Reverb Plugin

Reverb is undoubtedly one of the key basic plugins for music production, but there are some key things to know about it before you go slapping it on every track. There are multiple types of reverb plugins that emulate different types of rooms or represent different ways to artificially add reverb to a track.

Here is a little guitar snippet that I recorded so we can see the differences in each reverb type. This signal was passed through the same effect pedal but the reverb level was set to 0% meaning there was no reverb added.

Guitar Snippet Dry

Here is the Behringer digital reverb pedal that I used to get all these different reverb samples. Of course there are VST, AU, and LADSPA reverb plugins, but this was an easy all in one for me.

The first one I’ll talk about it hall reverb. As the name suggests, it is meant to emulate the sound of a concert hall or theater. Hall reverb often makes the sound go on for a lot longer (long decay time). Hall reverb is often added to strings or pads to add a higher level of richness to them.

reverbpedal

This is what that guitar snippet sounds like with a hall reverb at 50% reverb level. (All the rest of the reverb samples have the same reverb level.)

Guitar Snippet w/ Hall Reverb

The second key type is a spring reverb. This reverb isn’t meant to emulate a real life place, but it is artificial by design. Spring reverb is often used in guitar amplifiers, making it great for, you guessed it, guitars. This one is characterized by a warm, richness.

This is what that guitar snippet sounds like with a spring reverb.

Guitar Snippet w/ Spring Reverb

Another artificial reverb type is a plate reverb. The sounds produced are often bright and clean. This can help cut through the mix more than some of the other types of reverb making it good for vocals and some drum tracks.

This is what that guitar snippet sounds like with a plate reverb.

Guitar Snippet w/ Plate Reverb

And last but certainly not least is the room reverb. This type tries to emulate the sound of a smaller room, such as a studio, and produces a more realistic sounding reverb effect. This reverb is great for any track, and is really useful for more up close in your face sounds.

This is what that guitar snippet sounds like with a room reverb.

Guitar Snippet w/ Room Reverb

Have fun experimenting with different types of reverb on your tracks, and don’t feel confined to only using one type of reverb on certain tracks. The key thing to remember with reverb is not to over do it.

Getting a Drum Beat

The backbone of any sound track is a good drum track. Maybe you like to use them sparingly, or maybe you go all out on the drums, but either way you need drums. The three DAW’s I have covered so far, Audacity, Ardour, and LMMS all have drum integration. I would venture to say that drums in LMMS are easiest to use as there is a drum track where you can click in the drums on certain beats. On Ardour and Audacity you have to copy and paste the drums while also trying to align them, so it can be a little frustrating.

If you want to focus in on the drum track, than you might consider using the Hydrogen Drum Machine. The software is specifically made for making drum tracks and it even has a built in mixer. I actually started off using Hydrogen and when I made the shift to LMMS I found the workflow to be very similar.

Apart from downloading new software for your drum tracks, you do need drum sounds. In LMMS you can find basic drum sounds under the Kicker presets. You could also download something like the Black Pearl Drum-kit and install it like I showed in my LV2 plugin post, and that would work in LMMS or Ardour.

My third alternative would to download recorded drum files. There are a bunch of free sounds and projects on LMMS Sharing Platform, and Freesound also has a bunch of sound files.

Other than that, it’s up to you to make the beat. Something to consider if you are just starting out is downloading a few finished projects off of the LMMS Sharing Platform to see what the beats look like. BPM (Beats Per Minute) settings will make a huge difference in the speed and feeling of the song, so make sure to integrate it if you are trying to imitate a beat or type of song.