCTION in which we will cover different aspects of music production. In this series I will be talking about things like: Compression, Reverb, Delays, Panning, EQs, Etc. I will begin with the very basics and move into more advanced stuff later. My hope for this series is that it can provide answers to any questions you might have in regards to music production.
So let’s start today with reverb. What is reverb?
Dictionary.com describes it like this:
1. An effect whereby the sound produced by an amplifier or an amplified musical instrument is made to reverberate slightly.
2. A device for producing such an effect.
Reverb in short is the way sound waves reflect off different surfaces before reaching our ears. Reverb is what you hear when you hear a person speak in a big stadium and the sound appears to be coming from all around the stadium. Or how you hear your voice in the shower bouncing off the walls as you wash your hair. Or the real dry sound of your voice when you are in a small carpeted room.
When sound waves reflect off walls, two things happen:
They take longer to reach the listener.
They lose energy (get quieter) with every bounce.
In most rooms the reflected waves will scatter and be absorbed very quickly. People are rarely consciously aware of reverb, but subconsciously we all know the difference between “inside sound” and “outside sound”. Outside locations, of course, have no walls and virtually no reverb unless you happen to be close to reflective surfaces. Try it: Sing a song in your bedroom then go to your bathroom and sing a song. Since in the bathroom you have more tiles and hard surfaces, you can instantly hear your voice bouncing off those surfaces.
So how does reverb work in music?
Well reverb is one of the things that can make or break a mix. Too much of it makes your music sound like it’s from the eighties. It also could make your mix too cluttered. Not enough reverb however, will make it seem like every instrument is attacking you at once. Reverb is used to create space in a mix, realistic or thematic, and a different use of reverb can give the same song a completely different character.
BASIC REVERB PARAMETERS*
In every reverb engine we have some of the same parameters to fiddle with. The more basic reverb plug-ins only have one or two parameters but some of the more advanced ones have almost unlimited capabilities for customization. Let’s look at some of the typical parameters we usually see in a reverb.
Room Size or Type – You can decide how big you want your reverb to be. This can be either selected as pre-determined reverb modes(more about reverb modes below) or just the size of the reverb in seconds. A 0.5 second reverb sounds much shorter and smaller than a longer lush 3.3 second one.
Pre-delay – You can use pre-delay to distance the reverb from the source sound. Think of pre-delay like the distance to the walls. By adding more pre-delay you are pushing the walls back allowing more time between the source sound and the reverb. This can be good when you have a big ballad with lots of reverb on the vocal but you don’t want to drown out the phrases of the singers with too much reverb.
Early Reflections – Early reflections are all the combined reflections that happen after the original source signal. Theoretically, since these early reflections are the first reflections that bounce back from the nearest walls of our imaginary space our ears can pretty accurately gauge how large a room is supposed to be. If the early reflections are nearly instantaneous we are in a small room, but if the reflections don’t bounce back as quickly we can determine that we are in a larger space.
Damping – Most rooms have all sorts of things that absorb higher frequencies. The carpet on the floor, the couch in the middle of the room as well as any blankets and clothes you have lying around. By using the damping factor on a reverb you are essentially determining how much high frequency energy is absorbed. Some reverbs have damping parameters for both high and low frequencies, and it works very similar to EQ.
Density – How dense do you want your reverbs to be? The more dense a reverb is, the more the reflections continue to reflect and pack together, creating a thicker sound. The lower the density, the more space between each reflections, creating something that’s more similar to distinct echoes instead of a natural reverb.
Diffusion – Diffusion determines the rate at which the reflections scatter and die down. A diffuse space is usually a controlled live space, with reflections that don’t pack together but rather disperse and die down.
Frequency Filters – Most high quality reverbs have dedicated EQ controls on them, but some reverb engines just have frequency filters that allow you to filter out either unwanted high or low frequencies. This can be good if there is too much low bass in your reverb cluttering up the mix, or if there is too much high energy hiss annoying you.
Wet/Dry Mix – Reverb are time based effects and therefore should almost always be used as a send effect rather than an insert. By using them as a send you can treat the reverb separately from the original source, allowing you more control over your source and reverb signals. *
Choosing the right reverb really depends on the sound and the overall mix of your song. Take your time choosing and tweaking your mix. There is so much more on reverb that could be explained. Hope this helps you and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.
UNEAK
Hear. Feel. Live