What is reverb?
Reverb is an audio effect that allows us to emulate the way sound behaves in physical space. When a sound is produced, it reflects off surfaces in the environment and creates a tail of decaying echoes that gives a sense of size, shape, and distance.
You can hear reverb — real reverb — in whichever room you’re in right now. Take a second to make a sound like clapping or shouting. The reflections you hear after the sound source you’ve created are part of the room’s natural reverb. Do it again and try to listen to the character of the reverb in your room:
Is it bright sounding (full of high frequencies), or dark (lacking in high frequencies)?
Does it fade away very quickly, or does it take a long time?
Did the reverb occur immediately after you made the sound, or did it take some time to start reflecting?
In music production, reverb is typically added using plugins, and the above questions are important in understanding what these plugins can do. Tools like Raum allow for detailed control over decay time, pre-delay, diffusion, and more. They can enable you to add anything from a tight room ambiance to a vast, ethereal space.
