This article gives you a detailed insight into our new EXOVERB stereo reverb plugin. We’ll show you what it does, how to use it, and why it’s so different from other reverb plugins.

EXOVERB is an innovative stereo reverb from spatial audio expert Dear Reality. The reverb plugin incorporates the fundamentals of spatial hearing, enabling enhanced control of spatial distance perception, to create reverb effects with unheard levels of depth and spatial realism for your everyday stereo mixes.

Packed into the futuristic yet intuitive interface are over 50 hand-crafted acoustic environments for producers and engineers to enhance their mixes with freedom. Easily giving their listeners a natural sense of space and distance that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. From tight room ambiances to cavernous, expansive chambers, variety has been a key factor in guiding the development of EXOVERB and its unique environment collection. 

As a spatial audio company, the creation of virtual acoustics, and the comprehensive customization of them, thus realistic sounding reverbs in a qualitative depth, have always been driving factors at Dear Reality. This has been the core of our daily work and has guided us forward in the development of our plugins.

Over the years, we have heard from many customers that they use our room simulations from the spatializer plugins in their everyday stereo mixes. So the spatial audio simulation of rooms seemed to offer an impact on the sound that previous stereo reverbs did not. 

EXOVERB harnesses the natural, realistic sound of spatial audio, but is designed as a pure stereo plugin. By using hand-crafted, cascading impulse responses, EXOVERB generates spatial reverb environments with an unprecedented level of reality, without sacrificing any creative headroom. The results are true-to-life sounding reverbs with three-dimensional depth perception on all playback systems - both speakers and headphones.

Utilizing space and depth in a mix is one of the skills that separates beginners from professionals. It’s often overlooked, and it can take producers years to fully understand the importance of space in creating the perfect mix. 

Particularly in today’s music production culture, where a huge amount of production happens digitally, rather than acoustically, music often lacks a natural/realistic sense of space. Because often the sound never even leaves the computer. Listening to iconic old records, it becomes evident that the sound of the recording studio, and the rooms/spaces that the band recorded in, are almost equally as key in creating the magic as the band is. 

WHY DEPTH AND SPACE ARE IMPORTANT IN MIXES

Mixes can easily be compromised without the right consideration to space. We’re not just talking about dynamic and frequency, but rather the perception of an acoustic environment. 

Using space is key to creating a visceral yet natural mix. Each instrument needs to either stand in its own space or be glued together by a shared atmosphere. It also brings more interest to the musical experience, another layer of artistic flair and creativity. 

If you compare a low-effort, 2D-sounding mix to something with a high level of spatial intention, it instantly becomes clear which track stands out more. A 3D feeling environment helps the listener feel like they are in the music/sound, rather than just listening to it.  

WHY DEPTH AND SPACE CAN BE HARD TO ACHIEVE WITH STANDARD REVERB PLUGINS

Typically, achieving this level of spatial realism is a difficult process that takes countless hours of experimenting and experience to learn. Because human ears are so incredibly sensitive to spatial perception, engineers have to use nuanced, subtle, yet razor-precise techniques to create space in a mix that doesn’t sound artificial, cluttered, or unrealistic. Due to the way most reverb plugins work, they are not necessarily well suited to this style of audio design, and it takes a lot of effort to make the plugins work. 

HOW EXOVERB CREATES A BETTER SENSE OF SPACE AND GIVES MORE ACCURATE CONTROL OVER DEPTH PERCEPTION

Our engineering and design team are no strangers to these issues. With decades of mixing experience under our belts, we’ve experienced spatial frustrations firsthand. Now, we've designed EXOVERB to overcome a wide range of issues presented by traditional reverb plugins, not only to make our own mixing lives easier but also to give producers a powerful solution, to speed up their workflow, letting them maximize their creativity.  

Exoverb is highly intuitive to use, regardless of how powerful it is. Here is one workflow system we recommend for tuning the best results, although we’re sure you will eventually find your own speedy strategy. 

1. Load the plugin onto a channel. Exoverb works particularly well as an insert, although still great on a send/return. 

3. Switch between the 50 acoustic scenes until you find the right one. 

4. Use the triangle to blend dry/wet/early/late and speed up your workflow. 

5. Check the input/output gain for gain staging. 

6. Change pre-delay, size, and decay to taste. 

7. Fine-tune the depth control to place sounds as near or far as needed.

8. Use the EQ section to tweak the frequency balance across different sections of the reverb. 

9. Fine-tune across all controls until you get the perfect tone.

Words only do this plugin so much justice. Test the plugin yourself with the free 14-day trial. Instantly you will be able to feel and hear the difference this technology has compared to traditional reverb plugins!

Dear Reality is a pioneer in spatial audio. Check out the rest of our spatial audio tools and guides for more inspiration.