Mark Cousins unlocks its secrets. For this tutorial you will need the project file which you can download from here. In truth, though, many of us can take a slightly lazy approach to reverb — simply selecting a two-second Hall or thereabouts and routing through a group of instruments.

Exploiting the full potential of Space Designer, therefore, is a tangible way to improve the quality of your mixes. As the name suggests, the beauty of Space Designer is its ability to tailor the sound of the reverb.

In this workshop, therefore, we look at the intricacies of Space Designer, from the basics to its more creative applications. While the other plug-ins create their reverb synthetically, Space Designer is powered by a technique called convolution. The reverb in Space Designer is created using short Impulse Response or IR files that are acoustic snapshots of either a real physical space, or a vintage reverb unit.

Matching the reverb to the source material usually starts by exploring the size of the virtual room, or to put it another way, the length of the reverb tail. Although there are no hard-and-fast rules, shorter, more percussive sounds tend to suit smaller reverb times, mainly to avoid the reverb masking the rhythmic qualities of the source material. A drum kit, for example, tends to sound best in one of the Small Spaces settings, using a reverb time between 0. Sounds that are less percussive — like a string pad, for example — tend to work best with longer reverb settings, which also have the effect of placing the instrument towards the rear of the soundstage.

Rather than use multiple instances of Space Designer on a per-track basis, the best strategy is to create a range of three or four key sizes — starting from a small room, and ending up with a larger hall setting. When it come to colour, Space Designer has two options. Firstly, you can choose to apply a static EQ setting using the EQ page, which changes the reverb colour irrespective of time. Secondly, use the Filter page to change the colour of the reverb over time, usually as a means of attenuating high frequencies over time.

Another interesting quality in the reverb is relative density, which distinguishes between the reverb heard as a series of discrete echoes, or a more cohesive tail. As the last section of the workshop illustrates, Space Designer can turn its hand to interesting and unusual sound-design treatments — ranging from drone-like resonators, to ghostly tempo-synced echo effects. There are also a number of Impulse Response files taken from various speakers, so you can feed your sound through a variety of different cabinets and create some great lo-fi treatments.

Taking time to fully understand the intricacies of these plug-ins, therefore, will deliver the most tangible improvement in your mixes and the overall sound you achieve in Logic. The Direction Mixer, for example, is a great way of controlling the relative width of the reverb.

The effect of the reverb pumping, as well as the extra intensity compression delivers, makes this pairing a musically fruitful partnership. Using the project file you can download at the start of this tutorial, create bus sends from the piano and drum tracks to two instances of Space Designer.

Load a suitable starting point, either using the plug-in preset settings organised by size , or you could simply load a pre-recorded IR file using the drop-down menu next to the IR Sample button. To set the balance between wet and dry signal, therefore, either change the level being sent from the fader, or attenuate the aux return channel.

To make the room artificially smaller, though, you can always reduce the Length parameter to a shorter setting. Try rolling off some low end, which can clutter the mix, as well as adding a touch of brightness. Increasing the Pre-Delay time can help create a greater distinction between the dry source and the reverb tail. The source feels closer, with the reverb floating ethereally in the background. This tutorial is endorsed by Point Blank.

You can study sound to picture on their Music Production Diploma courses, with pro industry tutors. Apple Logic Pro. Tone Empire Firechild compressor review: The vari-mu king gets convolved.

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