A History of Reverb in Music Production:

Because the reverb must be captured in the recording process, studios invested in custom-built recording rooms to achieve the sound that they were after. Famous spaces like the main recording room in Columbia Records’ 30th Street Studio, renowned for their reverberant signatures, were utilized as the reverb source for some of the most famous projects in music (the legendary 1959 Kind of Blue album from Miles Davis was recorded at 30th Street).

I truly loved this room. Got to sit in (listening) to recording session with brass and a few strings. Good to have had a pro for a teacher/mentor — Don Butterfield. He believed in the experience of playing live with multiple players. Intonation? Always of paramount importance.

Don Butterfield — Wikipedia:

The Grove Dictionary of Music calls Butterfield’s playing style, “uncommonly florid, a skill that made him of value as a jazz musician… He was one of the first modern jazz players who, rather than simply marking out the bass line, rediscovered the possibility of bringing to the instrument a facility akin to that of a trumpeter.”

If you want to hear some very interesting music try Clark Terry’s album “Top and Bottom Brass”. Outstanding.

Essential Tips for Mixing Reverb:

Reverb can be tricky to deal with in a mix. The space that it adds can be very helpful, but sloppy reverb sounds can often become smeared over the mix, reducing clarity. Achieving the proper balance when mixing reverb will give a sense of space without becoming distracting in the mix.

In this article, we’ll cover some methods for mixing reverb. We’ll discuss EQing, ducking, timing, and retriggering reverb.

I try to make sure I post to the blog when I add a section to the iZotope Tools binder. I file the article, and when possible, all of the sound samples and videos. Videos go in the videos folder with bookmarks attached to the article. Sound samples are stored in the article (which becomes an outline element).