f you want to find the best reverb plugin for you and/or your vocalists, keep reading this article.
I’m going to break down the top 9 best reverb plugins for vocals of 2022.
Each plugin is going to be reviewed by four categories – Tone, Features, Interface, and Pricing.
I’m also going to tell you which styles of vocals each plugin is best for, give you real examples using each plugin on vocals, and sum up the pros and cons of each plugin.
The plugins I’ll review are –
*The plugins are listed without any specific order*
But, before you keep reading, I suggest you read this article that I’ve written where I outline all the basic things you need to know to use reverb and tell you about the five mistakes you’re probably making when using reverb.
1. My Absolute Favorite: IZotope & Exponential Audio | PhoenixVerb (99$)
Recommended For – Any Vocals
This plugin is definitely my go-to reverb. I literally use it for anything.
Tone
I love the tone of this plugin, simply because I can configure it to be whatever I want it to be.
It allows you to change and manipulate every aspect of the reverb, so you’re not limited in any way.
It lets you control the damping, the diffusion, the width, the low-mid balance, the size, the early reflections and tail levels, and more.
It has three reverb types, which are all great for vocals – plate, chamber, and hall. And a massive amount of presets for every element that you throw it at. Especially for vocals.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – PhoenixVerb
Features
This plugin nails the necessary features and has an amazing feature that gives you extra control (details below).
As written above, this plugin lets you control every element and every aspect of the reverb so you can configure it to sound just how you want it.
This plugin has a simple internal equalizer, damping and diffusion options, ADSR control options, and reverb gain control options.
Another great thing about this plugin is that it allows you to control the early reflections, the attack, and the tail’s sound and ADSR separately so you can easily balance and fit the reverb into your mix.
(ADSR – Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release).
Interface
The interface of PhoenixVerb is pretty simple, so there isn’t any unique or incredibly modern design, but it’s excellent for your workflow as it lets you configure its settings quickly.
The thing I love the most about this interface is that it makes so much sense.
Every knob is positioned right where you’d expect it to be, is big enough, and has a clear, definite value representation, so you don’t have to strain your ears while looking at the screen.
Pricing
This plugin has two versions – PhoenixVerb Stereo (99$), and PhoenixVerb Surround (299$).
Normal producers and mixing engineers won’t need the Surround version at all since all songs today are produced in stereo.
Therefore, I would only talk about the PhoenixVerb Stereo’s price.
When considering the fact that it matches every mix easily, and that this would be the only reverb plugin you’d need, I think that it’s a reasonable price.
I’d recommend anyone who wants an advanced reverb plugin that he can use easily and that sounds great to get this plugin.
Pros –
- Easy to use
- Sounds amazing
- Has lots of presets
- Has all the necessary features
- Lets you control the three parts of the reverb separately
- Has a reasonable price
Cons –
- Nothing
Check out PhoenixVerb on Plugin Boutique’s website
2. Valhalla | VintageVerb (50$)
Recommended For – Any Vocals
Tone
This plugin has a large library of different reverb algorithms that you can use to simulate different spaces’ sound.
It contains all the basic ones such as – Hall (called Bright Hall), Plate, Room, and Chamber. But, it also includes some non-basic spaces such as Ambience, Sanctuary, and much more.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals (Mode – Plate, Color – NOW) –
Moreover, this plugin also has three tone modes called “colors” –
1970s – This color simulates the sound of the earliest digital reverberators from the 70s.
Therefore, its maximum outputted frequency is 10kHz, and its modulation is dark and a bit noisy.
This color can work especially well if you use it on hip-hop, rap, lofi, or any other genre that sounds vintage.
1980s – This color doesn’t decrease or alter the original sample rate, but it still simulates the sound of the 80s reverberators.
Therefore, it sounds brighter than the 1970s color, but its modulation is still dark and noisy.
Now – This color doesn’t alter the original sample rate or change the source sound.
It’s super popular nowadays since it is the cleanest sounding reverb.
Features
This plugin contains all the features you’d want it to contain in a minimalist form.
As you can see in the picture of it above, it has damping options, shape control and modulation options, and an internal equalizer.
Some people might be interested in more advanced control over the sound, as it is a little too simple.
However, when considering the large variety of modes and colors, and the fact that this plugin only costs 50$, I think that it isn’t that big a deal.
Interface
In my opinion, the interface of this plugin is a bit messy and unclear as all of the features are too squashed next to each other.
All of the knobs are grouped by their related feature, but there is not enough space between each feature.
However, some people like the fact that all the features sit right next to each other since it improves their workflow.
As for design, the interface’s design is neat and modern, and it comes with three different designs, each for a different color.
Pricing
This plugin only has one version that costs 50$, and in my opinion, that’s a pretty reasonable price.
When considering the fact that it has a massive library of presets and three different colors that can alter the way that the reverb sounds like, I feel safe to say that it’s a great deal, especially if you’re not bothered by the interface.
Pros –
- It sounds great
- It’s cheap
- It’s got all the necessary features
- Has a massive amount of presets
Cons –
- Unorganized interface
Check VintageVerb on Valhalla’s website
3. FabFilter | Pro R (199$)
Recommended For – Any Vocals
Tone
This plugin’s basic tone sounds natural and smooth.
However, you can also configure it to sound electronic and modulated as well.
It’s up to you to decide.
The plugin has also got many great-sounding presets suited for vocals that you’ll be able to use.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – FabFilter Pro R
Features
FabFilter Pro-R has all the necessary configuration knobs, such as decay (which they call space), wet/dry, and pre-delay.
And, it also has some not basic super-useful knobs such as a character knob, a distance knob, a stereo width knob, and a brightness knob.
But, the feature that I like the most in this plugin is the internal equalizer.
If you know FabFilter, you probably know how great their equalizer is.
Now, imagine having the ability to equalize your reverb the same way you equalize anything else right in the plugin.
I use it pretty much every time that I use this plugin (and I use it a lot).
It allows you to completely cancel out the fight between the reverb and your mix.
Interface
This plugin’s interface looks incredibly nice, clean, and organized.
Each knob is right where it should be, has a clear value representation, and is easy to track.
Moreover, the internal equalizer is super flexible and easy to use.
Pricing
This plugin only has one version that costs 199$.
In my opinion, this plugin is a little too expensive, since you can get other plugins that sound about the same for a lower price.
However, none of the other plugins have the amazing internal equalizer that this plugin has got.
Therefore, I would only recommend you to buy this plugin if you think that you would use the internal equalizer to improve your mixes.
Checkout FabFilter Pro-R on Plugin Boutique’s website
Pros
- Sounds great
- Straight forward
- Gets the job done with minimum effort
- Has a fantastic internal equalizer
- Has great sound design options
Cons
- Doesn’t have a visual representation of the reverb’s tail and early reflections
- Expensive compared to the other plugins
Checkout FabFilter Pro-R on Plugin Boutique’s website
4. Polyverse | Comet (149$)
Recommended For – Ambience and Electronic Vocals
Tone
Comet allows you to shift and change the tone of the reverb to achieve any tone you wish for. But, it’s best in making ambiances.
Literally, every time that I try to make an ambiance effect, I pull out this plugin, and I’m done in a matter of seconds.
It fits in the mix quite easily because of the super convenient color shift slider that allows you to brighten or darken the tone and control the mids with the damping sliders.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – Comet
Features
Comet doesn’t have any super special features, but it nails all the necessary ones.
Its size knob works fluently and simulates the room size perfectly.
The damping and color sliders allow you to shift the tone of the reverb so you can easily fit it in your mix.
It has a perfect musical detune and diffuse knobs that allow you to modulate it, and it allows you to saturate the reverb through the input gain slider.
Interface
In my opinion, this plugin has the best-looking interface out of all of the other plugins in that list.
I love its colors and the overall design. But, the thing I like the most about this plugin’s interface is that it’s so organized and straightforward.
You can find anything you wish for instantly.
And therefore, I think that it’s the most user-friendly reverb plugin there is.
The only thing that I miss is being able to visually see the ADSR of the tail and the early reflections.
Pricing
This plugin only has one version that costs 149$.
I think it’s a fair price when considering all of its features and the fact that you can get a reverb that sounds perfect easily when using it.
I would recommend anyone who doesn’t need fancy features but wants a great-sounding reverb that he can easily create to buy this plugin.
Checkout Comet on Plugin Boutique’s website
Pros –
- It has a really straight forward interface
- Gets the job done perfectly easily
- Fits in your mix easily
- Has a massive amount of presets
- Amazing for ambiances
Cons –
- Doesn’t have unique features
- A little expensive
Checkout Comet on Plugin Boutique’s website
5. WA Production | Mutant Verb (39$)
Recommended For – Electronic Sounding Vocals
Mutant Verb was created for electronic producers by one of the most popular sample packs and plugins creation companies – WA Production.
And as an EDM producer myself, I can assure you that you’ll love this plugin.
Tone
The tone of this plugin mainly fits electronic songs, and really resembles the current modern style.
I love how it sounds on vocoders, vocal chops, and on lead vocals.
The downside of this plugin though is that you can’t really change and shift the default tone of it.
It has one pre-determined tone that does sound good, and fits your mix easily but is not interchangeable.
So, if you’re an EDM producer, I really recommend you take a further look at this plugin on WA Production’s website.
However, if you don’t produce any electronic music, this plugin is probably not the one for you.
Features
This plugin is relatively simple.
It doesn’t have any damping or modulation options, but it has a super useful unique feature that allows you to sidechain the reverb internally.
Now, you may be asking – why would I need to sidechain my reverb?
But it may actually really improve the sound of your vocals, especially if you’re making electronic music.
You can use this effect to add a pumpy feeling to your vocals and make them sound a lot more rhythmic.
This is especially useful when it comes to vocal chops.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – Mutant Reverb without sidechain compression –
Vocals with Mutant Reverb with sidechain compression –
As you can hear, the sidechain compression adds a lot of energy to the vocals.
Interface
The interface of this plugin is pretty simple and straightforward.
It has five knobs on the top that control the reverb’s sound, and another five knobs on the bottom part that control the sidechain feature.
It has a clean black&yellow look that makes it appealing to the eye. And it allows you to see the waveform pre and post-reverb visually.
Pricing
Mutant Verb only has one version that costs 40$.
In my opinion, that’s a reasonable price for this plugin since it is relatively simple, but it sounds good, and it has a great unique feature.
Pros –
- Easy to understand
- Looks great
- Sounds great
- Has sidechain compression abilities
- Cheap
Cons –
- Has only one algorithm
- Doesn’t have damping and modulation options
Checkout Mutant Reverb on WA Production’s website
6. AudioEase | AltiVerb (499€ / 849€)
Recommended For – Natural Sounding Vocals
Tone
AltiVerb is a premium plugin that can sound like anything you aim for.
It’s loaded with the largest amount of available real recorded spaces that you can put your vocals through.
You can put them through a wooden recording studio to make them sound bright, through a cathedral or a church to make them sound huge, or even through underground caves, castles, cars, and trains.
And, they keep on adding new spaces every month.
Basically, it contains any space you’d ever dream of. And they’re all real recorded samples.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals –
Features
Altiverb has an internal equalizer, multiband damping options, time-shifting options, and brightness control.
It even has a positioner that allows you to determine where the singer stands in the room.
This allows you to simulate the sound of main and backing vocals, as you can place the main vocals in the middle’s front and the backing vocals in the back’s sides.
Interface
The interface of Altiverb looks clean and organized. Every knob is well placed near its feature’s related knobs. Therefore it is really user-friendly.
Plus, you’ve got a visual representation of the space that you’ve picked and the reverb frequency spectrum and waveform.
It also has a spaces browser, so you can browse spaces, filter the results, and find what you’re looking for quickly and efficiently.
Pricing
The only problem is – developing these features and recording these many spaces costs money. And therefore, the plugin is quite expensive.
I would recommend Altiverb for anyone who is looking for one beast of a plugin that can fit any goal they wish to achieve and is willing to pay for it.
Pros
- It has a massive amount of spaces available for you to use.
- All spaces are actually recorded with professional equipment.
- It sounds really realistic and natural.
- It has lots of shifting and configuration options.
- New spaces get published every month.
Cons
- Expensive.
- It’s quite heavy (about 4.5GB).
Check out AltiVerb on AudioEase’s website
7. Audio Damage | EOS 2 (59$)
Recommended For – Any Vocals
Tone
EOS 2 comes with four different types of Reverb algorithms that you can use to simulate the feeling of the sound that you’re looking for.
There are three plate algorithms and one SuperHall algorithm.
And on top of that, it comes with 23 factory presets that you can use to achieve different styles of vocals.
Besides, it also has some great modulation and equalization options, but more on that in the following paragraph.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – EOS 2
Features
To be honest, this plugin does not have any unique features, but it Nails all the basic ones.
And that’s why I’ve included it on this list.
It has modulation options, internal equalizer, diffusion options, and of course, pre-delay, decay, and attack control options.
They’re all very well programmed, and they all work fluently, and I like them all.
Interface
The interface of this plugin looks amazingly good. I like the design, the color scale, and the organization of it.
Every feature in this plugin has its own place, and every knob is placed right near to the other knobs that are related to each feature.
You’ve also got a numeric representation of each knob, So you can know the value of the decay, the actual size of the room, and the equalizer’s filters’ values.
You can actually achieve a great sounding reverb within a matter of seconds with this plugin.
I know that it sounds too good to be true, but I assure you that this plugin will help you achieve amazing reverbs super quickly.
It might take you some time to get used to it, but once you do, there is no coming back.
Pricing
This plugin only has one version that costs 59$.
In my opinion, that’s a fair price since it sounds incredible, and it is super easy to use.
I would recommend anyone who wants a budget-friendly, quick type of reverb to get this plugin.
Pros –
- Easy to use
- Sounds great
- Fits any type of vocals
- Has great filters
- Has modulation and diffusion options
- Has 4 different algorithms
- Cheap
Cons –
- Doesn’t have damping options
Checkout EOS 2 on Plugin Boutique’s website
8. AudioThing | Fog Convolver (65$)
Recommended For – Special FX
Tone
With this plugin, you’ll always get the reverb to sound exactly how you want it.
Simply because it has an amazing option that lets you import your own reverb impulses (impulses are samples that the plugin uses as a reaction to the source signal).
Besides, it comes with a massive amount of presets that you can use to find the sound that you’re looking for and spice up your project.
Therefore, you will always be able to get the sound that you want.
However, the main focus of this plugin is making special fx, and unique sounding reverbs.
So, if you’re not looking for such a plugin, it would be better to get one of the other plugins on this list.
Here’s an example of one of the special fx you’ll be able to make with this plugin.
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – Fog Convolver
Features
This plugin has all the necessary basic features such as pre-delay, high and low pass filters, etc.
But, it has one super unique feature that got it on this list.
This feature allows you to import, edit, and use your own reverb impulses.
Now, you may be asking – Why is this such big of a deal?
It is such an amazing feature because it allows you to achieve literally any sound that you’d dream of, and produce smooth transitions, really unique fx, and much more.
Interface
This plugin has a more analog type of interface, and I love it.
All of the knobs and sliders look exactly like they would look on an analog box.
The plugin has only one window, but it is still really organized, and clear, which is amazing since it really helps with my workflow.
It has a large preset browser on the bottom, all the knobs on the middle, sliders, and a visual representation of the reverb’s impulse on the top.
I have actually tried to look for the downsides of this interface, and I wasn’t able to find any.
Pricing
This only has one version that costs 65$.
It is an excellent price, in my opinion, since the plugin has unlimited sound possibilities, and a perfect, easy-to-use interface.
I would recommend anyone who wants a quality reverb plugin that can spice up his creativity, and make him sound unique to get this plugin.
Pros –
- Easy to use
- Sounds great
- Fits any type of vocals
- Has great filters
- Lets you use your own reverb impulses
- Has a massive amount of presets
- Cheap
Cons –
- Doesn’t have damping options
- Doesn’t have modulation and diffusion options
Checkout Fog Convolver on Plugin Boutique’s website
9. United Plugins – Hyperspace (124$)
Recommended For – Ambience Vocals
Tone
As written above, this plugin is most recommended for ambiance-type vocals. Simply because that’s what it was built for.
It has six different modes that you can switch to – Vintage, Classic, Retro, Modern, Sci-Fi, and Cosmic. Each one will give you a completely different feel and stereo image.
But, you don’t have to use only one at a time.
This plugin lets you combine all six algorithms by using two square pads (the big ones in the middle), so you can achieve a unique and great-sounding reverb super easily, and quickly.
It also has some unique sound control features, a massive amount of presets dedicated to vocals, and a randomizer that uses deep learning (more on that in the next paragraph).
Dry Vocals –
Wet Vocals – Hyperspace
Features
As written above, this plugin has a bunch of great unique features that can help us get a better-sounding reverb.
First of all, there is a feature that lets you combine all six different algorithms into one great unique reverb by using two large square pads.
There is also a value randomizer that uses deep learning to understand which values make the reverb sound good and which don’t.
Therefore, you’re guaranteed to always get a great sound by using this randomizer.
But the thing I like the most is the “Follow” knob.
It allows you to sidechain compress the reverb.
Negative values will reduce the level of the reverb when the dry signal is present.
This can be used subtly to help the sound not get drowned out with reverb and brings it forward in the mix, or used more extremely to create cool pumping effects.
Positive values will make the reverb level match that of the dry input amplitude envelope. It can be used subtly to tighten up the reverb.
The maximum value will exactly match, so it can be used if you do not want to change the amplitude envelope of the sound but still add the reverbs sound character.
Interface
This plugin’s interface is pretty organized and neat, but it’s a little too basic in my opinion.
And, it will take you some time to get used to it, since there are lots of features, and therefore, lots of knobs.
However, that’s not supposed to be an issue in the long run, since you will get used to it, in the end.
So, I wouldn’t worry about the interface that much, mainly because this plugin has such great unique features.
Pricing
This plugin only has one version that costs 124$.
It is a little expensive, but when considering all of its super useful unique features, and the massive amount of presets that it got, I feel safe to say that it’s definitely worth the price.
I would recommend anyone who could use ambiances in his projects to get this plugin.
Therefore, it’s super recommended for EDM, Pop, and Hip Hop producers.
Pros –
- Sounds great
- Great for ambiances
- Has great filters
- Has damping and modulation options
- Has super useful unique features
- Has a massive amount of presets
Cons –
- It takes time to get used to it
- Doesn’t have a fancy design
Checkout Hyperspace on Plugin Boutique’s website