Reverb

Reverb adds reverberation (rapid, modified repetitions blended with the original sound that gives an impression of ambience). The Reverb effect is based on the original "freeverb" algorithm. Adding reverberation is sometimes desirable for concert halls that are too small or contain so many people that the hall's natural reverberance is diminished.

Applying a small amount of stereo reverb to an untreated mono signal duplicated into a two-channel stereo track will usually make it sound more natural.

Note that this effect increases the volume, so the "Dry Gain" should normally be set below 0 dB in order to prevent clipping. To allow the effect's reverb tail to be audible, the selection should normally be extended beyond the end of the audio, or silence added to the end of the track.

Accessed by: Effect > Reverb...

Bill 08May13: added Steve's parameter descriptions to mine so we can decide which is best.

Settings

• Room Size (%): Sets the size of the simulated room. 0% is like a closet, 100% is like a huge cathedral or large auditorium. A high value will simulate the reverberation effect of a large room and a low value will simulate the effect of a small room.

• Pre-delay (ms): Delays the onset of the reverberation for the set time after the start of the original input. This also delays the onset of the reverb tail. The maximum pre-delay is 200 milliseconds. Careful adjustment of this parameter can improve the clarity of the result.

• Reverberance (%): Sets the length of the reverberation tail. This determines how long the reverberation continues for after the original sound being reverbed comes to an end, and so simulates the "liveliness" of the room acoustics. For any given reverberance value, the tail will be greater for larger room sizes.

Bill 07May13: some quick and dirty experiments to determine the RT60 times (all with damping 0%, tones at 100%, wet gain 0 db, "Wet Only")

• Room Size 100%, Reverberance 0%: 0.2 sec
• Room Size 100%, Reverberance 100%: 9 sec
• Room Size 0%, Reverberance 0%: 0.13 sec
• Room Size 0%, Reverberance 100%: 0.9 sec

Changing the Damping does not appear to affect the RT60 times, only the "character" of the reverb.

• Damping (%): Increasing the damping produces a more "muted" effect. The reverberation does not build up as much, and the high frequencies decay faster than the low frequencies. Simulates the absorption of high frequencies in the reverberation.

• Tone Low (%): Setting this control below 100% reduces the low frequency components of the reverberation, creating a less "boomy" effect.

• Tone High (%): Setting this control below 100% reduces the high frequency components of the reverberation, creating a less "bright" effect.

• Wet Gain (dB): Applies volume adjustment to the reverberation ("wet") component in the mix. Increasing this value relative to the "Dry Gain" (below) increases the strength of the reverb.

• Dry Gain (dB): Applies volume adjustment to the original ("dry") audio in the mix. Increasing this value relative to the "Wet Gain" (above) reduces the strength of the reverb. If the Wet Gain and Dry Gain values are the same, then the level of the mix will be made higher or lower by exactly this value (assuming "Wet Only" below is not checked).

• Stereo Width (%): Sets the apparent "width" of the Reverb effect for stereo tracks only. Increasing this value applies more variation between left and right channels, creating a more "spacious" effect. When set at zero, the effect is applied independently to left and right channels.

• Wet Only: When this control is checked, only the wet signal (added reverberation) will be in the resulting output, and the original audio will be removed. This can be useful when previewing the effect, but in most cases you should uncheck this when applying the effect.

  Wet Only may be used however to create a "reverb only" track that you can then mix in greater or lesser proportion with the original track. See Examples below for complete steps.

Presets

• Load: Click this button to load one of nine fixed presets:
  • Vocal I
  • Vocal II
  • Bathroom
  • Small Room Bright
  • Small Room Dark
  • Medium Room
  • Large Room
  • Church Hall
  • Cathedral

Selecting the preset then clicking OK loads the settings for that preset into the effect.

User Settings

There are ten user setting "slots" available for you to save your favorite settings. They are initially named "Settings0" through "Settings9". Until you save the current parameters as one of these settings, loading any of these settings will reset the effect to its default values (as in the image above).

• Load: Click this button to choose a user-specified parameters setting. Selecting the named setting then clicking OK button loads those settings into the effect.

• Save: Click this button to save the current effect parameters as one of the settings in the list. Selecting the named setting then clicking the OK saves your parameters under that name. If you want to save as a name not in the list, click "Rename" (below) instead.

• Rename: Click this button to rename a selected setting. In the "Reverb Settings" dialog, select a setting then click the OK button to open a dialog to change that setting's name. Type the required name then click the OK button to change the setting's name.

Previews

• Preview: Exactly like "Preview" in other effects (previews what the effect would sound like if applied at its current settings).
• Dry Preview: Previews the original audio selection entirely unprocessed (ignoring all the effect settings including "Wet Only"), just like playing that selection in the main window. Pressing "Dry Preview" and "Preview" in succession thus gives you a quick "before" and "after" comparison of the effect.

Examples

* Bill 08May13: My first cut at some examples. I'll add the divs, templates and links after we've settled on the text.

Always add a few seconds of silence to any track you intend to apply the Reverb effect to. The reverb tail will continue for several seconds after the sound ends. If you do not add silence to the end of the track the reverb will cut off unnaturally.

Keep the reverb effect on a separate track.

With this method, you duplicate the track to want to apply reverb to, then apply the Reverb effect to the duplicate track, checking the "Wet Only" checkbox in the Reverb dialog. You can then control the amount of reverb in the final mix by adjusting the Track Gain Slider on the reverb track. Steps:

• Add a few seconds of silence to the end of the track
  • Click the Skip to End Transport button or press CTRL+K
  • Click Generate > Silence
  • Choose how much silence to add (20 seconds is the most you will ever need, 5 second will often be adequate)
  • Click OK to add the silence to the end of the track
  • Select the track (click on the Track Control Panel) then click Edit > Clip Boundaries > Join or press CTRL+J
• Duplicate the track (select the track then click Edit > Duplicate)
• Select the duplicate track
• Apply the Reverb effect to the track making sure to check the "Wet Only" checkbox

Adding stereo reverb to a mono track

It is often desirable to add reverb to a mono track (such as a vocal) but have a stereo "spread" to the reverb. This is generally more pleasing and works better when the final mix is in stereo.

Steps:

• Add a few seconds of silence to the end of the track (as explained above)
• Duplicate the track (select the track then click Edit > Duplicate)
• From the Track Drop Down Menu select Make Stereo Track
• Select the track
• Apply the Reverb effect to the track making sure to un-check the "Wet Only" checkbox

This method can be expanded to incorporate the reverb on a separate track, as follows:

• Add a few seconds of silence to the end of the track (as explained above)
• Duplicate the track (select the track then click Edit > Duplicate)
• From the Track Drop Down Menu on the upper track select Make Stereo Track
• Select the new stereo track
• Duplicate the track (select the track then click Edit > Duplicate)
• Apply the Reverb effect to the duplicate track making sure to check the "Wet Only" checkbox
• From the Track Drop Down Menu of the original track, select "Split Stereo to Mono"
• Delete one of the two resulting mono tracks by clicking the Track Close Button

(This last step is not strictly necessary, but reduces track clutter and makes it clear that the original track is mono.)

Links

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