The first person I heard make the reverse reverb tail popular was Dr. Dre. This was back in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. It’s this signature lead up reverb effect. It led into a sound and gave it this super dramatic feel. I’m going to teach you how to make a reverse reverb tail in Ableton.
To try this out, drop in a melodic loop of your choice. There are many in my Drums That Knock series. Then make a new audio track and take a little clip of the first note from the melodic loop and put it on the new track.
Then take a reverb and wash out that clip. Set the decay really high. Freeze and flatten it next.
Now, you’re going to reverse it. Double click it and click reverse at the bottom.
Take the end of the reversed reverb tail and add it to the beginning of the track. Drag it up to when melody starts.
Then you can tailor shape it to your liking by adjusting the volume or by automating the panning, for example.
If you enjoyed this article on how to make a reverse reverb tail, check out some of my other Ableton tutorials.
A lot of engineers do it to vocals also. They’ll cut out the first syllable add crazy reverb or delay then reverse it and place it against the vocal’s intro to make it come in heavier. I do this with cymbals and other drums as risers. Reversing shit is just fun…. and good lol