I really love convolution reverbs. I don’t really use them with traditional space IRs (like a famous opera house). I have a collection of classic 80s hardware reverb IRs. Of course nothing is like having an actual Lexicon 480L or EMT plate but Altiverb gets you close enough. Altiverb 7 adds a very nice searchable IR photo browser, synthetic brightness add on (if wanted), drag & drop IR creation, chaos modulation and more. I can see using the drag & drop IR creation quite a lot. I would say 90% of my vocals are recorded with a convolution reverb on a send panned to the right a bit. $595 USD.

“Altiverb 7 is the industry standard convolution reverb plug-in. It uses top quality samples of real spaces to create reverb, ranging from Sydney Opera House to the cockpit of a Jumbo Jet. Altiverb 7 is efficient on the cpu, offers many parameters to tweak reverb, is total recall automatable, and has 64 bit support. Every month Altiverb 7 users receive new impulse responses for free.” audioease.com

For more info: audioease.com

Eventide Space – Sneak Peak from Richard Devine on Vimeo.

A few months ago when Eventide announced their new hardware box called Space the music tech crowd was buzzing. I admit I didn’t totally get why. Like many producers I know I’ve returned to using a lot of hardware but reverbs wasn’t a box I needed to go back to. Yesterday I saw the above demo video from Richard Devine on my Facebook feed (thanks Daniel Meyer) and this morning again on Synthtopia. Needless to say I have to have one of these. It’s the sound. I wonder if these will become as common as the Boss-SE50 did? Probably not and that’s a good thing for those who are in the know. The Space is $500.

“Never before has there been a more dazzling collection of reverb algorithms combined with delays, pitch shifting, tremolo, modulation, and spatial effects in such a compact and affordable package.” – eventide.com

For more info: eventide.com/stompBoxes/eventide_space

I love vintage hardware reverbs. My sole use of Altiverb is to load it up with old Lexicon Impulse Responses. There’s a lot of hype going around about a new plug-in from Relab called the LX480. It’s a obvious recreation of one of the all time best hardware reverbs the Lexicon 480.

Here’s a comparison between the original and the new softy:
www.rhythminmind.net/presetblog/2010/07/480l-or-lx-480/

A long Gearslutz thread discussion about the Relab LX480:
www.gearslutz.com/new-product-alert/plug-leak-relab-lx480

For more info: plugindiscounts.com/LX480LITE

Years ago I owned a Lexicon MPX1. I was amazed to see they still sell the unit! Today I use Lexicon reverb impulse responses inside Altiverb. It gets me a good retro 80s reverb sound I like. I didn’t try the new native LXP bundle so I can’t tell you if it has that Lexicon sound. Honestly I doubt it but if anyone has tried these and they are “it” let me know. The main obstacle here as will be the $750 price. Many of the old hardware units are still around and operating. Will this software still be up and running in 15 years?

“Lexicon’s LXP Native Reverb Bundle provides your music with an engaging aura that brings it to life by placing it in the perfect resonant space.” – lexiconpro.com

For more info: lexiconpro.com

Reverse Reverb from Rupert Brown on Vimeo.

I like these type of online music tech shows so I hope The DSP Project gains many episodes. I use this reverse reverb effect quite often. Sometimes I add a distortion unit after the reverb to really make the effect scream. Definitely check out my post: The Kick Boom, Thunderverb song writing element.

“In this episode I will show you how to create the reverse reverb effect in Ableton live (but technique can be used in any DAW) and put it into context by using it in a real project.” – Rupert Brown

Ever use this technique in your own productions?

Dubspot is school in New York City that trains DJ’s and electronic musicians. I’ve been to the facility for a few Ableton meetings and it was always interesting. Mike Hatsis gives us a run through on using Ableton reverbs and such in a Minimal track. I like how he says, “I like to think of it as the sound’s shadow.”.

“Dubspot Instructor, Michael Hatsis, shows how to add Space and Dimension to Minimal Techno style drums. Topics covered include using Drum Rack’s Send and Return tracks, as well as Creating and using a Plate and a Room style reverb in Ableton Live.” – dubspot.com

For more info: dubspot.com

I love the sound of spring reverbs. The Ekdahl Moisturizer is a pre-amp (with 100 x gain), spring reverb with wet/dry slider and a filter. There are two absolutely brilliant things about this unit. First, the springs are exposed for you to smash. Second, the Ekdahl Moisterizer is only $300. Needless to say I put my order in for one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g86o5FkwiM

“Basically, the Ekdahl Moisturizer is a spring reverb where the springs are exposed so they can be played/hit/fiddled with. As well as being capable of creating sound in itself, you can of course also play sound through the springs like a regular spring reverb – this makes for happy-fun-time finger-modulation of the reverb on whatever audio that’s going through it. On top of this there’s an analog multimode filter that can be used to attenuate or exaggerate certain frequencies in the sound, this is real handy while playing the springs as you can – for instance – cut all the highs and just make thunderous doomy sounds or do the opposite; cut all the lows and make that ear piercing high frequency special love. Also, it incorporates an LFO that’s internally routable to the filter and that also has some external routing-stuff. The Ekdahl Moisturizer has tons of CV / Expression pedal options on the back for even more hillarious moments. The Moisturizer is a mono unit. ” – sdiy.org

The “E.M’s” designer Karl says he’s a bit backlogged so I’ll have to wait until September for my unit so if you want one you better get on the list. Be sure to also check out “Bob’s atomic experiment” on their website for some old USA style industrial music. For more videos and audio samples of the Ekdahl Moisterizer: http://www.sdiy.org

A friend of mine Marc Acardipane is working on a new album. He is moving from dance music into full on pop. To make the move he went on a serious shopping spree. Recently during a phone conversation he went on for an hour about a new Reverb unit he bought.

Most people would be fine with the built in software reverb that comes with your DAW. I often use Ableton Live’s built in Reverb. A quick tip for the Ableton Reverb is to click the “Quality” drop down menu and pick “High”. Most of the people I know also spend some cash and grab a Convolution Reverb plug-in like Altiverb. I have my Altiverb loaded with vintage hardware reverb Impulse Responses.

But what if you want the absolute best reverb? Lexicon possibly? Nah! Bricasti! According to my friend Marc he just sat there for hours listening to vocals through the Bricasti Model 7 in total awe. I trust Marc as he owns every software and hardware Reverb there is. The specs are basic but this unit is all about sound quality:

• Revolutionary new reverb algorithm
• True Stereo Reverb Process
• Classic and new Presets; Halls, Plates, Rooms, Chambers, Ambient Spaces
• 12 Parametric Program Parameters
• Custom design toroidal transfomer
• High performace switching supply
• Separate Digital and Analog modules
• Postive feel 2 db stepped analog input level control
• MIDI I/O
• Hand Crafted in the USA

An optional remote control is coming soon. It’s $3700 USD. Are you game?

Here’s a technique I use on almost every song I record. This step gives me a helping hand in making transitions in the arrangement work. It also can add drama at the end of an important verse. I have a few names for this tactic including the Kickverb, Kickboom and the awesome Thunderverb!

Take the kick drum you are using throughout the track and isolate one hit. Make a new audio track and place the single kick drum on it. Don’t forget to render your kick first if you had some effects on it like compression or EQ. Once on its own channel insert a reverb. I usually go for Alitverb convolution reverb or the Korg MDE-X multi-effect which comes with the Korg Legacy collection. Both those reverbs have colors to them. Next, I render a single kick going through a wash of reverb. Do several bounces with different kinds of reverbs. You end up with Kickverb1, Kickverb2 and so forth. If your song calls for it insert a distortion plug-in after the reverb. This gives you a dirty decaying sound. My favorite distortion plug-ins are Izotope’s Trash and Ohm Force’s Ohmicide. Another thing to try is pitching your rendered kickverb down.

I usually create my Kickverbs after the general arrangement is finished. Then, I place them strategically throughout the timeline. Two places they fit include at the beggining of the chorus and in the verse after you say something shocking or important. You can also start and finish the song with them.

Some other things that maybe obvious that you can do is reverse the Kickverb. Place that “Reverse Kickverb” before the chorus comes in to build up tension. Of course you don’t have to stick to the Kickverb at all because real thunder and explosion samples will also work.

photo credit: caddymob

I use Audioease’s Altiverb on almost every song I create. I really like convolution reverb’s and Altiverb 6 is the king. When I first bought it I spent almost two weeks hunting down 1980′s digital reverb Impulse Responses. I even put photos of the original processing units into Altiverb! Often I will load Altiverb into a return channel, choose a Lexicon 480L reverb Impulse Response and pan the return hard right. Then on a vocal channel Ill turn up the send knob to get a nice thick shimmering reverb vocal in my right ear. Once and I while I will take an Impulse Response from a Neuman U87 microphone and run D16′s Nepheton Roland TR-808 emulator plug-in through it. This gives the Nepheton an extra boost of realism. It’s like you plugged in a real TR-808 in a room and recorded it to tape. Very nice.

A few weeks ago Altiverb released a much anticipated new plug-in called Speakerphone. According to the Audioease website it’s “270 speaker impulse responses powered by Altiverb, 30 Altiverb rooms, 5 gigabyte of ambiances and sound FX, conveniently presented to you in 500 presets.”. But actually it’s even more than that because inside the large faced plug-in you also have access to the following modules: distortion, compression, gate, eq, crush, phono, mod, codec, delay, and tuning.

This thing is right up my alley, an almost unlimited amount of vocal changing sound design. Of course you can run other things besides vocals through Speakerphone. True, you could probably hunt down some Impulse Responses like what they use in this plug-in and then add all the above mentioned effects yourself but Audioease’s package is class. There is a great video that showcases everything Speakerphone can do so do yourself a favor and head over to Audioease.com and check it out.

I think Speakerphone’s retail price of $495 USD is well worth it. I was about to purchase it this weekend when I came across this thread in the great Mac audio forum Big Blue Lounge. Apparently there is a Group Buy going on for Speakerphone by the Logic Users Group! A Group Buy basically means you pledge to buy the program and the more people who also pledge before a certain date the lower the final price each person has to pay. This Group Buy “will start at 0:01 a.m., Wednesday 31 October, Central European time, and run until Midnight, Tuesday November 14 Pacific Coast Time.”. If the maximum amount of people sign up (1000) the price of Speakerphone will be 40% off which is $297 USD. I signed up and if you make music more than one day a week you should grab this now too!