We’ve touched on how reverb can be used to improve vocal tracks before in the Home Recording Academy series, but the effect is one of the most important tools in any studio, be it a professional room or a home recording setup. Therefore we wanted to spend a little more time exploring just exactly what reverb does and how it can help you produce better mixes.
What is Reverb?
The concept of reverb is simple: it creates room. More specifically, it is designed to recreate a natural playing environment, be it a small room or a large recording hall. Since most professional studios are designed to provide little or no audio reflections (sound waves bouncing off walls and ceilings that sustain a sound), instruments and vocal can sound unnatural and dry. Adding reverb adds the space that helps provide a natural sound. This space can also improve the balance of your mixes.
Reverb as an Effect vs. Reverb as a Mixing Tool
Sometimes reverb is used more as an effect than a tool to make tracks sound more natural. For example, there is a trend in certain corners of indie rock that features a “washed out” sound where entire tracks seemed to be swimming in reverb. Recently, this includes bands like Girls, Surfer Blood and many others, though the trend goes much further back.
Additionally, even natural reverb can sound unnatural. It is reported that Jim James would record vocals in abandoned silos to create huge vocal reverbs for early My Morning Jacket records. Though the reverb is not studio created, most singers don’t naturally find themselves in a silo.
But typically you barely notice reverb on a song until you really listen for it. Though the heading of this section may be a little misleading as ‘verb is always an effect, it can also help your sounds in other ways.
Reverb in the Mix
Remember that space that ‘verb creates for vocals and instruments and makes them sound more natural? It does the same for those instruments in your mix.
There are times when simply changing the volume of a track just won’t give you the desired sound of you mix. Even after adjusting the EQ and compression settings, the track just doesn’t “sit” well in the mix. This is where reverb can often help.
That space it adds can make tracks seem further from the listener. Therefore, you can make a track less prominent in a mix without actually turning the volume down. It’s hard to explain the possibilities this opens up for you in an article, but as soon as you begin playing with this in your mixes, you’ll see the power reverb holds in your mix.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes you do want to “wash out” a track with a ton of reverb, and it will be exactly what your mix needs. Just like any recording tip, it’s all about the sound you want, and working with all the tools available until you achieve that sound.
Make Pro Songs
There are 8 unique value-points inside the Sage Audio membership, so let’s go over each one so you can decide if it’s the right fit for you.
1. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You’ll get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
2. 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio 1:1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us to answer all your questions and receive unlimited advanced mixing feedback directly from us.
- Unlimited direct access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve your mixes and masters.
- Unlimited advanced mixing feedback with detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Fast communication to answer all your questions and get tailored guidance that’s specific to your needs.
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited mixing feedback so you can improve your mixes quickly.
- This is highly valuable - giving you access to a thriving community of mixing engineers who can provide feedback about what you can improve before sending your mix to be professionally mastered.
4. Sage Audio University™ (SAU) — (Mixing and Mastering Education Platform)
- SAU is a modern audio engineering education platform that includes in-depth mixing and mastering course curriculums that match the new music industry.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from first-time mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout every course curriculum.
- SAU course curriculums include Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website, social channels, and portfolio for as long as you remain a member.
- Get first access to all future SAU course curriculums to continually build and refine your mixing and mastering skills as the industry evolves.
5. Mixing and Mastering Competitions
- Compete in Mixing Competitions and Mastering Competitions to win prizes and connect with friends and colleagues.
- This is a great collaborative way to improve your skills alongside both aspiring engineers and seasoned industry professionals.
6. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
7. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content, Including:
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 58 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
8. 700+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into playlists so you can take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your mixing and mastering skills at your own pace.
