Soundtoys SpaceBlender: Using a Big Reverb to Create Subtle Space

I've been using SpaceBlender for a few weeks.

And I've ended up coming back to the same kind of setting.

A tighter, more controlled space.

Around 4.5 seconds on the Time control.

SpaceBlender can make enormous, evolving effects.

But I'm using it much more subtly.

The shape of the space changes how the sound moves through it.

I've been using it to put sounds somewhere.

Not a room.

Not a plate.

Not a hall.

Just a space around the sound.

And I'm loving it.

What Is SpaceBlender?

SpaceBlender is an experimental reverb from Soundtoys.

It's built for huge, evolving, unreal spaces.

But it doesn't really make me think of rooms, plates or halls.

It creates shapes.

Spaces that can move, swell and change around a sound.

You can control the time.

The colour.

The texture.

The modulation.

Then blend it into the original signal.

I've stopped thinking about what type of reverb it is.

I'm listening to what it does around the sound.

I've been using SpaceBlender on all sorts of sounds.

Snares.

Vocals.

Synths.

Groups of sounds.

I'm using a big effects reverb to do something much smaller.

I'm listening for the space around them.

I blend it in until the sound feels like it's sitting somewhere.

Then I bypass it.

If everything suddenly feels flatter, I know it's doing its job.

That's what I keep coming back to with SpaceBlender.

I'm not choosing a room.

Or a plate.

Or a hall.

I'm shaping a space around the sound.

Sometimes it's subtle.

But when I bypass it, I hear what's missing.