A Reverb Trick That the Pros Use

In this video I show you how you can turn an empty room into a Giant Reverb also known as an Echo Chamber. This is what The Beatles used in Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios. The Abbey Road Studio 2 Echo Chamber is one of the best sounding in recorded history. Here's how you can do it yourself.
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[@sski]

When I recorded with Lord's Mind Erasure back in '95 at Omega in Rockville, MD, we got our reverb from their lobby courtesy of two full range concert speakers with two ribbon mics flown half way between floors returned to the console. It was outstanding. Natural and unique. Cheers, RB!

[@jmonty2005]

I'm a sucker for anything with Chris Cornell's isolated vocals!

[@noahfeazell3336]

same here with cardi b

[@_kcy033]

Same here with Maluma

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

Can you imagine his neighbours? Hearing JUST the vocals coming from somewhere would have been a trip and a half!

[@DMSProduktions]

His lyrics were IRONICALLY prophetic!

[@aavila1206]

Xavi Galarza Cobain sucked

[@marvinshenk]

If you want a stereo version of this you can do it with two mics set in an XY pattern. I used to do that by setting up a speaker in one corner of a room facing into the room, and the XY mics pointed at the opposite corner of the room so the direct sound of the speaker was in the dead(er) spots of the mics (behind the mics), and the mics were getting mostly reflections off the walls. The other thing to add here is that it can help to EQ the send going to the speaker to roll off low and high end aka the Abbey Road technique.

[@jeanfatale]

I use two identical rooms. More real that way.

[@QuabmasM]

I decided to watch this video again after all these years & almost said the exact same comment just now lol. I just learned this from watching Bruce Swedien on youtube. X-Y stereo set up & face the opposite direction of the speaker. What I didnt think of was rolling off the send playing in the speaker before it hits the reverb. Normally I do that using VST reverbs but it slipped my mind that it would work just the same recording real verb.

[@RC32Smiths01]

Wow, this is really making reverb and distant echos with natural and simple tactics my man! Really interesting and awesome take on creating ambience!

[@miguel-vo1cb]

Your dog is cool as heck

[@fretlessblunder]

Hey Rick: I think a series of short videos on 'old-school' recording hacks would be amazing. Stuff just like this video. I'll "echo" the comments of another commenter: "Killer video in under 7 minutes".

[@jafethuerta]

I remember when I was a kid I use to accompany my dad to a lot of his recording sessions, he use to work a lot with Tom Petty’s and the Heartbreakers producer Noah Shark and I remember in one occasion they did something similar in the parking lot of the studio after working hours (because it got super loud) and it would be an intencional caos with all the Reverb, so what they did with that was just make a parallel mix with the dry guitar track. I like these kind of applications, I think they give the overall song it’s own kind of character and sound. Cool video !

[@terrydrums]

Rick really knows his room sounds! You’ve got to hear the air moving. The sound has to exist in an environment. Close mics only get you so far. Don’t sleep in this folks. He turned my head around about this. He will for you, too! 👍

[@KoRMaK1]

Using physical spaces seems to always be much more interesting than dialing in some setting

[@jeanfatale]

Real room ambience can be wonderful, but no, you can do so much cool stuff "dialing in some setting".

[@slavesforging5361]

well, i think the difference is whether you want to do what someone else's ear via their programming lets you, or whether you want to do what your home, environment or local resources allow. for me, the ultimate difference isn't quality per se, but originality and uniqueness. if you don't have rick's sun room, you can't duplicate the sound. automatically, you've got original tone ingrained at inception when using real world techniques. it also gives you a base template that locks in where your mixing should go sonically, that really streamlines the process. without resorting to using presets in plug ins, or any other vanilla sausage method to guide you.

[@KoRMaK1]

Additionally, physical spaces add physical limitations, and those limitations help drive the creative process by making us humans have to come up with creative workarounds and anchor us to some form of real space that we can interact with.

[@jeanfatale]

​@@slavesforging5361, you have some points (about directing your mix, for example), but my impression is that almost every kid that was interested in production tried recording drums or vocals in their staircase, garage, bathroom, etc. But of course you should do what you find inspiring and makes you happy!

[@jeanfatale]

@@KoRMaK1 , I've never been the "limitations-make-me-creative"-type. Limitations are sort of ... limiting to me. :D

[@FobiasBizarreOneManBand]

Why have I never even thought of that before. That's way cooler and more interesting than using a plugin

[@kieferonline]

I love Burden in my Hand, and Fell on Black Days. I'm so glad this song was used for this video. Brings tears to my eyes!! "Would you cry for me?"

[@NicholasABerk]

What I have lost in Anthony Bourdain, I have found in Rick Beato

[@idlewise]

Rick is more upbeat, don't you think?

[@MrPlayerPerson]

When I first started out with 16 track Teac/Tascan 1" tape machine (85-16 w orange rails) and my Teac M15 16 channel mixing board, I couldn't afford much in outboard gear, I used a bedroom to get the job done. For recording I used moving blankets, carpeting and some sleeping bags to create a dead room but for mixing I cleaned the room out, put two Yamaha NS20 in the room with two AKG 451 mike and I had a fantastic reverb. I would get asked what the patch was on the Yamaha SPX90 that I was using and I told them Stereo Echo or Reverb Plate 4 and they'd try it and it didn't quite work out for them. The old old days of working by minimums, uncloud by technology and having to really think creatively to figure out the puzzle, education by fire. Fun days indeed! Thank Rick you are quite awesome and also very knowledgeable! Your You Tube channel would have be great for me when I first started to hit the record button and learn the process. My big teachers is & was George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott, Alan Parsons and the Beatles. I am grateful to have learned the hard way. I am still very passionate about songwriting, playing, the process and art of recording!

[@powertuber4.068]

WOW, I didn't know about the Abbey Road echo chamber.

[@powertuber4.068]

@@DojoOfCool Capital has 8 chambers thirty-five feet underground.

[@elgamerico]

I've smoked lots of weed in there lol It was during one of the recordings I did at Abbey Road and we had just finished, so I hoped in with a joint 😁😁

[@idlewise]

It's on the roof!

[@piynubbunyip]

Speed/pitch up the mix several times record the reverb, then slow it down to the original mix speed and you've got the sound of an echo chamber several times the size of the original.

[@AndreasRusso]

You can "increase" your room's reverb time by playing the dry sound faster (in varispeed), record it, and then slowing the result back down by the same amount. The great Walter Murch mentions using these kinds of tricks with tape back in the early days of sound postproduction for film.

[@rioricardo]

i just did this with 2 mics (stereo),, it's awesome.. Thanks Rick

[@Sooby007]

Aw it's good to see your pup!

[@TheChadPad]

She looks like a good girl :)

[@geoffroubik5273]

Rick: Showing How Music is both science and math. Love it. Also, perfect track selection.

[@B_Rowen]

I love the dog's face. Like "where's it going?" "Can I help?"

[@orbitaljellyfish808]

Andy Johns would be proud RIP CC

[@CommanderClyde]

Love that you keep using those Burden In My Hand tracks. Makes me think you have something special planned with them...

[@revredbeard3289]

What an INTERESTING video! You make what might seem complex really easy to understand. Thanks again for all you share with us.

[@harrisfrankou2368]

at a hospital that has a cover outside reception for rain..it is corrugated in a weird tier and as you step forward each corrugation adds a "flutter" as you call it it adds a noticeable echo to the reverb from the walls of the hospital buildings..it's amazing you can move froward or backwards by ONE FOOT and the reflections change and oscillate...I noticed it visiting my Dad...it is astonishing you can walk up and down clap your hands and hear the changes in reflections.

[@markbayer1683]

When Rush was recording Moving Pictures at Le Studio in Quebec, they took a couple of guitar amplifiers outside and recorded the sound bouncing/echoing off the mountains in the distance as part of Alex Lifeson's "Limelight" solo. So this natural technique works outside, too, if you've got the right topography. And cool neighbors.

[@artkincell]

My dad was a minister so I visited a lot of churches when I was a kid. I love the sound of old churches with smaller sanctuaries.

[@davecortese9774]

Rick I come home from work grab my guitar and just watch and learn thank you!!!!

[@earlyjp]

Motown studios (aka Hitsville USA) is a must see if you are in Detroit. They used their attic as a reverb chamber!

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

And all these years I thought Abbey Road used the inside of Ringo's head for their chamber!

[@AfferbeckBeats]

There's an awesome thread on gearslutz called "Motown studio dimensions?" with a lot of valuable discussion and info about the construction of the studio and how it was used. Absolute gold mine of info thanks to Motown's Bob Ohlsson's posts.

[@jatin7361]

I love this type of content, Rick! If you get the inclination, I wouldn't mind you going over some sound artifact examples so we can keep an ear out for the bad stuff and how to mitigate them when they inevitably pop up. Or, who knows, maybe someone could find a way to use them for a unique tone in a positive way! Love your channel, thanks for sharing the knowledge!

[@LeaveTracks]

Would enjoy hearing the nasty sound artifacts too!

[@Crawfmesiter]

The “bleeding guitars” stopped me in my tracks...no pun intended... There is some hidden awesomeness in there I never knew was there until now. My reaction to them is visceral!! Thanks, Rick!

[@bengoslin2246]

The fact that Rick had Burden in My Hand pulled up on his computer really makes me hope that there’s another video with it soon, love me some Soundgarden

[@TomMilleyMusic]

I wish people would use real reverb more often. Plugins are great, don't get me wrong, but there's something special about real reverb. One of my favorite sounding songs is "Sweet Virginia" by the Rolling Stones. I love the live, in the room type of sound it has, especially on the sax, vocals and drums. When I hear that song, it makes me think that's what music should sound like: real people playing music in a real room together having a great time.

[@atomwatt77]

Thanks for using “Burden” for the example tracks, Rick! I used to do a similar trick back in the day with an old Sound Forge reverb plug-in that allowed you to record “impulse files” at any location. It saved the reverb info so you could take, for example, that awesome public or parking garage restroom reverb home with you & use it whenever you wanted afterward. 😎

[@Kidzelda0]

Rick, you are killing it, especially since that poll. I've never noticed such a concerted shift before. Amazing. Or is it just me?

[@rowemo]

SHEAR GENIUS!!!!!!!! One of my favorite SG tracks!!! Thank you!

[@idlewise]

I visited Abbey Road back in 1978 and went into the echo chamber on the roof. They were doing a late-night mix a few weeks before the visit and were wondering what the rumble was. They had left the door open and blasted the quiet neighbourhood with the latest hit!

[@0pinion8ted]

Best advice ever for recording: get some air moving

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

Until the day the science figures out how to record in a vacuum, I think you might be on to something! XD

[@slavesforging5361]

Couldn't agree more. if air isn't moving... you're not really recording! might as well be pushing buttons on a beat pad or DAW controller.

[@cmath8577]

Did this with a room that was getting remodeled before I watched this video. Would like to go deeper with speaker placement and mic placement….Stereo vs Mono etc. I recorded at Sunset sound and Capitol back in the day and took a tour of the capital chambers under the parking lot. and the. Sunset chambers upstairs and downstairs. Nothing like a real chamber !!!!There are so many ways to do this. I think James Taylor built a chamber underground with a shipping container. .Totally crazy and worth it

[@zackguitar07]

@Rick Beato, one of your best videos ever! Cool concept and well-executed with an amazing song to use as an example! I love how most of the tracks are labeled 'kick' or 'guitar', but the vocals are properly labeled 'Chris Cornell.' Can't believe it's already been 2 years since we lost him. Keep the Soundgarden videos coming, Rick!

[@nickhaldin8674]

When i record, i put a large diaphragm condensor out in my living room because its a big open floor plan with tile floors and my drum sound is HUGE.

[@redsoxtoni]

Awesome vid! And thanks for using Soundgarden...Matt F'n Cameron! ...and god bless Chris

[@gavindwyer5205]

Burden in my hand is a great one not an overplayed one good choice🤟👍👍

[@richarddoan9172]

Fascinating video. I don't record music, so I'm never going to do this. But it's so cool to see how it works, and also be able to connect that to the classic Beatles music. I really learned a lot. Such great content.

[@ChrisPetersGuitar]

I love this in a stereo Blumlein configuration. It really captures the 3d sense of space.

[@valvenator]

Back in the early 80's when we were doing basic 4 track on my Fostex in my apartment we found the best drum sound in my heavily curtained living room with the reverb coming in from the kitchen. Once we used the kitchen for hand claps and it made the two of us sound like ten. I miss those days though I wish I'd had the Tascam instead. Much better machine for the money.

[@mnelson56]

I sooo get this. In the 70's, sometimes I used to clear all the stuff out of my bedroom (wood floors, wood wall panelling, plaster ceiling) as a teen so I could get reverb on my Gibson J-45.

[@sonovoxx]

Hmmm! I've done this many times, but I would never have had the setup like this. For me, the point of an 'aux' signal like this is to have as little direct sound as possible. That means putting the speaker not near any midline of the room and aiming it where most direct speaker sound is at a 'grazing' angle to the walls. Next is mic placement - to get reverberant sound you have to place the mic beyond Cd (critical distance - where reverberant sound > direct sound... well, the best way to do that is place the mic as far away from the direct sound as possible, so where is that? Easy. Back of a cardioid picks up nothing, so place the mix directly in front of the speaker and pointing in the SAME direction as the speaker. Sounds counter-intuitive I know, but hey, that's mic placement for you! Using this method gets you as close to a truly reverberant sound as possible within the space using only a single mic. Excellent video as usual though Rick, and hopefully it will serve as inspiration for others to try different spaces.

[@RickBeato]

Since the room has a 4 second decay, there is little direct sound hitting the microphone. I specifically placed the mic about 12 feet from the speaker because it is beyond the boundary of the direct sound as you can hear from the soloed room mic. .

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

Rick you have some of the most if no The Most unique ideas on youtube Love It!

[@ashleywhiteman2684]

Original recording principles

[@GuitarSwedette]

Documenting with video and sound examples how echo chambers were created and used starting back in the ‘40s and ‘50s.

[@perrybrown4985]

Used to work at a TV station - one of our offices was in an old reverb chamber. It was a bit horrible and airless... It was a concrete room with really oddly placed tapering walls. That were thick enough for a bank vault. Apparently, in earlier times, it was sealed, except for a small hatch, and fitted with mics and speakers. It was probably used until the late 60's.

[@rogersgonc]

Dude amazing video. Soundgarden... Chris... OMG!

[@RodneyWallaceDynamoC]

That reminds me of the video you made about the unusual sound in "When The levee breaks". Great video, keep rockin' hard Rick!

[@BataraKado]

i been doing heaps of reverb IRs myself lately and this was a treat of a video to come across... good stuff Beato

[@jeffv2074]

Sounds so rich and vibrant that acoustic guitar 👌

[@markkens9]

whoa! what a room sample for convolution reverb this would make... bathrooms and staircases aside Sharp hands-on video, one of your better ones in the last 18 months

[@Soundguydan]

This is awesome. It would be cool to see how other effects were accomplished in the past too. I love it!

[@GuilleSMasini]

Always wanted to do something like that but never took some time to set up the whole thing thinking it might be bad idea. Thanks for proving me wrong Rick!

[@birchlee21]

Great video! would love to see more recording techniques and things like this!

[@lantzkeefer8674]

Your using a song that you should have on What makes this song great,it's definitely my favorite Soundgarden song.But getting back to the video,thxs for showing this,i learned a few things i didn't know.☆

[@jkeimel354]

One of my fav Cornell tunes

[@jghillstudio1857]

You have to put all that stuff back in the room before the wife gets home from work! LOL🤣 Great video Rick!

[@middle_pickup]

Great episode, Rick! Love these practical kinds of videos. Whenever I find one I always favorite it. I would love to see you do something like this on getting great guitar tracks from live amps with mics. I always enjoy seeing other people's techniques. Also, loved hearing CC.

[@jeffsmiley3213]

When u played the “reverb room” guitars, it gave me goosebumps!! Epic song, and one of my all-time favorites!! Excellent demonstration!

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

For some reason I pictured Oasis playing Soundgarden!

[@johnponder5973]

Rick, how about a video on how to create an impulse response file of this room to use in a convolution reverb plug in.

[@andrewmcrory]

Love that little red Focusrite!

[@TheNottheface]

One of my favourite sg tunes that “I left her in the sand’ line gives me tingles every time

[@da5idnz]

I remember reading a story about how Carl Wilson and another one of the Beach Boys went under and visited the echo chambers at Capitol Records where they recorded, just to see what it was like. To start with they wouldn't let them go down there, but they changed their minds. He went down there through tiny hatchways and down ladders and sang and said it was the nicest sound

[@watchtheskies]

Hi Rick, I have seen this done a few times in studios in the 80s, they would always have the speaker two or three feet in front of the mic, pointing away from the mic into the room, I guess this was to minimize the amount of direct signal coming back through the mic

[@HarlanHarvey76]

Hearing Chris's voice on this song makes me want to cry every time.....

[@lasm2000]

Man, that room is begging to be immortalised on an IR file. 😉

[@terred999]

Wish you could play a full track reverb version, sounded so thick!

[@elissitdesign]

Drainage pipes are awesome too. Just bring a blanket to stuff at the end to reduce the trailing. The further away the blanket the longer the reverb tail.

[@stefan1024]

Great, I might try this to give my electronic music some more texture! Thanks Rick!

[@geminidreamno2]

Thanks Rick for this old school practical.

[@RokDAWG1]

Run a speaker into the bathroom and put it in the bathtub. Now put your mic & speaker on opposite ends of the bathtub. What a crazy unique sound!

[@spost26]

Just thinking how cool it would be to see a video series of you producing a band!

[@ellenveerle8134]

I enjoy every vid you post, but the ones with Chris Cornell are deffo my fave! 👌

[@FlowtnWitWalden]

Great. When I first got my 4-track cassette I used the bathroom at the top of stairwell to record vocals. I remember my old man always liked the local episcopal church to record live music - said it was acoustically designed for the natural vocal projection of both the pastor and the balcony-choir. Next can you talk about the big metal plates that became the standard of electro-mechanical reverb in studios?

[@throwabrick]

love this! we've been talking about doing field recordings in big spaces, but starting closer to home would be good practice. thanks for the inspiration!

[@onesteprecordingstudio3086]

Did it with missed rooms for drums I've got from the client - worked like a charm!

[@kykk3365]

0:47 "Get all the kids' junk out of there." Well, we found what inspired the video. Approved! Proceed...

[@RickBeato]

True!

[@bbundesbahn]

RIck, you've said in your videos that you read the comments - so I'm taking some time to pitch you an idea for a "what makes this BAND great". You and I are a lot alike in terms of taste in music. Grunge is king - Cornell, Staley etc. HOWEVER, you've recently touched on the theme of melancholia. Surely you are aware of what Steve Kilbey and Co. have been cranking out since the early 80's. What Makes This Band Great - The Church... how about it?? BTW - I love the channel and enjoy all the videos and I'm not even a musician - I just love music. Thank you!

[@RickBeato]

I will consider your idea. See, I did read your comment :)

[@parnellitube]

This kind of stuff puts the fun back into recording.

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

I'd say Rick puts the fun in fundamental principals.

[@LeaveTracks]

I would enjoy seeing more videos like this. How to make great tone the old analog ways!

[@calebknott8021]

You should sell an impulse response of that room 😂

[@simonallan58]

I'd love to have that!

[@weinschelbarretto3263]

Could you explain?

[@calebknott8021]

@@weinschelbarretto3263 so if you play a burst of pink noise into the room through the speaker and record it with the microphone, you'll have a wav file recording of how the reverb reacts to all frequencies (the impulse response). Then you can take that recording and load it into a convolution reverb plugin or an impulse response loader. Then when you pass audio through that impulse in the plugin, it will come out with the reverb of that room on it. Look into IR loaders and Convolution reverbs. Cheers

[@KB-kc7ou]

An additional technique I heard about on Lij's podcast that I haven't tried yet: to make a smaller room sound bigger, send a 2x speed playback to the room speaker, and record the room reverb at double your normal bitrate. Slow the result down by half and this effectively doubles the size of the room... Cumbersome technique, but supposedly very effective.

[@JonGodsun]

This may be my favorite video you have ever done...save the darkest scale ever! lol Seriously this was awesome.

[@JDubOnTheLowdown]

I tried this once with recording acoustic guitar in my empty bathroom, but I never thought about running a speaker through it. I’ll have to give it a try sometime.

[@paszTube]

Did this in a 100 year old school hallway once, equally great results! Plugin reverbs are easier but this is more fun!

[@DavidMorley]

My first studio work was in a studio that had a huge room for reverb. It was wonderful and the joy in mic and speaker placement made it rewarding to use too. Great video!

[@pierheadjump]

Wow, thanks Rick - really shows what's possible with old school technique, ⚓️

[@markdrum2392]

If you want to hear great natural reverb then go into a tunnel or a church with high, arched ceilings and walk around clapping your hands. Make sure that the priest of minister knows why you're doing it. It's amazing what the architects of both accomplished. The people designing those churches knew more about reverb than anybody doing sampling. You also might want to look up some of the shows that were recorded in the Cumberland Caverns. Ain't nothing like the real thing y'all.

[@junkandcrapamen]

I used to live in a big, 100 year old house with some room mates and we built a recording studio in the basement. The house was enormous, and the basement was too. It was divided in two parts; one part half finished (the studio part) and one part that literally looked like a medieval dungeon, with old stone walls and just a plywood floor. The ceiling was only 7 ft high. We used that as a reverb chamber to great effect. And, if you believe the rumors, a grow room. Miss that house.

[@BobbyLaneProductions]

shocking! haha! you and I both know there are plenty of folks that would have never known this trick had you not spilled the beans.. thanks Rick! love your channel.

[@spectralspectacle6844]

where do you get those wav. files for your videos like soundgarden vocals drums guitars and many other artists ive seen on other videos

[@sfn4702]

Commenting even before the video gets going; this is gonna be awesome. Love recording content. Thanks Rick!

[@Jake-sw3ss]

I love your vids. If you read your comments, I'll tell you something I just did. I miked a Beringer copy of the infamous Metal Pedal from Boss. (2) The Swedish Chainsaw, and miked it from a 90's Fender Prinston Choras(Solid State). It sounds so bad, but I got such a good sound. I appreciate the inventiveness. I like that you show it's not just about money.

[@evanward4303]

It might be cool to print the room sound to a track and push the track over to the right for pre-delay.

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

Playing the drumkit separately through there, reversing the recorded mic on each beat and having them end where they used to trigger, would make for a pretty good effect!

[@johnnolan4312]

That was very cool! Amazing VERB!!!

[@jrtme]

A mic in Omni or a figure 8 sideways would have made it more reverb like and less direct. For those with access. Bathrooms and Stairwells are awesome for this. 😊

at Mushroom records studio in Vancouver the reverb was 2 cement rooms next to one another appx 30 feet tall with a speaker in each one and an adjustable height microphone also it was the only studio built from the ground up for studio purposes in Vancouver at the time .