Back to the tutorial introduction Reverb Techniques - Steps 1-6 The reverse reverb effect is probably one of the

most commonly used 'unusual' techniques with reverb, but if it's used cleverly it can help to grab attention more than any other, especially when used on vocals. Start by opening your wave editor and loading in your sample.

It's best to avoid using this effect on the ma vocal line as this should be the main hook o music. It's better to use it on small segments o track, and only occasionally - we're using it on backing vocals. Highlight the wave and then in WaveLab click on Process > Reverse.

It's important that you use a good quality reverb; cheaper units just aren't capable of recreating the professional reverb 'tail' which is the most important part for this type of effect (as it acts as the build up). Select a reverb unit from WaveLab's effects menu.

If your reverb unit has room settings, you'll want to use a large room and set it to mix 70 percent reverb with about percent of the original sound. If you have no settings then pro the unit to create a long reverb tail-off and set the pre-delay to around 15ms.

When the waveform is re-reversed, the tails will appear at the beginning of the wave and the pre-delay will be at the end. A small amount of pre-delay helps to prevent the sound stopping dead at the end of its cycle. Now, simply process the reverb into the waveform.

It's now a simple case of reversing the waveform so it the right way round again. The wave will probably nee editing due to the large reverb tail it's created, so you'll n the empty space before and after the wave to suit your m

Reverb Techniques - Steps 7 - 12

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The gated reverb effect can be used on most sounds and it can The settings on the reverb unit will depend entirely on t make certain elements of a drum loop appear louder and wave you're applying it to. You need to set the reverb s create an absorbing effect as the sudden cut of the reverb's tail its tail ends just at the start of the next sound. It's a case of sounds so unusual. We're using this on handclaps. Open the wave experimentation, but once you have the setting, apply it to t in your editor. waveform.

It's easier to use a gate for cutting the reverb's tail. Again, the If applied carefully, a single reverse reverb can have a m settings depend on what sound you're gating, but keep the impact on a listener, but you'll need to start with a stere release at 0, change the attack to around 6 and experiment with waveform. If you only have a mono waveform, convert it to the threshold, usually around -15dB, then simply process it into the first. In WaveLab choose Edit>Copy to new window > Conve waveform. stereo.

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

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

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

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

Reverb Techniques - Steps 13 - 18

Back to the tutorial introduction Gating Techniques - Steps 1-6

* click images to enlarge...

The primary use of a noise gate is to reduce the noise from First we need to set up the threshold. Any sounds which recordings. We'll start by noise gating a drum beat that's been below the threshold will be cut out of the audio signal. T captured with an AKG mic along with some noise. Open your wave setting to use is up to your own ears, but we're using a setti editor program, load in your sample and call up a noise gate plug- around -55. This will remove any noise in-between the kit be in. hit.

As with a compressor, the attack setting on a gate sets how fast 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 fo amount of time set by it. Again, as we're working with a kit, we need it to cut and open as quickly as possible so we cut the noise. Set this to 0.

The release setting controls how fast the gate will close once there are no sounds beyond the threshold. A long setting will take far too long to cut off the noise before the next signal opens the gate again, so this also needs to be set as fast as possible.

A gate can also be used to cut out certain sounds from a loop sample. Setting the threshold to cut sounds below kick drum and snare using a fast attack, hold, and release s it's possible to cut out some higher frequencies (ie, removin hat parts).

Gating Techniques - Steps 7 - 12

Back to the tutorial introduction Gating Techniques - Steps 7-12

* click images to enlarge... Gating is used heavily in dance music to create a stuttering effect on just about any sound you can think of and, using MIDI, it can become very controllable. Start by opening up your sequencer and recording a pad or lush sounding synth part into it.

We're going to be creating a gate using MIDI control cha to open and close the volume, acting like a gate. The be using MIDI is it can be copied throughout the whole part. Cr new track underneath the synth track and name it gate.

In Cubase, click on Edit and choose List from the editor menu to call up the List editor. First, we need to choose Control Change from the Insert menu as we're entering a series of MIDI control changes to affect the volume of the Synth part.

Start by moving into the grid on the right, then right-cli call up the Tools menu and select the pen tool. Click on row of the grid at the position you want to gate, draw in a co change, and then draw another a couple of ticks later.

Now we have to change the controls from the standard Bank The trick to making a good MIDI gated rhythm is to dec select MSB to a volume control. The first value (Val.1) what rhythm you want and enter the CC7s at 127 first, corresponds to which control change we want to use, and the they were being played, then decide how long each synth pa second (Val.2) is by how much we want to adjust it. Volume is CC7 should last, before entering CC7s at 30. We're using 30s as so set this to 7. make the synth sound too 'clippy'.

Compression Techniques - Steps 13 - 18

Back to the tutorial introduction Gating Techniques - Steps 13-18

* click images to enlarge...

Next, we'll create a gated pan effect. As the gate opens and Now we have to change the volume control changes to p closes, it moves from left to right. Copy the previous gate track movements. Click on Edit in Cubase's top menu and sele on a separate track by holding ALT and dragging it onto a new editor. All of the CCs which were set at 30 will have to be de track; then change the channel number to the same as the pad first, otherwise you won't be able to hear the pan movemen synth.

Once you've removed all of the CCs set at 30, each volume With pan control changes, a value of 127 will play the fu control change needs to be changed to a pan control change. signal through only the right speaker, a value of 0 will p In the List editor, start by changing all the control changes under only at the left monitor, and 64 will play dead centre. Here w the Val.1 columns to 10 which will convert all volume commands to alternated each pan CC from 127 to 0, which will make each pan. sound move left to right.

Another trick worth trying is alternating between two different pad 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 new synth sound.

Open the new gate data in the List editor and move dow list 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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