Should reverb be used during mastering?
While it may seem counterintuitive at first glance, the idea of adding a slight reverb to master a track has spread over the years.
Undoubtedly due to the integration of a “Mastering Reverb” among the modules of the iZotope Ozone plugin, which, due to its all-in-one nature, quickly became an essential mastering tool for many home studio enthusiasts.
Although the feature was removed with the release of version 6, leading to a number of reactions on forums at the time, the question of using reverb for this type of application remains relevant.
So, is it really a good idea to use reverb during mastering?
The answer in this article…
Reverb & Mastering: A Bad Practice
Clearly, if we refer to the usual steps of audio mastering (and even keeping in mind that each track is different), adding reverb to a master is a very bad practice.
In fact, it’s something to avoid like the plague.
Simply because most of the time, adding this type of effect to a full mix will just drown the mix in an inappropriate atmosphere.
After all, adding reverb means pushing a sound back in space — and do you really want to give listeners the impression that they are at the other end of a room or hall?
I don’t think so… 🙂
Moreover, some people sometimes use reverb during mastering thinking it will help balance and soften certain frequencies.
Again, this is a false good idea — and to manage frequencies during mastering, it is much more relevant to use an equalizer.
In fact, the goal of mastering is to provide a finish to a mix — without adding any creative elements that would change what was done during mixing.
Thus, adding reverb to a mix naturally goes against this philosophy, as it would completely affect the perception of the track’s atmosphere.
If your mix lacks ambiance, fix the problem at the mix level.
But by default, during mastering, do not use reverb.
Some Possible Uses of Reverb During Mastering
That said, there are exceptions that prove the rule, as they say.
In other words, extremely rare situations where, yes, using reverb during mastering can make sense.
Case #1: The Mix is Too Dry (and You Can’t Change It)
In some cases, you will have to master mixes that clearly lack ambiance, that clearly lack that 3D stereo space feeling.
And unfortunately, it is not always possible to modify the original mix because, for example:
- you have time constraints;
- you are mastering a track for someone who does not want/cannot correct the mix;
- you have lost the raw tracks.
In this case, you will have to find a way to bring life to the mix — and reverb can then be a good solution to subtly tie the acoustic scene together and provide some sonic glue.
Case #2: Correcting an Inappropriate Ambiance
A bit in the same vein as case #1, you may sometimes find yourself with a mix where the reverb choices made were not the most relevant.
Or, a mix where the tracks were recorded in a room with poor acoustics, impacting the quality of the final mix.
In this case, adding reverb very subtly can provide a significant enhancement to the overall sound.
That said, depending on the music style, you will find that this option is not always the right one: for jazz or classical music, I find that you can quite easily add a bit of extra ambiance during mastering, while for genres where instrument clarity is essential, like modern metal, it will probably be a bad idea.
Tip: If you choose to add reverb to the entire mix to correct a somewhat average ambiance, don’t forget to equalize it to avoid making the mix messy.
Case #3: Adjusting the End of the Track
Finally, there is a third possible situation where using reverb during mastering makes sense: this is the case where the fade out of a track was cut too early during the mix export, or simply isn’t long enough.
In this case, adding a reverb that resembles what happens at the end of the track helps to correct the problem.
Of course, you should play with the automation of the effect track to only affect the last few seconds of the track — otherwise, you’ll encounter all the problems mentioned earlier.
Which Reverb to Use for Mastering?
As I mentioned earlier, using reverb for mastering is an extremely rare and specific practice: it is difficult to give generic advice that could be easily applied to every track.
Historically, when reverb needed to be added to a mix that was a bit too dry, people often turned to large plate reverbs, like the EMT 140.
So, if you don’t have the hardware, you can possibly use one of the more or less close emulations that exist in plugin format.
Here are some suggestions:
- Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates (-10% with this link and the promo code displayed)
- Arturia Rev PLATE-140
- SoundToys Little Plate
- UAD EMT® 140 Classic Plate Reverberator (if you have UAD hardware)
On the other hand, another approach is to rely on convolution reverbs, which will more accurately reproduce real and realistic acoustic spaces.
Thus, it will be easier to add a somewhat “concert hall” ambiance to a classical piece or a “felted room” texture to a somewhat intimate chamber jazz piece.
Note that one of the advantages of convolution reverb plugins is that they often allow you to adjust the decay length without affecting the early reflections.
Finally, regardless of the plugin or type of reverb you use, don’t hesitate to use mid/side processing (if there is one integrated into the plugin, great; otherwise, use a mid/side EQ) to especially highlight the reverb on the sides but avoid drowning the central signal.
In a mastering context, this will help make the effect a bit more subtle and effective.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, you will have understood that beyond a few specific cases and despite the small techniques mentioned in this article, it is better to avoid using reverb for mastering.
Especially if you are a beginner and not yet very sure of what you are doing: most of the time, reverb will do more harm than good to your master.
If you are looking for tools to influence the ambiance of a track during mastering, feel free to look into stereo image widening tools, which can be an interesting and less risky alternative.