Waves' Abbey Road Reverb Plates plug-in enhances your 'verb palette with meticulous models of four Abbey Road Studios EMT 140 reverb plates. Dating from the late 1950s, these large reverb devices were used on many legendary recordings, including, of course, classics by the Beatles and Pink Floyd. Flawlessly maintained by Abbey Road engineers, these wonderful-sounding plates deliver variable reverb lengths of up to six seconds. Three of the plates were modified by EMI Labs with custom hybrid solid-state drive amps; the fourth is fully tube powered. All together, Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates gives you essential plate reverb, in all its sonic glory.
Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates Plug-in at a Glance:
- The origins of plate reverb
- How plate reverb works
The origins of plate reverb
Bill Putnam, Sr. (the founder of Universal Audio) is credited with the first use of artificial reverb in 1947. His echo "device" was simply a loudspeaker and microphone placed in his Chicago studio's bathroom. And thus, the live-room echo chamber was born, and every studio had to have one. In the 1950s, the German company EMT introduced another device to complement the live room's fixed reverb times: Plate reverb.
How plate reverb works
A plate's stereo reverb results from the suspension, within a large wooden box, of a metal sheet (plate) with tensioned springs affixed to each corner. Audio energy is injected into the plate via a transducer. The sound off the plate is then captured by two contact mics on the plate's surface. An internal damper gives you control over reverb time. The warm richness of plate reverb is all over your favorite recordings from the 1960s and '70s. Although plates are not made anymore, Waves has captured what are probably the four best-sounding plates on the planet, complete with plate and damper behaviors, as well as harmonic distortion of both drive and output amps. Take it from us: Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates is a must-have plug-in.
Features:
- Meticulous models of 4 classic Abbey Road EMT 140 reverb plates
- Each plate has its own unique sonic characteristics
- Drive control lets you set THD for the input and output amps, and the plate itself
- You can add analog noise and hum to taste
- 4 original bass-cut positions included
- Crosstalk between stereo inputs for "stereo leak" effect