We recently featured an ingenious video from Youtuber Leomakes in which, by adding a transducer and pickup, he converted a steel shelf into a rudimentary plate reverb. While this was a very clever illustration of the operating principles of a plate reverb, the sound was at best a character effect. Not even a shelf EQ was going to help (groan…). If you wanted unique, trashy reverb it might have seen use but for the 99.9% of the rest of the time it wouldn’t be a serious alternative to a “proper” reverb.
Fixing The Issues, One At A Time
To address this, Leo has revisited the project and has worked through the issues one by one and has taken a proof of concept, through to a not at all bad DIY plate reverb working through issues with the plate itself, how it is mounted, how effective the driver and pickups are and how well it matches in terms of impedance with the rest of the system.
0.57 - The Sound
3.02 - Form Factor
5.25 - The Electronics
9.35 - On Failure
12.09 - Final Assembly
12.54 - Audio Examples
17.22 - Conclusion
We like this project as it shows the problem solving process in action and even if you never touch an electromechanical reverb, those same principles are essential to everything we do as audio engineers.
In this article and video, Paul Maunder explores Nugen Audio’s Paragon - a convolution reverb plugin with a unique synthesis method which allows for dynamic adjustment of impulse responses as well as a host of advanced features for audio professionals.
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A few engineers remember the days when real artificial reverb was either plate or spring-shaped. Now with the absolute dominance of modern digital reverb, here we remind ourselves of just how totally indispensable this modern mix marvel really is…
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One thing which can be challenging to create artificially is a believable sounding outdoor reverb effect. This is something which a lot of people find difficult. Just how do you create an outdoor acoustic using reverb plug-ins? We get advice from someone who really knows their stuff.
There are very few high-end reverb units from the last 50 years that aren’t still eminently effective and desirable today, so quality emulations of them are well worth having in your locker. Here are seven of the best.
In this article and accompanying video Julian looks at how to create two reverbs - Shimmer Reverb and Gated Reverb. While there will inevitably be some who will insist that there is one definitive way to create these effects, actually they are based on a principle and that is what is presented here.
The long awaited update to Altiverb has been released, with native Apple Silicon support, Atmos capabilities and much more, We have the details.
The Abbey Road Reverb Trick is up there with the Pultec Bottom End Trick or the 1176 All Buttons In Trick for super-clickable, internet friendly audio content. It’s simple, quick, and it refers to something famous in the name. However one of the commonly held elements of this trick isn’t necessary. We investigate.