Effects & processing
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.
In practice
Reverb is a tail, not a texture — use it to end something, and pull it back before the next low end arrives.
The working version is a short plate or room, a wet level you can hear but not name, and a high-pass on the return so the wash sits above the bass rather than in it. Bring it up on the last bar of the outgoing record and take it down as the incoming kick lands. A long hall left open across two playing tracks is the fastest way to make a mix sound like a bad PA rather than a decision.
1–2 s
A usable decay
High-passed
What keeps it out of the bass
Last bar
When to bring it up
Where these come from: Conventional effect settings, not catalog figures — every unit labels its parameters differently and the decay that works depends on the room. For what we can measure, see the exit this is usually part of.
Why it matters
Reverb is the most useful exit an effects unit gives you. Cutting a record dead leaves a hole; letting its last bar wash out into a decaying tail buys you two or three seconds in which nothing has to be precise, and the incoming track can arrive underneath rather than after.
It is also the effect most likely to ruin a mix, because reverb on a full record adds level everywhere at once. A wash across a busy low end turns into mud instantly, which is why the useful setting is short and filtered rather than big and open.
Frequently asked
How do DJs use reverb?+
Almost always on the way out. A short reverb on the last bar of the outgoing track leaves a decaying tail that covers the join, so the incoming record arrives underneath something rather than after silence.
What reverb setting is best for DJing?+
Short, filtered and restrained. A one- to two-second decay with the low frequencies rolled off the return adds space without adding weight, and it clears in time for the next kick.
Why does reverb make a mix sound muddy?+
Because it adds energy across the whole spectrum, including the low end where two tracks are already competing. Rolling the lows off the effect fixes most of it.
Related terms
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.
Delay
Delay repeats a sound after a set time. On a DJ mixer that time is locked to the detected tempo, so the setting is a beat division rather than a number of milliseconds and the repeats land on the grid.
Wet/dry
Wet is the processed signal, dry is the untouched original. The wet/dry control sets how much of each you hear, and on most DJ effects it is the only depth control there is.
Send and return
A send takes a copy of a signal to an external effect; the return brings the processed version back into the mix. The original keeps playing, so the effect is added alongside rather than replacing it.
Explore: Mixing guides · Echo out · Score a transition · All DJ terms