These presets for UAD come with helpful explanations and instructions. They can be used as starting points for your own mix, or as a way of learning more about the plugin. As always, feel free to experiment, the instructions are based on my own workflow and “ear”. I hope you enjoy and they help you make even better music!
The main goal of these presets is consistent spaces and usability. All of the sets work together with the numbering system described below. There are no “center of a spinning blackhole” or other wild settings. More experimental settings are just that, experimental. And usually for one specific task where you would be chasing creativity and probably never use it again. These presets are to enhance the audio and place it in a real (sounding) space, and should be usable again and again.
The numbering of the presets is connected to their placement within the listening space. Numbers 1 through 5 generally represent a moving from near to farther away (1 being the closest). 6 and 7 add a simulated delay before the reverb and the resulting differences in early reflections. It is common practice to place a reverb on an auxiliary bus, send tracks and adjust the send levels to create variances in the perceived placement in a space. This has the advantage of preserving resources and ensuring different tracks sound like they are in the same space no matter their “placement.” You can easily accomplish this by hitting the “Wet Solo” button and using your sends. (But remember to turn the wet solo off if you are on a normal channel insert!)
The mix settings saved with each preset are meant to take this a step farther, and using the plugin as an insert rather than a send lets you achieve more accuracy. In a real space moving farther away from a source doesn’t just produce “more” reverb, it also affects many other aspects of the sound. I have tried to reproduce this for each space. For instance, when you use ROOM-1 on one track and ROOM-4 on another, components of the sound will change in a way to keep the same space but reflect (excuse the pun!) a more natural response to changing mic/recording positions within that space. They will fit together, and with a more complementary sound than using a single send for the tracks. Because of this I recommend using the plugin as an insert on individual tracks with the presets. You can tweak the mix settings to your liking.
Having said that—go ahead and do what you want and what sounds good to you! These are just starting points. If nothing else, they will point to ways in which you can sculpt the shape of a space.
I encourage you to poke around the different settings and get into the beauty and complexity of this plugin. You may notice the input gain has been increased for all the presets. I feel like this gives a little better sound. I also have the “Sys Noise” turned off, but feel free if you want hiss and other “analog-y” stuff. Also, algorithms 1 and 3 are the same in the 224, as are 2 and 5. Mentioning this in case anyone wonders why I didn’t use all the “buttons” in these presets.
A special note about the CHORUS presets: Pretty much ignore everything about about placing things in space I said above. The seven settings simply demonstrate some of the versatility and uniqueness of the Chorus algorithm in the 224.
Penny.Cool presets are calibrated for an input signal level of -18dbfs RMS (more or less). But try anything you want! Be aware the 224 will do some crazy stuff if overdriven.
Requires UAD v. 11
Room
- ROOM-1, ROOM-2, ROOM-3, ROOM-4, ROOM-5, ROOM-6, ROOM-7
A smallish, tight space. I have dampened a little of the initial density that the Room algorithm creates to make this feel more intimate. It’s more lively than a vocal booth, but feels like you are sitting right up at the source on the lower settings. It works real nice on acoustic instruments. 6 and 7 add a tape delay flavor to the sound. Just adjust the Pre-delay. The initial setting simulates tape at 15 ips, give or take the distance between the heads.
Hall A
- HALL A-1, HALL A-2, HALL A-3, HALL A-4, HALL A-5, HALL A-6, HALL A-7
The sound is a little cleaner than what a typical performance venue might sound like, so more like a studio (in my opinion). These are great “general” settings to make something feel it has been recorded in a good studio space. Again, 6 and 7 give simulated delay to the initial reflections.
Hall B
- HALL B-1, HALL B-2, HALL B-3, HALL B-4, HALL B-5, HALL B-6, HALL B-7
A little tighter sound than Hall A, but then it blossoms out as if the walls are more reflective. Think of the walls being parallel, and in that regard it feels more like a performance hall than an acoustically designed studio space.
Plate A
- PLATE A-1, PLATE A-2, PLATE A-3, PLATE A-4, PLATE A-5, PLATE A-6, PLATE A-7
Since a plate isn’t adjustable for “distance” (it’s a piece of metal, not a room!) I have simulated typical responses you get when feeding and returning different levels to and from a plate. These presets are most open to your own individual perception and how you want to utilize plate-style reverb in your sound. Generally, I have dampened it down to sound less plate-like, which is (oddly enough) what most people try to do when using plate reverb.
Plate B
- PLATE B-1, PLATE B-2, PLATE B-3, PLATE B-4, PLATE B-5, PLATE B-6, PLATE B-7
The original designers really nailed the plate sound with this algorithm. You can make it sound very artificial if you are going for that sound (and the preset tends that direction) which is what a plate does. You can push this into some very big spaces, but listen and keep the Treble Decay under control.
Chamber
- CHAMBER-1, CHAMBER-2, CHAMBER-3, CHAMBER-4, CHAMBER-5, CHAMBER-6, CHAMBER-7
Lots of reflections bouncing around with all kinds of modulation. That is what happens in a chamber! The settings are all about moving the mic around in the chamber. 5, 6, 7 are meant to simulate the “STEED” effect used at Abbey Road with their chamber.
Chorus
- ROOM-1, ROOM-2, ROOM-3, ROOM-4, ROOM-5, ROOM-6, ROOM-7
You can phase, flange, double, echo, and even add chorus with the Chorus algorithm. Preset number 3 gives a nice “microshift” kind of sound for thickening vocals, but the presets are really just to demonstrate what you can do with this. Have fun!
Tips & Techniques
- Mono Reverb
Want to unclutter your tracks? Record most things in mono! Yes, you may have this lush, vibrating, space-filling synth pad. Try it in mono, along with most everything else. Once you do this, you have lots of control over your sound stage. Things can actually be panned!.
Using the plugin as an insert makes this really simple. The reverb will follow where ever you pan your track. (And here are more reverb tips.)