Mixing Audio, 3rd Edition

24Reverbs

With the exception of pure orchestral recordings, reverbs are used in nearly every mix. The common practice of close-miking and the dry nature of some sounds produced by synthesizers and samplers result in initial mixes that lack both ambiance and depth (such mixes are often described as “2D mixes”). Reverbs allow us to add and build up these missing elements during mixdown, but they can also be beneficial for many other mixing tasks.

What is reverb?

In nature, reverb is heard mostly within enclosed spaces, such as rooms. Reverbs are easier to understand if we imagine an impulse sound, such as a handclap, emitted from a sound source in an empty room. Such a sound will propagate in a spherical fashion, and for simplicity we should regard ...