MusicRadar

Platinumverb is an industry standard reverb. It comes free with Logic

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For a quality mix, reverb is essential. Get to grips with this effect and it'll transform your sounds. Below are MusicRadar's essential reverb tips and tricks, but be sure to also check out our in-depth look at reverb for a detailed introduction to the effect.

Step by step

Nature's way

1. Ambient mics are often used to capture the sound of a real room when recording drums, but a similar process can be used with any signal. Start by setting up a speaker in the space you want to capture, or perhaps even in an adjoining room with the door open. Then place a microphone in the space to be captured, facing away from the sound source.

2. Make sure the mic is a good distance away from the speaker and adjust the playback volume until you're fully aware of the natural reverberations. Be sure to mute the output of the microphone channel, so as to avoid any feedback. Then simply play back the source - be it a vocal track, instrumental part or complete mixdown - and record the reverberations.

3. Try recording a few different speaker and mic placements, then unmute the recordings and play them quietly behind your original source. For a nice stereo effect, feed one recording to the left channel and another to the right. And there you go: an easy, effective and natural reverb effect that's great for any occasion.

Reverb 3D

Tutorial reverb loop.mp3 (Right-click and then click 'Save as')

1. Reverb can be used to add more than just stereo width. Our ears can easily detect direction with sound, so there's no reason why we shouldn't use stereo reverb to equal effect. Start by placing our two-bar Reverb Loop (above) onto a new track, and a reverb unit (set to 100% wet) on a bus. Send the output of the track to the reverb bus.

2. Now, use automation to lower the volume of the reverb bus from a high point of your choice to a low point of your choice and back up again, with the lowest point exactly halfway through two bars. Next, automate the pan from centred to fully left and back to centre over one bar, then fully right and back to centre over the second bar.

3. If all is well, the reverb should sound like it's running in a large circle in front of you. So far this effect is pretty severe, so to moderate it slightly, simply ease back the extreme pan values, and lessen the volume range. To really add some dynamism, try applying the exact opposite automation to the audio loop.

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