Effects & processing
Freeze reverb
Freeze reverb captures the reverb tail at a moment and holds it indefinitely, producing a sustained wash that continues after the source stops. It turns a decay into a pad you can mix under.
In practice
Freeze the tail and it becomes a pad. It ends a record without silence and without losing energy.
Grab the freeze on a chord or a vocal rather than on a drum hit — a frozen kick is a rumble and a frozen chord is a pad. Then bring the incoming record in underneath and release the freeze once it is established. Watch the level: a frozen tail carries no dynamics at all, so it sits higher than it seems and can push the master harder than you expect. Check the key too, since a frozen chord is stating notes for as long as you hold it.
A chord
What to freeze
No tempo
Why it never clashes rhythmically
Watch level
It carries no dynamics
Where these come from: Effect behaviour and transition practice, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the rhythmic alternative.
Why it matters
It is the cleanest way to end a record without silence, and it solves a real problem: a track that stops abruptly leaves a hole, and a fade removes energy. Freezing the tail keeps something in the air while you bring the next record in underneath.
It is also the most usable of the modern mixer effects, precisely because it does not depend on tempo. A frozen tail is a sustained sound with no rhythm of its own, so it cannot fall out of time with anything and it will not clash rhythmically with the incoming track.
Frequently asked
What should I freeze?+
A chord or a sustained vocal. A frozen drum hit is a rumble; a frozen chord becomes a usable pad you can mix underneath.
How is this different from an echo out?+
An echo out is rhythmic and repeats in time; a freeze is a sustained wash with no rhythm at all, so it cannot fall out of time with anything.
Does a frozen tail clash harmonically?+
It can, because it holds whatever notes were in the source. Check the key before you rely on it under an incoming record.
Related terms
Reverb
Reverb is the sound of a space — hundreds of reflections arriving after a sound and fading. As a DJ effect it is used to smear the tail of one record into the arrival of the next.
Echo out
An echo out ends a record by feeding its last bars into a delay and pulling the channel down, so the track dissolves into repeats instead of stopping.
Impact
An impact is a single dramatic hit — a crash, a reversed cymbal, a sub boom — used to mark a moment. It has no rhythm of its own and exists to make one beat feel bigger than its neighbours.
Beat FX
Beat FX are the effects section on a DJ mixer that locks its timing to the detected tempo. Every delay, echo, roll and gate is set in beat divisions rather than in milliseconds, so one setting stays musical across records.
Explore: How to close a set · Reverb · Echo out · All DJ terms