Here are some facts about reverb. This effect occurs when a sound sends waves that flow in all directions. Reverberation is present when any sound emerges in space. When these waves reflect on surfaces, the amplitude decays. Suddenly, the reflections die off. When there is no soundproofing, spaces generate closely spaced reflections that catch the listeners’s ear just before the sound dies. The human ear perceives these reflections as single continuous sounds.
The music production industry is the perfect scenario for reverb because there is a wide variety of acoustical and mechanical techniques for creating reverb. You can find it in almost every modern music production.
Facts About Reverb: the Digital Realm
Digital reverb can be classified as algorithmic and convolution. The first one mimics the effect through a series of calculations that imitate the sound of real spaces or create new sounds environments. The second one creates the effect by processing an impulse response which contains all frequencies. When using convolution reverb, listeners perceive sounds as more realistic.
Engineers can modify digital reverbs through several controls, including damping, pre-delay, diffusion, decay, and dry/wet balance. They can produce it through different techniques, such as room, chamber, hall, spring, and plate reverbs.
Most Popular Types
The most popular types of reverb effects are the gated and the reverse reverbs. Firstly, the gate effect is non-linear and it produces a short explosive sound. Second, the reverse effect is, literally, reverb in reverse. This last effect produces a smooth transition into the dry sound because it introduces its sound before it is played.
Facts About Reverb: Conclusions
The reverb effect involves adding new signals to a mix. You should equalize the new reverb signal in order to attenuate low frequencies. When the reverb has too much energy in the low frequencies, the sounds appears to have less clarity. In contrast, when the reverb has too much energy in the high frequencies, instruments and vocals won’t cut through the mix.
