How does plate reverb work

If you tap on any metal item large enough, you can understand the thought process behind plate reverb. Plates were very popular when they were first developed, due in large part to being much less expensive and more practical than a dedicated echo chamber. Spring reverb was also used frequently, though plate tended to dominate up until digital reverb was developed. And even though digital reverbs initially sounded even less natural than plate reverb, they were, again, a more practical alternative.

We can emulate virtually any sonic space imaginable, but we can also emulate plate reverb because of its distinct character that became a sound we grew accustomed to! Plate reverbs are great for adding perceived brightness to an instrument. There are basically two techniques to create a plugin that emulates a traditional plate reverb: convolution with a plate IR impulse response , and modelling the plate sound algorithmically with a structure of feed-backing delays.

When using convolution, you can create a very natural emulation by using an IR signal created with a real plate reverb. However, reverbs using IRs are generally very limited in functionality — one IR just recreates the plate at a single setting at a time. When using the algorithmic approach, you can add a lot of flexibility to a plugin. Other challenges arise though with the algorithmic approach, as it is hard to avoid the ugly metallic and resonant sound that feed-backing delay units produce and to design a structure that mimics the exact behaviour of a traditional plate.

Getting it right algorithmically is hard, which is the reason that most companies developing reverb plugins do not disclose their exact methods. Plate reverbs are great sound design devices. You can go from sparkling metallic sounds to deep and dark resonators.

Tape saturation is usually a great compliment for making it thicker, and more in general, pedals or extra effects create amazing results too. Experimenting with various materials if you are going for a real one and dampening settings if you use plugins you can produce very different kinds of decays that can dramatically twist your workflow and become crucial to the shape of your own sound.

Consider adding in a short pre-delay as well so that the early reflections don't begin for a period of milliseconds experiment with the appropriate amount. This will help bring focus back to your instruments. And as a rule of thumb, find the volume of the reverb you think sounds good and then reduce the amplitude by one or two decibels. Less is more! Your best move when using any reverb is to start with a preset and tweak it from there.

But even then, you still need to be familiar with the basic parameters you are allowed to change. It's easy to get overwhelmed, especially when you're provided more settings than you really need. I'll cover the basic ones, and the rest you can ignore.

That's it. You can honestly not get too involved in those, except maybe the attack, delay, and pre-delay, and be fine. The rest you can control on the aux bus using the sends, fader, and EQ plugin there. Because you'll use them at such low levels, minute changes won't be noticeable or have any pragmatic effect on your mix.

Guitarist will enjoy seeing our top picks for best reverb pedals if they're on the hunt. Due to hearing this all over Pink Floyd and The Beatles, and realizing it's suitable for the most popular genres out there perhaps minus country , the usage of this exploded.

And that's especially since it was the only attainable and great sounding option let's face it, spring reverbs suck for decades. You should now know all there is to know about plate reverb. All that's left is to get your hands dirty and experiment and practice. Just remember, less is more and use an auxiliary bus to send entire groups of tracks over, and you'll be golden. Features Columns.

What is Plate Reverb? See below: It's similar to the single or repetitive echos heard in the delay audio effect , but there's exponentially more of them that slowly reduce in energy and volume until they can't be heard any more. How Does Plate Reverb Work?

Plate Reverb Explained Plate reverb has two contradictory colors to it. As far as actively using this effect, many people make two fatal mistakes: Don't apply a plate reverb to every track that needs it use an auxiliary bus Do add an equalizer to the aux bus in make room in the reverb for clarity The reasons you do not want to use as many as 10 versions of this effect is because you'll end up with a muddy mess in your mix that reduces clarity big time, it's not how reverb works in nature, and you'll eat up tons of CPU power in your computer.

Your result will be more like below: Consider adding in a short pre-delay as well so that the early reflections don't begin for a period of milliseconds experiment with the appropriate amount. The tone is inherently bright, in a way that can add brilliance to the sounds being processed. Its inherently long decay times can create a dramatic effect, either soaring or spooky depending on context.

Its dense quality means that it can really muddy things up when overused as well — sending everything in your mix to a single plate reverb buss is a great way to kill depth and definition.

Without a doubt, my personal favorite and most common use of plate reverb is on vocals. Even when a drum recording features room mics or other natural ambient tones, plate reverb can add depth with a touch of vintage class. If your mix has a lot of space for long reverb tails to shine, try sending the whole kit to a plate reverb buss.

If the rest of the arrangement is a little busier, you might try just sending snare or tom close mics, maybe with just a bit of the overheads mixed in as well.

Whether those strings are brooding, soaring or darting around like a school of fish, the bright, shimmery tone of reverb is a natural match for strings. Tracking a string ensemble live usually involves putting a good amount of distance between the instruments and mics. Keeping those sorts of string tracks dry creates a sort of austere sound that can really work well in certain situations. But when you want long, lush tails on a string section, plate reverb is the natural first choice.

The inherently unnatural sound of the plate creates the sense that whatever tracks you feed into it are coming from somewhere outside of the rest of the recording.