Reverb is the sound that bounces around after an original sound is made. Imagine yelling in a big empty gym—your voice doesn’t just stop instantly; it echoes and fades away. That lingering sound is reverb.

Reverb effects put your sound into a “space,” which can make them more natural sounding or comfortable to hear. Modern software can make your productions sound like they are in small rooms, large caverns, or otherworldy locations.

A little bit of reverb can make sounds “bigger” in your work, but too much can smear sounds together and make them unrecognizable–which can also be fun if that’s what you want! Play with reverb lengths, room size, and wet to dry mix until you get a sound you like.

Examples:

Here is a dry drum recording:

Here is the same recording, with a short (about a half note long) reverb added:

Here is the same recording with reverb imitating a large room added, and the wet level turned up:

---