In Summary

With a whole universe of audio plugin reverbs out there with parameters for everything, one new tool dares to go the other way to get back to the essence of retro space-making. Here we check out its charms that promise to let engineers stay in the music and out of the manual…

Going Deeper

The sound of reverb is probably the oldest production effect out there, and even now it’s still unique in that engineers can just point mics and capture it there and then in the room. That said, the ever-drier recordings that started in the middle of last century created a need to re-introduce a sense of space artificially.

Recreating anything is complex, and that certainly goes for the way sounds bounce around spaces or sheets of metal. Fast forward to now, and the GUIs of some artificial reverbs can look more like the flight deck of a jet airliner than a tool to make music with. Many creators recording and mixing their own music might wonder if there’s anything out there that just lets them add a splash of ambience to their music without too much thought.

Using Half Light Taped Spaces

With a background in music for screen and coding for audio, Half Light were established in 2018, comprised of a small team of composers and sound designers. Described by them as “a first-of-its-kind character reverb plugin” and inspired by classic hardware reverb, Taped Spaces features seven modes processed with analogue tube distortions and reel to reel tape machines to deliver seven distinct reverb sounds. Each has a standard decay time, and all are organised in order of length - a Length parameter can be used to tune the decay time of each mode.

In the video we use Taped Spaces to get some character reverb inspiration across a mix in progress. We use its Soft Sky mode for a signature snare transformation, before moving onto to acoustic guitar for some extra dimensionality courtesy of the Luft mode. Finally we move on to a rather decrepit sounding mandolin that enjoys a whole new ethereal atmosphere thanks to Taped Spaces’ Wearing Thin mode… “noisy modulation” never sounded so good…

Engineers looking for pristine, high quality reverb are well catered for, but some tracks instead benefit from imperfect sounds to suit the mood. Although it’s easy enough for those with the know-how to get those sounds by bolting on the processors of their choice to existing reverb, creatives with a musical background might not find this as easy (or fun). For them, getting fast, distressed reverb that sounds great for retro or left-field styles of music is now within reach…

Taped Spaces Modes And Features

• Luft Natural, with balanced diffusion and minimal coloration.

• The Pianist Lively and lush with mid presence and high smooth diffusion.

• Nightshade Distant and plucky, pronounced attack and noisy character.

• Moonchamber Dark and smooth with late high diffusion.

• Wearing Thin Filtered and upper mid centric with wide and noisy modulation.

• Sleepercar Long and dark with open, resonant lower mids.

• Soft Sky Long, triple taped, metallic and wispy with late diffusion.

• Shape the wet signal using the 12dB/octave filters.

• Simple Length multiplier to control reverb duration.