The best reverb for plucks

Pluck sounds are sometimes „hard to handle“: they are very short and have strong transients. Depending on the sound, the tonal content can, therefore, be extremely low. If the aim is to perfectly stage the sound and give it the right spatiality, it is important that the reverb is not smeared or is only triggered by the attack. 1 Room size & predelay

Select a pluck sound (synthetic or a pizzicato). We load FabFilter Pro-R with approx. 0.6s Decay and Mix at 100% into a Bus slot. Set the Send in the DAW so that approx. 25% of the sound reaches the Reverb. Depending on the sound, we set the Predelay to approx. 30-80ms so that the sound retains its punch and the attack isn‘t smeared. 1

2 Decay on frequencies

Now let‘s get closer to the core of the sound, that is, its tonal center of gravity, and feather it with a longer Decay. In our example, this is around 150% at 970 Hz and a

Q of 0.6. Unwanted noise or lower frequencies that tend to overlap and lack transparency are reduced in the Decay Time, here at around 200 Hz and 8 kHz. 1

3 Maintain transparency

To ensure that the sound remains transparent later in the mix, we now cut those frequencies with the Pro-R‘s post-EQ that are not relevant for the useful signal and could collide with others. In our example, this is a Low Cut at 200 Hz and a Hi Cut at 8.2 kHz, each with a slope of 12 dB / Octave.1

4 Increase presence

To „capture“the room a little and give it a controlled presence, we use a compressor with a Ratio of 1.5:1 and around -35 dB Threshold, with an Attack Time of around 50 ms and a Release Time of 150 ms. In our case, this is a Pro-C, but the compressor from the DAW of choice can also do this rather simple job without any problems. 1

5 Stereo width

The spatiality can be further increased by extending the stereo width of the Reverb, while at the same time retaining the signature of the room. This allows you to perceive the room more strongly without having to increase the decay and wash out the sound. To do this, we use a Pro-Q3 and increase the sidebands above 2 kHz by around 3 dB. 1

6 Add liveliness

Finally, we use modulation to give the room more liveliness. We can use a Delay for this and use it as a Chorus. For Timeless 3, we select the „Beautiful Vintage Chorus“preset and set the Mix to around 10-15%. With a normal chorus, make sure that the modulations are not in the foreground.

⸬