5 Popular Music Production Techniques and How to Create Them
Read quick tips for producing common audio effects and techniques including reverse reverb, gated snare, and others.
Artists, genres, and even eras of music are defined by distinct production effects. James Blake is synonymous with warped vocals. Lo-fi hip-hop equals pitch-bent samples. A “70s sound” means psychedelic.
Getting to know how these popular audio effects are made is a must for music producers. It’s like learning the standard tunes as a musician; you need to know the basics in order to make something really great. In addition, if you’re working with clients, they will want to hear specific production effects in their music.
In this article, I’ll show you five common production effects and the quickest, most effective ways to produce them in your DAW.
1. Reverse reverb
Reverse reverb is exactly that—the reverb tail of any instrument or sound, reversed. The effect started to crop up in popular music during late 60s. You can hear it leading up to the horns in The Yardbirds’ “Ten Little Indians” and on the drums in Pink Floyd’s “Sheep.” Years later, the effect would come to define the signature dissonant guitar sound of shoegaze stars My Bloody Valentine.
Today, reverse reverb is often used to dramatize vocal passages. It sounds a lot more technical than it is to create. If you’re working with an entire vocal recording, single out one word at the beginning of a verse. Otherwise, drag a one-shot vocal sample into your DAW.
In both cases, duplicate the selected vocal onto a new track, reverse it, then add your favourite reverb plug-in. I’m using the reverb in Nectar 2. The goal here is to create a long reverb tail, so turn decay time and the wet mix way up. Listen to the original and reverb version:
