Using effects is key to sound design. You can shape sounds in incredible ways just by using effects and you can make your songs sound more full, more interesting, and more professional by correctly utilizing effects.
Distortion
Distortion is a crucial effect in sound design.
Distortion is an effect where you take a signal and boost the gain on it making it clip creating lots of new harmonics and a damaged and aggressive sound. This can be done in a variety of different ways, digital and analogue.
My favourite kind of distortion is asymmetrical. This is where the curve of the distortion is, well asymmetrical meaning that the phase of the distortion is out and it creates a very cool effect and is very good for boosting the transient on drums, my favourite version of this distortion is fl wave-shaper.
The next kind of distortion I will talk about is saturation. This is where harmonics are gently added through the process of soft-clipping compression and it is a lot more subtle than others. It gives a sound more warmth and character and is good for bringing groups of sounds together in a mix.
The final kind of distortion I will talk about here is tape distortion. Tape saturation is where there is too much voltage in a signal that is recording onto tape. This means that the iron oxide particles used on the tape reach their maximum magnetic potential and the tape starts to compress and distort non linearly. You can get VSTs which recreate this effect very well.
Video here
Reverb
Reverb is the effect of sounds reverberating against a surface or in a space such as a church or a warehouse.
Reverb produces early reflections, the sound that reaches us a few milliseconds after the direct sound. (Sones, Z) This is what tells our brain how big a room is and the character of the reverb.
The larger the space that you are emulating, the longer the reverb is going to be like how the reverb in a small room is way shorter than the reverb inside of an empty factory. The longer reverberations take to reach our ears, the more character the sound is going to gain and the more ‘washed’ the sound is going to be.
Spring Reverb
Spring reverb is a reverb made by running waves through a spring. This type of reverb is created by running signal from one end of the spring, using a transducer which is a device that converts one form of energy into another, and out the other side into a pickup which then converts these waves passed through the springs into a signal. This wet signal is then paired with the dry signal that bypasses the spring to create the reverb effect.
These are commonly found inside of guitar amps, for instance fender amps, and sometimes digitized inside of a daw. Spring reverb creates a robotic and metallic sound and they were extremely popular in the 1960s.
This is a video demonstrating the reverb because I do not own a spring reverb.
Plate Reverb
Plate reverb is even more interesting. This reverb is made by playing a sound into a box that has a massive metal plate inside of it. When the sound is played into the box, it simulates reverberations which are then picked up by a contact microphone.
It sounds bright and is good for highlighting instruments which have a lot of their harmonics in the high end. It is good on overheads, vocals, and pianos to name a few.
Digital Reverb
Finally we have digital reverb, reverb but made digitally. There are two types of digital reverb – algorithmic and convolution. These both use mathematical algorithms to imitate the effects of physical reverb.
Algorithmic
Algorithmic reverbs are the more common type of digital reverb and they require less processing power. They work by first running a series of very short and closely spaced delays to create the early reflections of the reverb using maths to determine room size based on the parameters set.
After this you then have mathematical algorithms which control the timing, delay, and tone of the reverb just like a real room would. The program then feeds the previously generated reflections through a feedback loop to generate the late reflections of the reverb.
Convolution
Convolution reverbs are the more realistic option of the two. First the program has to determine the size of the area it is simulating. This is done through the form of an impulse, usually a sine sweep, which you play and record in the space you are wanting to simulate. The microphones record the initial impulse and then the rooms response to said impulse.
Then this signal is fed into a convolution processor which removes the original impulse as well as calculating the rooms acoustic properties from the reverbed response to the impulse. The mathematical algorithms behind how this works is very complex however it leads to the convolution reverb giving the new signal an almost identical reverb to what you would get if you played it inside of the room you have sampled.
References
Neural DSP. (no date) How to use a distortion pedal, Neural DSP. Available at: https://neuraldsp.com/articles/how-to-use-a-distortion-pedal (Accessed: 19 April 2024).
Armada Music. (2024) Distortion explained, Armada Music. Available at: https://www.armadamusic.com/university/music-production-articles/distortion-explained (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
SoundBridge. (2023) Tape distortion / saturation, Tape Distortion / Saturation. Available at: https://www.soundbridge.io/tape-distortion-saturation (Accessed: 28 April 2024).
Sones, Z. (2022) What is reverb?, The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat. Available at: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/what-is-reverb/ (Accessed: 28 April 2024).
Brown, G. (2020) What Digital Reverb actually does, iZotope. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-digital-reverb-actually-does.html (Accessed: 28 April 2024).