What Are the Different Types of Reverb?

Reverb, short for reverberation, is that cozy blanket of sound that makes a listener feel like the artist is singing just across the room, or that auditory bliss that makes the snare drum in your favorite song sound like it’s been recorded right on the edge of a canyon. But you likely already know that, so let's discuss some of the various types of reverb.

ROOM REVERB

The most basic type of reverb is room reverb and it’s exactly what that the name implies: the reverberation of a room. Generally speaking, most rooms are untreated and have parallel surfaces, which impart some distinct sonic characteristics.

From the warm sound of grandma’s living room to the ceramic boxiness of a Walmart bathroom, all spaces have a reverb of their own. Room reverb tends to be described as small or intimate and typically has short decay times. 

In my opinion, these verbs work best when you can’t actually hear the effect but can more “feel” it. One of my favorites for this type of reverb is the Valhalla Room. 

PLATE REVERB

Have you ever tapped on a large metal bowl and noticed how the sounds rings out? That’s sort of how a plate reverb works. 

Invented in the late 1950’s by German audio company, Elektromesstechnik (EMT), plate reverb was one of the first types of artificial reverb used in recording. Created by suspending a large steel plate with springs at each corner, a transducer emits signal into the plate which is then picked up by a contact microphone on another part of the plate. 

Up until the advent of digital reverbs, the plate verb remained the most used form of artificial reverb due to its relatively low cost and size when compared to other forms of verb at the time. If you’ve ever heard Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side Of The Moon, then you’re familiar with the sound of Plate reverb. Today there are a plethora of brilliant emulations of Plate Reverb with my favorite being Ecoplate.

Check out their review on TapeOp here.

CHAMBER VERB

If you’ve ever heard the 1940’s song Peg O’ My Heart by The Harmonicats, then you’ve heard what is widely considered the first instance of artificial reverb and a great example of chamber reverb. 

For the song, producer and legendary engineer, Bill Putnam Sr. put a speaker and a microphone in the men’s room of his studio and pumped the song through creating the world’s first chamber verb. 

Characterized by a lush and ambient sound, chamber verb also tends to have a bit more clarity than other long-decay time reverbs. Capitol Studios and Abbey Road Studios are world famous for their chambers rooms, and luckily for most of us, there are some really solid emulations of both on the market. My favorite is the UAD Capitol Chambers plugin.

HALL REVERB

As the name suggests, hall reverbs emulate the spatial sounds of a concert hall. Generally made for orchestral arrangements, these verbs are massive and have extremely long decay times.

Often described and thick and lush, Halls tend to sound a little more ‘washed out’ and less clear than Chamber verbs. One of the best plugins on the market for hall reverbs is Audio Ease’s Altiverb which uses impulse responses to faithfully recreate these large spaces.

SPRING REVERB

When you were a kid, did you ever play with those old school spring doorstoppers at the bottom of bedroom doors, the ones that when flicked would ring out for 15 seconds or more? If so, you can understand the way in which Spring reverb sort of works. 

Similar to a plate reverb, spring verb is created using a transducer that send signal down a spring (or, a thin coiled piece of metal) which is then picked up on the other end and then mixed back into the original signal, creating a bouncy sort of sound. 

Popularized in the 1960’s by Leo Fender and his Combo Amp, Spring verb’s compact build made its way into most classic guitar amps and other instruments like the Hammond Organ. One of my favorite Spring verb plugins is the Arturia Rev SPRING-636 and emulation of the legendary Grampian 636 spring reverb.

Liked this article? Looking for more reverb tips? Check out how to work with a plate reverb plugin here!