Modern Reverbs
We get a room with today’s state-of-the-art spatial processors, exposing some techniques along the way
Compared to the days when reverb and delay effects were accessed via auxiliary send and return systems on hardware mixing consoles, we really are spoiled for choice and flexibility when it comes to modern spatial treatments in our DAWs. Most software mixer channels can access generous numbers of auxiliary sends (as opposed to the ‘fixed’ number of 4, 6 or 8 common to most hardware consoles), and can do so with a different chain of effects for each channel. This means that sounds within our mixes can benefit from both ‘global’ and ‘bespoke’ spatial treatments.
Despite this modern flexibility, reverb has always done the same job: placing sounds ‘in a space’. Any sound that reaches our ears in the natural world is a combination of the sound which was triggered in the first place, coupled the effect of the space in which it was played. Example spaces might include concert halls, drum rooms or stairwells, bathrooms or clearings in forests. Trigger any sound anywhere and it will interact with the reflective surfaces near which it is played.
As modern recording studios continue to provide the flexibility of recording in dry or acoustically neutral spaces, it falls to us, the producers and mix engineers of our tracks, to make spatial choices, deciding on the type and amount of reverb for each of our sounds in turn.
Fortunately, the capabilities of our workstations allow us to think significantly ‘beyond’ simply setting up a single reverb into which all of our sounds can be placed but, as someone wise once said, with great power comes great responsibility. The onus is always on us to make sure that our reverbs are customised as optimally as possible to the needs of our tracks. This means not only designing a great-sounding space for each of our sounds, but taking full control of that space too, whether that means ensuring its frequency content is a good match (by scooping out bottom end, top end or unnecessary midrange); adding further effects, such as delay treatments to ‘smear’ a diffuse reverb, or using automation parameters to control how our spatial treatments will evolve and change over time.
With these techniques, we’re getting into sounddesign territory, and it quickly becomes apparent that reverb provides as many options for you to spread your creative wings as synths and other electronic instruments do. So, through the following walkthroughs, tips and, of course, with this month’s video, take some inspiration from some of the ways in which reverb can be manipulated and created to wrest as much power from your mixes as possible. As always, having tried out these specific tricks, use them as inspiration for your own ideas and custom treatments.