Reverb doesn't only happen live. It's a complex series of echoes, which come at the listener from all sides, bouncing off different materials, rebounding at different angles. These don't naturally mix, but here they create a sound which will linger forever in the open caverns of memory. Just a generation ago it cost thousands of dollars to create the illusion that the sound coming at you through those beer-stained Marshall speakers coated in blue glitter foam was actually recorded in the proscenium of a Roman ampitheater. Sound effects are just effects, of course, not real aesthetic innovations.
Authenticity is always noisy, uneven, muddy, and muffled.
But reverb is more than the simple mechanical reproduction of something that is unique and singular out there, in some separate real world. Using electronic reverb tools, we can begin to play with the very notion of authenticity. Maybe sonic illusion can help reveal the magic that makes listening possible at all. Give us your feedback below, or see what others are saying in the Wicked Pavilion . The editors may pick your post to appear in the sidebar of the article.