Reverb Decay vs. Wet Mix

The five reverb controls, in plain terms

The reverb tool builds an algorithmic stereo reverb from five parameters. Each one shapes a different part of the effect, and they interact, so it helps to know what each is actually doing before you start turning knobs.

Decay vs. wet mix: the pair people mix up

These are the two controls most likely to get confused, because both make a reverb feel "bigger" in a loose sense. Wet mix is a volume control for the reverb signal — turn it up and the reflections get louder relative to the dry sound, but a short decay setting keeps them brief no matter how loud they are. Decay is a time control — turn it up and the reflections ring out longer, but a low wet mix keeps them quiet enough that a long decay barely registers.

A practical way to tell them apart: if a reverb sounds too quiet or too present, adjust wet mix. If it sounds too short or too washed-out and smeared, adjust decay. Changing the wrong one tends to either overcorrect the loudness while leaving the length wrong, or the reverse.

As a concrete example: a vocal that feels dry and close but otherwise sits well in the mix usually just needs more wet mix at the existing decay time. A vocal that already has enough presence but trails off too abruptly, or conversely smears into the next line, needs its decay time adjusted instead, with wet mix left roughly where it is.

Pre-delay: keeping clarity before the space opens up

Pre-delay inserts a brief gap, up to 200 ms, between the dry sound and the first reflection. That gap lets the initial transient — a vocal consonant, a drum hit — arrive clearly before the reverb tail catches up. A vocal with zero pre-delay and a long decay can start to feel buried in its own reverb; adding even 20–40 ms of pre-delay often restores clarity without reducing the sense of space at all.

Damping: how bright or dark the tail sounds

Damping controls how quickly high frequencies die out within the reverb tail as it decays. Low damping leaves the tail bright and present, closer to a hard-surfaced room; high damping rolls the highs off faster than the lows, producing a warmer, darker tail closer to a room full of soft furnishings. Raising damping is a common fix when a long decay starts to sound harsh or sibilant.

Width: how the reflections sit across the stereo field

Width controls how far the reflections spread from center. A narrow setting keeps the reverb close to mono, which can suit a focused, intimate vocal. A wide setting spreads the tail across the full stereo image, which tends to suit pads, ambient textures, or anything meant to feel spacious. If you need convolution-style realism from a real recorded space instead of the algorithmic engine, you can also load your own impulse response (a WAV file) and the tool will use that instead.

The built-in presets, decoded

The six built-in presets are really just starting positions for the same five controls above, tuned toward a particular character. Loading one and then adjusting from there is usually faster than building a reverb from a flat starting point.

• Room — short decay and a moderate wet mix, for a tight, natural sense of a small furnished space without much wash.
• Studio — fairly dry, with a short, controlled tail similar to a treated studio room; useful when you want just a hint of space.
• Plate — a mid-length decay with a dense, smooth character, a common starting point for vocals that need body without sounding roomy.
• Hall — a longer decay with more width, for a spacious sound closer to a concert hall.
• Cathedral — the longest decay and the most wet mix of the presets, for a dramatic, highly diffuse tail.
• Ambient — a long decay tuned toward atmospheric pads and drones rather than a realistic room, useful as a sound-design starting point rather than a natural space.

Starting points by source

These are reasonable starting settings, not fixed rules — always render a preview and adjust by ear. The closest built-in preset is listed as a shortcut.