A chamber reverb is a small device with a very reflective surface and squared angles. In general, chambers have a lot of color and texture, so they sound great on all sorts of sources. Anything that needs a distinct energy boost or extra texture can benefit from chamber reverbs.
The Beginnings
Echo chambers have been an essential part of the history of recordings. The first reverb effects created for recordings used real physical space as a natural echo chamber. The process was simple: a loudspeaker played a sound and a mic picked it up. Therefore, the reverb produced.
For this to be successful, when a direct signal appears, the user has to direct the microphone towards it. Then, the user should record that signal with the color of the room in full effect. However, keep in mind that it’s not easy to achieve a sound when using a chamber reverb. The reason is that the room has to be completely isolated for the chamber to shine.
Chamber Reverb: Its Characteristics
Reverb chambers are devices typically made of stone, brick, or concrete. Its walls are covered with several coats of plaster, which allows the mid-range frequencies to decay for several seconds. As time goes by, the reverb time at echo chambers increases because the plaster tends to dry out. Hence, the surface becomes less absorbent, causing a high echo density and a rapid onset on reverberation.
The time delay between the channels is based on the time delay between the output of the speaker and the first reflection received by each mic. Depending on the way the signals mix, phase complexity might occur after a specific time period.
A small reverb chamber is capable of producing a reverb with broken frequency response, as well as reflections that can color the sound. Large reverb chambers are not that common because they are extremely expensive and only professional studios can afford them.
