Reverberation Research Questions - Answers 1.

Describe the first type of reverb to be "invented", and the best types of microphone / polar pattern to use to capture this type of reverb. Use of natural spaces, recorded with either a boundary mic or a condenser mic set to Ominidirectional. 2. What is an Echo Chamber? A specialised hard-walled room, designed for recording natural reverb. Reverb captured usually by placing a sound source (e.g. loudspeaker) at one end of the room with a microphone at the other. 3. Where did Spring Reverb originate? From the Hammond Organ NB: the revision guide says the Spring Reverb was invented by Laurens Hammond in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1940s that a Spring Reverb was integrated commercially into a Hammond Organ. 4. How does a Spring Reverb work? The sound is passed through a coiled metal spring. The actual operation of a spring reverb is simple: an audio signal is sent to one end of the spring (or several springs) by a transducer and this creates waves that travel through the spring. At the other end of the spring, there is another transducer that converts some of the motion in the spring into an electrical signal, which is added to the dry sound. When a wave arrives at an end of the spring, part of the waves energy is reflected and stays in the spring. It is these reflections that create the reverb characteristic sound. 5. State a potential problem when using Spring Reverb. Bashing the spring on the side of the casing which houses the spring causes, or bashing multiple springs together, causes an offensive crashing sound. 6. What is the name of the famous Spring Reverb produced later by Hammond; when was it produced; what famous amp was it used in? The Type 4 (a stand alone Spring Reverb, separate from the Hammond Organ); 1960s; Fender Twin Reverb. 7. Name a famous Plate Reverb and when it was produced. EMT-140 Plate Reverb; 1957

8. How does a Plate Reverb work? (In your answer you might have to do some further research into what a transducer is). - Thin, large metal sheet or plate - Suspended (i.e. free-hanging) by the internal 4 corners of the wooden box within which it is housed - A transducer is centrally mounted on the plate to generate vibrations, which vibrate through the plate - A microphone-style pick-up transducer is mounted on the edge of the plate, which picks up the vibrations, converting them into audio signals, which are then blended with the original audio signal being passed through the plate reverb unit - The amount of reverb is controlled by a dampening pad (e.g. a soft surface), which is applied to the surface of the plate at varying levels of pressure. According to the level of pressure, the pad absorbs and therefore reduces the amount of vibrations passing through the plate generated by the central transducer. Thus, the level of reverberation is controlled. - RT60 used to calculate reverb time. The RT60 is a measurement that measures in time how long it takes for the reverb signal to decay in volume to -60dB. At this level the sound is practically inaudible, and therefore it is deemed that the reverb has died away and ceased to effect the original dry audio signal. 9. Plate reverbs are particularly suited to... Many uses but in particular that have had notable uses on drums and vocals. Each reverb be it plate, spring, echo chamber, natural hall reverb etc. has its own characteristic sound, and so it really depends on the sound you are trying to achieve as to what reverb should be used on what audio signal. 10. Who produced the first commercially available Digital Reverb, and when? What was a problem with it? The German company EMT, that produced the EMT-140 plate reverb, also produced the first commercial reverb in 1976: the EMT-250. The problem was it cost a lot of dosh - $25,000! 11. The most popular Digital Reverb in history is the? Lexicon 224 When was it released? 1978 What type of reverbs does it simulate? Echo chambers, plates, and room reverbs.

12. Digital Reverbs nowadays commonly come in what format? Software emulations / plugins.

13. Describe the following Reverb Parameters: Pre-Delay; Controls the amount of separation in time (milliseconds) between the initial audio and then the reverb; this mimics how natural reverberation occurs especially in large spaces, where there is inevitably a time lapse between the initial audio being heard and then the reflections reverberating back off the surfaces of the space also being heard. Reverb Time; Sets how long the reverb is audibly present in milliseconds and seconds. Size; How large a space is that is being simulated (e.g. small room, medium chamber, large hall). Early Reflections; This is when the original audio is reflected off surfaces and objects present within the space, before the main reflection then occur from the surfaces (e.g. floor, ceiling, walls) of the space. Can add bite and presence to the reverb. Density; How complex the reflected sound waves are due to the layout, material, and amount of surfaces present in the space. For example, rooms where all the surfaces are the same size (e.g. a cuboid-shape) and made from the same material are going to produce less complex reflections compared to rooms with multiple walls, made from different materials, and at different dimensions from each other. High and Low frequency controls; EQ designed to give further control on the tonal character of the reverb, to help with further customisation of room characteristics. High frequency damping; Again, to help with further customisation of room characteristics, this can help to increase the warmth (or not) of a space as if soft furnishings and materials were present both within the room and on the walls. Presets; Found on digital reverbs and plugins, these presets are in-built prescribed emulations of certain types of reverbs (spring, plate, room, chamber etc.)

as well as containing impulse responses of spaces for convolution reverbs (see below). 14. What is a Convolution Reverb? Convolution reverb is where audio samples of existing physical spaces are taken and used to produce the reverb. An impulse response which is a short, loud sound is record in the physical space. Later, then original impulse response is removed from the recording, leaving just the reverb sound. This reverb sound can then be added to other audio via a Convolution Reverb hardware unit (such as the Sony DRES-777) or Convolution Reverb software plugin, such as Logic Pros Space Designer.