9 Tips for Using Reverb with Drums

by Nick Messitte, iZotope Contributor August 20, 2019

Some of the reverbs we’ll be working with today
Your drums sound narrow, dry, and small. You need them to sound bigger, so you send them to a concert-hall reverb. That’ll do the trick, right? Probably not. Now all you have are small, narrow drums surrounded by a lot of incongruous reverb.

Use Reverb Like A Pro: Part 2 |:

Following last month’s introduction to reverb , we take you through the tips and tricks of some of the world’s best producers — many of whom are thinking about the reverb sound they want long before they get to the mix.

Part 2 — no need to keep the entire work hidden…

Use Reverb Like A Pro: 1 |:

If you’ve ever spent hours mixing only to be confronted with a wall of mud, you might need to think harder about how to use reverb and delay in your mixes — and some simple tricks can yield dramatic results.

Mike Senior has been providing useful information and ideas for a long time. I own copies of his books. I now add some links to his online resources.

Q. What do reverb preset names actually mean? |:

SOS contributor Mike Senior replies: Well, the names of presets are only useful if they give you an idea of what to expect sonically, and that’s a bit hit-and-miss in my experience. I’m most sceptical about preset names with instrument suggestions in them, particularly if that’s unqualified by any further information. Reverb use depends so much on the stylistic expectations and the nature of the recordings themselves (particularly what kind of spill, if any, is baked into the recordings), so a simple ‘Snare’ preset would rarely be of interest to me in practice. On the other hand, ‘Epic Snare Boosh’, ‘Tight Snare Ambience’, or ‘Icy Rimshot Tail’ might well entice my mouse click under appropriate circumstances. It’s also quite common for a preset that’s ostensibly named for one use to work very well for something completely different, or to provide a great base for editing into another form. So, in short, take those kinds of preset names with a huge pinch of salt!

8 Creative Reverb Effects for Sound Design:

The purpose of reverb is to create a sense of ambiance, foster a feeling of depth, or take listeners to new locales. But today we depart from these more prosaic usages to focus on something a little more creative—namely, how to use reverb as a tool for sound design.