MOST FAMOUS REVERB & DELAY
PLUGINS USED IN OUR DAW
T
he two most frequently used plugins in our DAW is our
Reverb and Delay. Why its used in our music production
is to create a space and an ambience effect. This creates
a wider stereo image and it spaces out in our mixing process.
Remember, it also makes other instruments stand out of
the mix since there is a Near and Far placement of the Audio
Spectrum for your ears. It also clears up the cluttering of
the mix.
Since we all record a dry vocals or any source, we need
to create a spatial sound or an ambience to create that
atmosphere in our music. So a reverb is the most useful plugin
to emulate the exact ambience in our music production. Most
of the vintage reverb's were originally
the hardware reverb processors used in the production stage.
When there was no reverb hardware unit, the only solution the
recording engineers did was to move the mics and place it at
a distance from the singer or the source and then record. Yes,
remember, the microphones records distance! When you record
like this, try to hear, it feels naturally beautiful without any
today’s modern plugin. It feels like the person
is singing from the distance.
The first reverb unit built was the EMT which stands for
Elektro-Mess- Technik, plate reverb in 1957. It was one of the
best sounding reverb created and was using in all the hardware
units. Later they built the EMT 250 plate reverb hardware with
several parameters with High and low frequency cut off with
delay unit built in that.
The other famous reverb unit is the Lexicon digital Reverb 224
with many parameters like Plate, room, chambers etc. These
reverb's are now available as plugins from Native Instruments,
Nomad Factory, Slate Digital and PSP audioware etc.
Since these are available to use as the DAW plugins, many
music producers have produced millions of records and used
very effectively also in the Movie industry and also in the
Picture credit:
Digi Sound Studio
Gaming industry. Today since the immersive sound is getting
more popular, the 3 dimensional space reverb's are most widely
used in the game industry and also the VR Videos etc.
These reverb plugins as been taken by the audio giants
like Universal Audio, Waves, McDsp , Slate Digital, Native
Instruments and Plugin Alliance to name a few who have re-
created the exact analogue model to be used in the DAW with
very easy to use interface for the music production and in
various areas. This makes it very flexible use without having
to invest on heavy hardware units for many home studio
producers and project studio owners.
The another most important effect is the DELAY plugin which
is a sub classification of the Reverb effect. Reverb effect is used
to create the ambience of the place for a dry recorded source.
But Delay effect is used for repeating the particular audio
segment several times. Its also referred as an ECHO. The most
famous delay unit is the Roland Space echo RE 201 which was
released in the year 1974. This
delay processor was widely used by many top Grammy Award
Engineers in many of the records produced in the early years.
The next processor was the Eventide Effects processor used
for increasing the Speed of the song without altering the Pitch.
Now days this feature introduced in several DAW itself. But
these hardware was a magic for those early producers. These
processors were additionally used as Harmoniser effects in
the songs. This is a very popular effect used in the early 80’s
to get that De-tuned guitar effect in your mixes! This actually
creates a stereo image in your mixes! Try these effects by using
the modern plugins and feel the analogue effect sounds in your
modern music to bring a new dimension in your mixes.
Hope i have talked about few most famous effects of hardware
used in the early days and which are now available in plugins
for many DAW’s. Happy Mixing!
Author: Baba.L.Prasad. He is the owner and chief Sound/Mix and Mastering Engineer at Digi Sound Studio. He also teaches Sound
Engineering and Music Production courses. For more details, visit www.digisoundacademy.com
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