I bought a reverb plugin on impulse during a sale. What followed was three weeks of reading about convolution vs algorithmic reverb, Lexicon 480Ls, and the acoustic properties of cathedral spaces.
What Reverb Actually Is
Reverb is the way sound behaves in a physical space — bouncing off surfaces before reaching your ears. In production, it places sounds in a believable space and adds sustain.
Convolution reverb records real acoustic spaces via impulse responses and applies them mathematically. Realistic because it is, in a sense, real.
Algorithmic reverb generates reverb through mathematical simulation. Less accurate, more flexible. You can create spaces that don’t exist.
The Practical Lesson
Send reverbs rather than insert reverbs. A send reverb lives on a return track; multiple instruments route to it by varying amounts. Everything shares the same reverb — they sound like they exist in the same space.
Pre-delay — a short gap before reverb onset — makes sounds feel more present even with lots of reverb. Zero pre-delay makes things sound distant and washed out.
The plugin I bought was Valhalla Shimmer. I use it on almost everything.