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Reverb Techniques - Steps 1-6

The reverse reverb effect is probably one ofthe most commonly used 'unusual' techniques

with reverb, but if it's used cleverly it can help tograb attention more than any other, especially

when used on vocals. Start by opening your waveeditor and loading in your sample.

It's best to avoid using this effect on the mvocal line as this should be the main hook

music. It's better to use it on small segmentstrack, and only occasionally - we're using it on

backing vocals. Highlight the wave and then inWaveLab click on Process > Reverse.

It's important that you use a good quality reverb; cheaperunits just aren't capable of recreating the professional reverb

'tail' which is the most important part for this type of effect (as itacts as the build up). Select a reverb unit from WaveLab's effectsmenu.

If your reverb unit has room settings, you'll want to use alarge room and set it to mix 70 percent reverb with about

percent of the original sound. If you have no settings then prothe unit to create a long reverb tail-off and set the pre-delay taround 15ms.

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When the waveform is re-reversed, the tails will appear at thebeginning of the wave and the pre-delay will be at the end. A

small amount of pre-delay helps to prevent the sound stoppingdead at the end of its cycle. Now, simply process the reverb intothe waveform.

It's now a simple case of reversing the waveform so ithe right way round again. The wave will probably ne

editing due to the large reverb tail it's created, so you'll nthe empty space before and after the wave to suit your

Reverb Techniques - Steps 7 - 12

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Back to the tutorial introduction

The gated reverb effect can be used on most sounds and it canmake certain elements of a drum loop appear louder and

create an absorbing effect as the sudden cut of the reverb's tailsounds so unusual. We're using this on handclaps. Open the wavein your editor.

The settings on the reverb unit will depend entirely on twave you're applying it to. You need to set the reverb s

its tail ends just at the start of the next sound. It's a case oexperimentation, but once you have the setting, apply it towaveform.

It's easier to use a gate for cutting the reverb's tail. Again, thesettings depend on what sound you're gating, but keep the

release at 0, change the attack to around 6 and experiment withthe threshold, usually around -15dB, then simply process it into thewaveform.

If applied carefully, a single reverse reverb can have aimpact on a listener, but you'll need to start with a ster

waveform. If you only have a mono waveform, convert it tofirst. In WaveLab choose Edit>Copy to new window > Convstereo.

Although this effect can be used on just about any sound, ittends to work better on vocals, guitars or piano parts. Try to

Now open your reverb plug-in but remember to keep thsubtle or it'll sound too obvious. The best setting to use

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avoid using it on drums as it can ruin the feel of the rhythm. Startby selecting only the lower half of the waveform and reverse it.

small room with plenty of colour and a small amount of diffTry setting the pre-delay to around 15ms, then apply it onlreversed waveform.

Reverb Techniques - Steps 13 - 18

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Gating Techniques - Steps 1-6

* click images to enlarge...

The primary use of a noise gate is to reduce the noise fromrecordings. We'll start by noise gating a drum beat that's been

captured with an AKG mic along with some noise. Open your waveeditor program, load in your sample and call up a noise gate plug-in.

First we need to set up the threshold. Any sounds whicbelow the threshold will be cut out of the audio signal.

setting to use is up to your own ears, but we're using a settaround -55. This will remove any noise in-between the kit bhit.

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As with a compressor, the attack setting on a gate sets howfast the gate will affect the sound which has been set by the

threshold. As we want to cut out the noise in-between each hit,this needs to be set at its fastest setting.

The hold setting does just that; it holds the gate open famount of time set by it. Again, as we're working with

kit, we need it to cut and open as quickly as possible so wecut the noise. Set this to 0.

The release setting controls how fast the gate will close oncethere are no sounds beyond the threshold. A long setting will

take far too long to cut off the noise before the next signal opensthe gate again, so this also needs to be set as fast as possible.

A gate can also be used to cut out certain sounds fromloop sample. Setting the threshold to cut sounds below

kick drum and snare using a fast attack, hold, and release sit's possible to cut out some higher frequencies (ie, removinhat parts).

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Gating Techniques - Steps 7 - 12

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Gating Techniques - Steps 7-12

* click images to enlarge...

Gating is used heavily in dance music to create a stutteringeffect on just about any sound you can think of and, using

MIDI, it can become very controllable. Start by opening up yoursequencer and recording a pad or lush sounding synth part into it.

We're going to be creating a gate using MIDI control chto open and close the volume, acting like a gate. The b

using MIDI is it can be copied throughout the whole part. Cnew track underneath the synth track and name it gate.

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Compression Techniques - Steps 13 - 18

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Gating Techniques - Steps 13-18

* click images to enlarge...

Next, we'll create a gated pan effect. As the gate opens andcloses, it moves from left to right. Copy the previous gate track

on a separate track by holding ALT and dragging it onto a new

track; then change the channel number to the same as the padsynth.

Now we have to change the volume control changes tomovements. Click on Edit in Cubase's top menu and sel

editor. All of the CCs which were set at 30 will have to be d

first, otherwise you won't be able to hear the pan movemen

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Once you've removed all of the CCs set at 30, each volumecontrol change needs to be changed to a pan control change.

In the List editor, start by changing all the control changes underthe Val.1 columns to 10 which will convert all volume commands topan.

With pan control changes, a value of 127 will play the fsignal through only the right speaker, a value of 0 will

only at the left monitor, and 64 will play dead centre. Herealternated each pan CC from 127 to 0, which will make eacsound move left to right.

Another trick worth trying is alternating between two differentpad sounds with each gate opening. Start by copying both the

original pad and gate tracks onto two new tracks, then set both

channel numbers to correspond to the MIDI channel with the newsynth sound.

Open the new gate data in the List editor and move dolist changing all the 127s to 0s and vice-versa. Panning

way, or cross gating, can create some interesting morphing

and can work well on basslines too.

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Back to the start

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