Reverb is all about deepening the emotion of a song.

The rule of thumb is either: Use no reverb, or use just enough to feel.

The best use of reverb is to be delicate with it and keep it hidden. A bulletproof test to see if the reverb is being used proportionally in the mix is to:

1. Mute the reverb returns.

2. Let your ears gauge if you “miss the reverb” when the returns are in mute.

3. Unmute the reverb sends.

4. Turn down the reverb level, so it is barely audible in the mix.

5. Set the fader to a level that is: Felt, not heard, and missed when muted.

Reverb can either make a mix sound “deep and wide” or “cluttered and washy” to the point where the mix feels like it is drowning. Before throwing reverb on a source, stem, bus, or mix, it is imperative to know what type and how to use.

The five best types of reverb to use for modern music productions like EDM, Chillstep, Dubstep, Bass House, Future Bass, Drum and Bass, Trap, Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, Trance and more would be the following:

Room Reverb

Plate Reverb

Hall Reverb

Spring Reverb

Convolution Reverb

These 5 reverb types, listed in order of most commonly used, can be used in standard or creative ways depending on the needs of the project. Like with anything in music production, there are always exceptions to the rules. To break the rules (or in the case of reverb: understanding basic foundational principles) there must be an intelligence of the different types of reverb. In our opinion, there are only two rules of reverb:

1. Know what the different types feel like in the mix

2. Do not overdue reverb no matter how good you think it sounds

In this four-part article series we are going to cover:

Part 1-2: An explanation of the 5 best types of reverb concerning tone, space, and character.

Part 3: Perspectives on the emotional and abstract uses of reverb to deeper the listener’s connection to a song.

Part 4: An overview and breakdown of some of the best reverb plugins and analog hardware units available today.

Room Reverb

Room reverbs offer a natural sounding acoustic space, which is often small and tight sounding. Room reverbs have quick decay and do not offer much regarding “bloom” that larger reverbs offer.

Room reverbs ideally fit best with sound sources such as drums. If a music production, recording, and/or mixing session have live drum tracks in the project; then there will be a natural room reverb captured by the microphones. A room ambiance is often a highly desired sound by audio engineers as dry drums often lack a “space” which makes the drums feel flat vs. “live and emotional.”

If a music production or mix features samples of drums for example, (either live drums or digitally sounding designed samples) it is often desired to give the synthetic drums a “live and emotional” feel. This is where adding room reverbs to taste via auxiliary sends can do wonders for the depth of drum mixes within all genres music productions.

Samples are slowly becoming the wave of the present, as real drums, guitars, synths, take a considerable amount of time to record. With software being as good as it is, producers can create MIDI designed sounds and give those sounds a more “organic” and “realistic” vibe with tasteful amounts of room reverb.

When using room reverbs, one should keep in mind that “wetter” is most often not better. Wetter is a term audio engineers use to characterize the amount of reverb a sound source has. Conversely, “dry” would mean the sound source has not been processed (with reverb or other processing tools).

Continuum Tip : Turn the reverb up to full blast, so it’s clear (tonally and texturally) in the mix and then dial it back to where it sits “in with” or “behind” the layers. Be careful not to add too much as this will make a mix sound armature.

Music production and audio engineering are all about foundational knowledge on which subjective perspective is formed. Reverb varies in practice and application from genre to genre and tempo to tempo. Yes, we could go into all the details of this but for us, reverb comes down to one thing: Enhancing the emotional message of the song.

To sum up room reverb in one sentence : Room reverb is best when it is added in small amounts to give certain sounds in the mix a “small but realistic sounding space.”

Plate Reverb

Plate reverbs offer a wide and often “pleasing” metallic feel. The metallic vibe comes from the fact that plate reverbs are based on feeding an audio signal into a literal metal plate while simultaneously capturing the audio as it reverberates off the plate. These units are breathtaking in the physical form. Nowadays, most people encounter plates in the digital realm and no do understand the sheer beauty of these designs. The good news, reverb plugs today capture this sonic beauty quite well!

A plate reverb will excel at adding length and size to a sound source without making the sound source sound small or distant. Plate reverbs the preferred reverb of the engineers at The Continuum Music Studio as well as many other professional studios.

Plate reverbs offer a beautiful process of stretching a mix beyond the sides of the speakers and can do wonders for depth.

The most epic aspect plate reverbs would be the ability of the design to make elements of the mix feel wider without feeling like they are being stretched with reverb.

Continuum Tip : Be careful not to overdo the plate, and this will be a challenge because even native plate reverbs sound amazing! Too much of this good thing will render two-dimensional mixes which will (counter-intuitively) decrease the ambiance and depth of a mix. Who would have thought too much reverb can reduce ambiance!

Get into the habit of using at least one room and one plate reverb on every mix. In fact, just about every professional studio and producers always have a combination of reverbs on every project. Blend different elements of the song to different reverbs. A common practice with reverb allocation would be to send various percentages of the drum tracks with the room reverb and send various portions of the guitars, synths, and vocals to the plate reverb.

To summarize part 1 of the 5 best reverb techniques it all boils down first to develop a firm understanding of the function and feeling of room reverbs and plate reverbs. Rooms will give the audio a tight, close, and more intimate feel. Rooms will also allow the creation of small spaces which can be pinpointed in the mix. Pinpointing a reverb space can be enhanced by panning as well.

Continuum Room Reverb Tip : If a snare drum is panned 15 percent to the left in the mix pan the reverb for the snare 30 percent to the right.

Plates reverb offer a width and dimension. When plate reverbs are used sparingly elements of the mix can be widened without “feeling” like reverb. Plate reverbs have a natural way of adding dimension when used moderately and pair very well with an instrument (like drums) which is sent in small amounts to a room reverb. With knowing a bit about the project tempo and basic reverb setting like attack, decay, sustain, and release it is easy to melt both reverbs into onto another to paint a beautiful backdrop to the leading elements of the mix.