Different types of reverb

The first artificial reverb is known as “chamber reverb”. This was developed during the 1930s and 1940s but is still popular today. A technician sends the signal from the mixing console to a specially designed room called an “echo chamber”. Here the sound is played through speakers, bounces off the walls, and is then picked up by one or more microphones. Echo chambers come in different sizes and shapes, with walls made of different materials.

This type of reverb has a very noticeable effect that decays slowly without washing out the original signal too much. It creates an unbalanced tone that often requires further filtering and EQ. The use of echo chambers is common in recordings from the 1950s and 1960s.

Not everyone can build their own echo chamber, so a new solution emerged: the EMT 140 Plate Reverb from 1957. It is a large box weighing almost a quarter of a ton. This box contains a metal plate connected to an electromagnetic transducer that converts the electrical signal into vibrations. The plate vibrates, and on each side, there are pickups (similar to those found on guitars). These convert the plate’s vibrations back into electrical signals.

Plate reverbs have a clear and smooth sound that can enhance the presence of both vocals and instruments, even though it doesn’t sound like a natural room. The unit has controls that change the width of the reverb and the length of the decay by blending the dry and artificial signals.

A popular technique is to turn up the decay to the maximum and then dial down the blend almost completely. This gives you a small but constant amount of reverb that suits vocals or guitars. However, it’s easy to wash out a sound with this type of reverb, so be careful not to turn it up too much. Many plugins allow you to increase the decay more than was possible with hardware. We feel that “less is more” when it comes to plate reverb.

Spring reverb is similar to plate reverb but much smaller. This is because instead of the metal plate, it uses coiled springs connected to the transducer and pickup. This allows the unit to fit into a much smaller container. However, the length of the springs can vary from a few centimeters to a meter.

Spring reverb has a very distinctive behavior during transients (e.g., handclaps) as the springs produce a “boing” sound. Therefore, this type of reverb does not work particularly well on drums. However, it may work well on electric guitar when picking, as it can enhance groove and rhythm. Spring reverb adds presence and dimension to instruments but still doesn’t sound like a real room.