Reverb Width
Width comes from decorrelated reverb tails, not from pushing the wet control higher.
Related
Push reverb width to maximum and the vocal retreats into a thin line. Width is not how much wet signal you add; it is how little the two tails correlate.
Correlation sets the width
Identical left and right reverb sits in the centre as mono. Width appears when early reflections arrive from different directions at different times, when the diffusion network produces different tails, and when slow modulation keeps the two sides drifting apart. Many width controls only change the side level; they add no new reflections.
Four ways to widen
Each method produces a different kind of width.
| Method | What it does | What you hear | In mono |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offset early reflections | Different reflection patterns per side | Clearer edges | Partial cancellation |
| Diffusion and modulation | More diffusion, light modulation | Thicker tail | Mostly survives |
| Split pre-delay | 5–15 ms difference between sides | Deeper space | Comb filtering |
| Widen only mids and highs | High-pass the side, then lift | Air | Low end untouched |
Why the low end stays centred
Long wavelengths mean side content cancels when folded to mono. High-pass the side channel below 120–200 Hz, keep the low end in the middle, and leave width to cymbals, strings and the reverb tail. Kick and bass suffer most from that cancellation; a phone speaker removes half of it at once.
What the ear should catch
Hear the dry signal, add reverb, and check whether the sides truly separate. Press mono and listen for whether width turns into a level change only. Sweep width from 0 to 100 and notice the centre vocal stepping back and the tail covering the next word.
When not to widen
Skip it when mono dominates: clubs, phone speakers and public address all hear the mid channel. Widening a pad that is already wide only hollows out the centre. A long tail that has been widened covers the attack of the next phrase. A correlation meter that sits negative for long stretches points to tracking or panning, not to the width control.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Along the same line
Sources
- Michael Vorländer, Auralization.
- Kendall, The Decorrelation of Audio Signals and Its Impact on Spatial Imagery, Computer Music Journal.
- Valhalla DSP, ValhallaVintageVerb user manual.