Reverb techniques for creating mixes with depth!

Reverb is an effect that’s easy to recognize,
and can easily be applied by anyone,
but with great power comes great responsibility!
If not used correctly, your song may drown in reverb, or become muddy and unclear.

There are many people who understand this problem,
but don’t know how to solve it.

By using just a bit of technique,
you can get a step closer to achieving your ideal sound.

6 techniques to create spaces!

We will take a look at 6 different techniques to control spaces.

1「Use sends to share a single reverb track」

It is recommended rather than placing multiple reverbs on tracks, use a single「AUX track」, and use it as a reverb track that can be used by all tracks.
I’ve gone over this topic in my blog as well, so please give it a look!

Using sends to share 1 reverb by DAW

2「Using different reverbs together」

This is a step forward from「technique 1」.
Create multiple reverb tracks, and use them together to create new and complex spaces.

For example「Reverb track 1」has a big hall reverb.
「Reverb track 2」has a small room reverb.
「Reverb track 3」has a plate reverb.
Prepare reverbs with different characteristics,
and adjust how much you reverb you want on tracks with the send amount.
This is an incredibly powerful tool!
The sounds blend together to create unique reverberated sounds.

3「Not too much reverb on bass/kick」

A common problem in reverb is the fact that the low end tends to get convoluted.
If you place too much reverb on the bass and kick drum, the center of the song is lost and becomes less tight.
Because of this, either don’t apply any reverb,
or just but a light amount of reverb on these sounds.
Placing reverb on a single kick sound is used often for sound effects,
but for general track use, keep the reverb light!

4「Cutting lows with an EQ」

This is a problem that may arise from「technique 3」, but when more and mroe reverb is applied, the low end will begin to get muddy and convoluted.

You may want more reverb on your vocals, but if you add any more, the sound will end up drowning in reverb.
A common treatment for this problem is to cut some low end frequencies via EQ.

The song will clean up as a whole, and even with heavy reverb applied, it won’t feel as overwhelming.
The point at which to start cutting out lows can depend greatly on the song, so listen as you edit on a case by case basis.

5「Using deep/tight reverbs for different situations」

You want a track with a deep reverb sound.
However, having all the tracks sent to a heavy reverb can take away from this effect.

By having a track set with a close and very light reverb sound,
the contrast with the heavy reverb sound will help bring out this effect.
Try this kind of contrast for various things in your MIX!

6「Changing reverb placement」

Generally, the sound from a「send & return」track will sound from the center.
For example, a guitar track may be sent panned either right or left,
but the reverb for this sound will be in the center.

Because of this

• the reverb gets murky
• the reverb coming from the center sound unnatural

These kind of problems can arise.
A way to solve this problem is to「PAN the reverb」.
This function differs from DAW to DAW, so we have added this info below.

Controlling reverb PAN by DAW

This concludes our 6 tips for reverb techniques.

By using these techniques, the feel and sound of your song will drastically change.
We hope you can create some great mixes!