Reverb

In the desktop app. Reverb as a device on a track belongs to the desktop app, arriving in its beta; the web studio does not have it. The examples on this page are rendered by the studio’s own reverb, the same one the device uses.

What it is for

Reverb puts a sound in a room. A dry sound seems to be inside your head; with reverb it is somewhere, near or far, in a small space or a large one. It is also what makes separate tracks sound as if they were played together: put them in the same room and they belong to each other.

Reach for it when a sound is dry and flat, or when the parts of a song do not seem to share a space. Too much is the more common mistake: reverb pushes a sound back and blurs it, so the parts that should be close (bass, kick, a lead vocal) get little or none. See Echo and reverberation are the room.

Decay

How long the room rings after the sound stops, in seconds. Under a second is a small room: it adds body and is hardly noticed. Two seconds is a hall. Longer is a cathedral, beautiful on a slow, sparse part and a blur on a busy one.

Pre-delay

A short gap between the sound and the start of the room. With none, the sound and its reverb arrive together and the sound seems far away. With a gap, the sound is heard clearly first and the room follows, so it stays close and clear while the space stays large.

Brightness

How much of the top end the room keeps. A dark room is warm and stays in the background. A bright room is airy and shiny, and more noticeable.

Mix

How much room there is against the sound itself. A little is enough for most parts: bring it up until you notice the reverb, then take it back a step.