Many DJs throw a reverb onto their currently playing track push the DRY-WET balance control to 100% and call it a day. However, over time you might find Reverb doesn’t “play” as well with certain elements or that you can’t quite describe how this DJ effect quite works or what it really does. In this post, we will explore the reverb DJ effect at a technical level and describe its use in a DJ oriented setting.
You can watch a free lecture from the Beginner to Intermediate Course on this topic as well:
Table of Contents
What Is the Reverb DJ effect?
Reverb, or reverberation, in acoustics happens when a sound wave bounces off a hard surface and creates reflections of the sound spreading and decaying at different rates as they are absorbed by different objects. Think of clapping your hand in a large empty room. As the origin of the sound you are going to hear plenty of reflections of that sound off the room.
These echoes make the room sound bigger and can be different depending on the size and shape of the room. In big rooms with high ceilings, echoes can be strong and last longer, making the sound more immersive. In smaller rooms with materials that absorb sound, the echoes are shorter and less noticeable.
Echoes can affect how clear and understandable sounds are: too many echoes make it hard to hear speech or music. Hence, when you are far outside of the warehouse rave you’re headed to and hear that characteristic tail of the “boots and cats” of house music, you get the “feeling” but not the essence of the music being played.
Example of Reverb
Clap your hands in a room and listen to the echoes as sound waves bounce off the walls, floors, and ceilings.
What is Reverb used for?
Reverb can add depth to audio and create space. It pushes sounds further into the distances or gives them presence and body.
What are the main parameters for Reverb?
If you are looking for a comprehensive overview of Reverb at a technical level I encourage you to check out Bobby O’s The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. This book is targeted at mixing engineers but gave me a thorough appreciation for the history and detailed intricacies of reverb. That being said when it comes to the effect itself, there are 3 main parameters: decay, pre-delay and room-size.
Reverb Decay
The amount of time taken for the sound to stop reverberating
A shorter decay is more favorable in a busy mix, whereas a longer delay creates a dreamy shimmer to the sound.
Reverb Pre-delay
The time time between dry signal and onset of the reverb
A shorter pre-delay creates a “closer” effect with more dry signal audible than wet, whereas a long pre-delay produces a larger reverb tail, pushing it “further away”.
Reverb Room Size
The hypothetic room your signal reverberates in.
A smaller room produces more “tang” to the sound, whereas a larger room makes a more open and flowing space.
How can you use the Reverb DJ effect in your performance?
Accentuating vocal sections of a track
Reverb is common when using the microphone to expand the speakers voice and create presence. It can also be used to give space and additional depth to vocals in a track breakdown.
Here is an example of DJ Snoopadelic at Boiler Room:
Accentuating Snares and Claps
In production, Reverb is used to process snare drums and claps to create greater space, definition and depth. You can increase the drama of this by selectively applying reverb.
Pushing Things “Into the Distance”
Because Reverb adds dimensionality, you can use it to “push sounds out of the way”. This is useful in creating frequency space during transition from one track to the next.
Oversizing Build Ups and Drops
Make build ups and drops larger than life by applying Reverb on the build up and releasing on the drop. Be mindful to apply and cut high end frequencies so as to preserve clarity and avoid drowning out the sound – it’s also kinder on listener’s ears.