Add reverb to audio

What reverb does to a sound

When you clap in a church, you hear the clap and then a long, fading wash of sound. That wash is reverb: the clap bouncing off walls, floor and ceiling thousands of times, each reflection a little later and quieter than the last. Your ears read that pattern as size and distance. A short, dense tail says “small room”; a long, slow one says “stone cathedral”.

Adding reverb to a recording places it in a space. A little makes a dry vocal sound natural rather than recorded in a cupboard. A lot pushes the sound far away and makes it dreamy, which is the basis of every slowed + reverb edit. This page starts with the speed and pitch untouched, so the only change is the space around the sound.

Every reverb setting, explained

Amount (wet/dry mix)

How much of the reverb signal is blended with the original, from 0 to 100%. “Dry” is your untouched audio, “wet” is the reverb. The Reverb only preset starts at 35%. For a natural result on speech, stay between 10 and 20%.

Decay (RT60)

How long the tail takes to die away, from 0.3 to 15 seconds. Engineers call this RT60: the time it takes the reverb to fall by 60 dB, which is roughly the point where you stop hearing it. A living room is well under a second, a concert hall around 2–3 seconds, and a large cathedral can ring for much longer. Long decays sound lush on slow music and blur fast music, because each note’s tail runs into the next.

Pre-delay

A short gap, from 0 to 250 ms, between the original sound and the start of the reverb. In a big space, the first reflections take longer to arrive, so pre-delay makes a room feel bigger. It also keeps words clear: with 20–50 ms of pre-delay, each syllable is heard dry before the reverb washes over it.

Damping

How quickly high frequencies fade inside the tail, from 0 to 100%. Soft surfaces like curtains and audiences absorb treble, so heavily damped reverb sounds warm and dark. Low damping keeps the tail bright and shimmering, more like tiles or metal.

Stereo spread

How wide the reverb tail is between left and right, from 0 to 100%. At 0% the reverb sits in the centre with the source; at 100% it surrounds it. Wide reverb sounds immersive on headphones, while a narrower spread keeps a voice-over focused.

Reverb low cut and high cut

Two filters that shape only the reverb, not your original audio. The reverb low cut (20–1000 Hz) removes bass from the tail, the single most effective fix for muddy reverb. The reverb high cut (1–20 kHz) removes hiss and harsh “s” sounds from the tail so it sits behind the source instead of competing with it.

Choosing a space

Each space has its own character. Pick the one closest to what you want, then use decay to set the size.

Custom impulse responses

This tool uses convolution reverb, which works by combining your audio with an impulse response: the sound a space makes in response to one very short click. The built-in spaces generate their impulse responses from your decay, damping and spread settings. A real-world impulse response is instead recorded, by firing a starter pistol or popping a balloon in a room and capturing the tail. Convolution then makes your audio sound as if it were played in that space.

Choose Custom IR under Space to load your own impulse response as a WAV file up to 20 seconds long. Many free IR libraries capture real churches, stairwells, tunnels and vintage reverb units. Decay, damping and spread come from the file itself, but the amount, pre-delay, reverb low cut and reverb high cut still apply, so you can blend it in and clean it up just like the built-in spaces.

Reverb vs echo

The two are often confused. Echo (or delay) is a clear repeat of the sound you can count: “hello… hello… hello”. Reverb is so many reflections, so close together, that they merge into one smooth tail. If you want the distinct repeats, open 8D & echo and use the echo controls: time between repeats from 40 to 1500 ms, and repeats (feedback) from 0 to 90%. Echo and reverb together give the floating sound of the Dreamy preset.

Uses beyond music

• Voice-overs. A recording made close to the mic in a treated corner can sound flat. Room or Chamber at 8–15% with a short decay of 0.5–1 s adds life without sounding like an effect.
• Podcast intros and stingers. A bigger hall or plate on the intro line or a sound effect makes it stand out from the dry conversation that follows.
• Vocals and instruments. If you have a dry vocal or instrument file, a plate with 20–40 ms of pre-delay and the reverb low cut at 300 Hz is a solid studio-style starting point.
• Sound effects. Footsteps, doors or voices can be pushed into a cave or cathedral with a long decay and a high amount.

The tool works on files you already have. It doesn’t record from a microphone, so record in your usual app first, then open the file here. Video files such as MP4 and MOV also work; the tool takes their soundtrack.

Avoiding muddy reverb

Most reverb problems come from too much of it in the wrong frequencies. If the result sounds cloudy, try these in order: raise the reverb low cut to 200–400 Hz, add 20–50 ms of pre-delay, shorten the decay, then lower the amount. Press Original or the B key to compare with the dry file after each change. When the reverb is right, download with “Let the reverb ring out at the end” ticked so the last notes fade naturally.

Want more ideas? The guide to the best slowed + reverb settings covers reverb choices for music edits, and the 8D audio converter combines reverb with rotation around your head. If you’re using someone else’s music, remember that publishing your edit may need permission from the rights holder.