Digital Multi-Effects; Reverb; Digital Effects - PRESONUS STUDIOLIVE 16.4.2 - V1.12 User Manual

5 Tutorials

Digital Effects

5.7
The StudioLive includes a stereo effects processor that features the two most common type of
effects is use today for live sound: reverb and delay.

Reverb

5.7. 1
Reverberation or reverb , as it is more commonly known, is perhaps the most widely used effect.
Natural reverb is created by sound waves being reflected off of a surface or many surfaces. For
example, when you walk across the wooden stage in a large hall, thousands of reflections are
generated almost instantaneously as the sound waves bounce off the floor, walls, and ceilings.
These are known as early reflections , and their pattern provides psycho-acoustic indications as to
the nature of the space that you are in, even if you can't see it. As each reflection is then reflected
off of more surfaces, the complexity of the sound increases while the reverb slowly decays.
The reason for the widespread use of reverb in audio recording is fairly self-evident: human beings
don't live in a vacuum. Because our brains receive cues as the nature of the space around us based
partially on audio reflections, a sense of space in an audio recording sounds more natural, and
therefore more pleasing to the listener.
There are several parameters that can be adjusted in a reverb effect:
Decay. Decay is the time required for the reflections (reverberation) to die away. In most modern
music production, reverb decay times between one and three seconds are prevalent. A reverb
setting with strong early reflections and a quick decay are a great way to create a stereo effect
from a mono source.
Pre-delay. Pre-delay is the time between the end of the initial sound and the beginning of the
first reflections being audible. Imagine you're back on that stage in a large music hall. This time
you stand on the very edge of the stage and shout "Hello world!" toward the center of the hall.
There will be a brief pause before you hear the first noticeable reflections of your voice, because
the sound waves can travel much further before encountering a surface and bouncing back.
(There are closer surfaces, of course—notably the floor and the ceiling just in front of the sta-
ge—but only a small part of the direct sound will go there, so those reflections will be much less
noticeable.) Adjusting the pre-delay parameter on a reverb allows you to change the apparent
size of the room without having to change the overall decay time. This will give your mix a little
more transparency by leaving some space between the original sound and its reverb.
HF and LF decay. The types of surfaces in a space also affect the sound. Carpet and soft
furnishings will absorb more high-frequency waves, thereby reducing the high-frequency decay
time, while hard surfaces such as tile or stone reflect sound extremely well, resulting in a
"brighter" ambience. Similarly, the high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) decay time allow
you to adjust the "brightness" or "darkness" of the reverb, enabling you to better emulate these
environmental factors.
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