Chamber ReverbĬhambers are kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from halls. Celine Dion, she likes a perfect, lush sounding hall. So, they’re happy with vibey room reverb. They’re the salt-of-the-earth, homespun people who don’t see much use in putting on airs. That Folk band I was talking about in the previous segment, not so much. Diamond sequins, Stradivarius violins, a Fazioli pianoforte and possibly Barbara Streisand would all be at home in a concert hall. And many halls are built to help propagate the sound, which is why many halls are bow shaped. They’re built to specifically have minimal room modes, echoes, rings, etc., and intended to sound as tonally even as possible (although some are built to amplify lower frequencies to give an orchestra a more grandiose sound). When we’re going for a natural, in-person, live kind of sound (a pretty common goal in acoustic styles of music like Folk and Jazz), room reverb is a good choice.Ĭoncert Halls are spaces that are dedicated to the enjoyment of music. They also sound like a more intimate space and can give the impression that all of the music is being played right in front of you. Rooms give a natural color and liveliness to a sound. Let’s be honest, who hasn’t wanted to record drums in a parking garage? And your friend’s acoustic guitar might actually sound pretty good in that living room. There’s a lot of “imperfection” in the sound of a room - but it’s exactly those imperfections that can make them compelling. Simply put - they tend to have a distinct colored character. These flat, parallel, reflective boundaries cause sonic anomalies such as modal interference, standing waves, flutter echo, rings and resonances. As a result, unless you happen to be in a Frank Loyd Wright house, rooms tend to have practical shapes such as flat surfaces and parallel walls. The first is that rooms are designed for shelter and for people to exist, but not specifically for great sound. What you’ll notice is that all of these spaces sound completely different. The parking garage is probably wide, with a low ceiling and made of concrete. The cathedral is probably pretty friggin’ big and might be made out of marble. Your living room is probably fairly small and walled in wood and/or drywall. Your living room is one room, the central space of a cathedral is another room and an underground parking garage - also a room. Yup, take a good look around, that’s a room. You are probably reading this article while you are in a room right now. The good news is that there are some commonalities that are generally agreed upon that can help hedge our expectations.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REVERB AND DELAY HOW TO
The fun part is that every algorithm is different and every designer’s interpretation of how to imitate each type is completely subjective. Customarily, the reverb types are Rooms, Halls, Chambers, Plates, and Ambiences. That algorithm can be configured in a large number of ways, but the designers generally like to set up some basic configurations that imitate the typical reverbs that we frequently come across. The basic idea is this: a reverb processor is a device that uses an algorithm (magical math) to turn a source sound into the reverberant version of that sound. Even if we just ignore the finer controls, just knowing what different “types” of reverbs mean and what to expect from them can be confusing.įortunately, you’ve Googled your way here and I can help!
If you’re somewhat new to the production world (and maybe even if you aren’t), popping open that reverb algorithm can be a bit daunting. What? It’s a very understandable mistake if you have no idea what a hallway sounds like. I am going to go as far as to admit that there may have been a time in my life when I thought a “Hall” reverb referred to a hallway. We all cringe at the word “exposure”, we all eventually become coffee addicts and we all go through a steep learning curve when it comes to reverb. Amongst our vast array of differences, however, there are some striking similarities.
We’re all different as engineers and music producers.