A reverb effect, or reverb, is an effects unit applied to a sound signal to simulate reverberation.
Spring reverb, created with a series of mounted springs, is popular in surf music and dub reggae. Plate reverb uses electromechanical to create vibrations in large plates of sheet metal. Convolution reverb uses to record the reverberation of physical spaces and recreate them digitally. Gated reverb became a staple of 1980s pop music, used by drummers including Phil Collins. Shimmer reverb, which Pitch shift of the reverberated sound, is often used in ambient music.
Varieties
Echo chambers
The first reverb effects, introduced in the 1930s, were created by playing recordings through loudspeakers in reverberating spaces and recording the sound.
The American producer
Bill Putnam is credited for the first artistic use of artificial reverb in music, on the 1947 song "Peg o' My Heart" by the
Harmonicats. Putnam placed a microphone and loudspeaker in the studio bathroom to create an echo chamber, adding an "eerie dimension".
Spring reverb
Spring reverbs, introduced by
Bell Labs, use a set of springs mounted inside a box.
They work similarly to plate reverb, with a transducer and pickup placed at either end of the spring.
The American engineer Laurens Hammond of the Hammond company was granted a patent on a spring reverb system in 1939.
They became popular with guitarists, including Surf music musicians such as Dick Dale,
Plate reverb
A plate reverb system uses an electromechanical
transducer, similar to the driver in a loudspeaker, to create vibrations in a large plate of
sheet metal. The plate's motion is picked up by one or more contact microphones whose output is an audio signal that may be added to the original "dry" signal.
Plate reverb was introduced in the late 1950s by Elektromesstechnik with the EMT 140.
Digital reverb
Digital reverb units simulate reverb by using multiple delay lines with fading trails, giving the impression of sound bouncing off surfaces. Some digital effects allow users to independently adjust early and late reflections.
Digital reverb was introduced in 1976 by EMT with the EMT 250,
and became popular in the 1980s.
Gated reverb
Gated reverb combines reverb with a
noise gate, creating a "large" sound with a short tail.
It was pioneered by the English recording engineer
Hugh Padgham and the drummer
Phil Collins, and became a staple of 1980s pop music.
Convolution reverb
Convolution uses
to record the reverberation of physical spaces and recreate them digitally.
The first real-time convolution reverb processor, the DRE S777, was announced by
Sony in 1999.
Convolution reverb is often used in film production, with sound engineers recording impulse responses of sets and locations so sounds can be added in post-production with realistic reverberation.
Shimmer reverb
Shimmer reverb
Pitch shift of the reverberated sound, an effect often used in
ambient music.
