Reverb
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The remainder
of sound that exists in a room after the source of the
sound has stopped is called reverberation. The audible
bounce off the walls after the instrument's note has
silenced. We've all heard it when doing something like
clapping our hands (or bouncing a ball) in a large enclosed
space (like a gym). All enclosed performance spaces
have some reverberation, even though we may not always
notice it as such. The characteristics of the reverberation
are a big part of the subjective quality of the sound
of any room in which we are located.
Our brains learn to derive a
great deal of information about our surroundings
from the sound of a room and it's reverberation.
Consequently it is necessary to have the proper
type and amount of augmenting reverberation for
a natural and aesthetically pleasing experience
when using live sound. The artificially created
reverb from the speakers must marry well with
the intrinsic natural reverberation of the performance
space for a successful effect.
To create reverb, a device known as
a reverb unit is employed. Reverb units have historically
come in many shapes and sizes, and have used many different
techniques (IE: springs) to create the reverberation.
These days most of the reverb units employed throughout
the world are digital, where the sound of the reverb
is generated by a computer algorithm and mixed back
into with the original signal prior to amplification.
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