Reverb vs Delay: Why They’re Basically The Same Thing

You’ve probably asked the question a dozen times while staring at your DAW: "Should I use reverb or delay here?" It feels like a fundamental choice, like picking between a guitar and a bass.

But honestly? The line between reverb and delay is way blurrier than most people think. They aren't two totally different effects. They’re built from the same DNA: reflections. The real difference boils down to a few key parameters that control how many reflections you hear and how fast they happen.

Once you get that, you can stop guessing and start shaping space and time like a pro. Forget the "reverb vs delay" debate. Let's talk about how to manipulate reflections to get the exact sound you need for your mix.

The Core Concept: A Wash of Echoes vs. Individual Repeats

At its simplest, here’s the breakdown:

• Delay is made of distinct, individual echoes. Think yelling into a canyon and hearing your voice come back at you: "HELLO!… Hello!… hello!…" You can clearly hear each repeat.
• Reverb is a complex wash of thousands of echoes hitting your ears so fast and from so many directions that they all blur together into one continuous sound. Think clapping your hands in a massive concrete cathedral. You don't hear individual claps bouncing back; you hear one huge, enveloping "whoosh" of sound.

Reverb is just an extremely complicated and fast delay. The parameters that turn one into the other are things you can control in almost any modern plugin.

How to Make a Reverb Plugin Sound Like a Delay

This is where the theory gets practical. You can actually twist a great reverb plugin until it starts acting like a delay. It’s the best way to understand how they’re related. We’ll use the undisputed king, Valhalla VintageVerb, for this, but the same concepts apply to most reverb plugins.

Let’s say you’ve sent your snare to an aux track with VintageVerb on it.

Step 1: Crank the Pre-Delay

Pre-delay is the amount of time between when your dry sound (the snare hit) occurs and when the reverb tail actually begins.

Normally, you might use a short pre-delay of 10-20ms to give the initial snare transient some space before the reverb wash kicks in. But what happens when you get extreme?

Try cranking the pre-delay to 100ms, then 200ms, then 500ms. Hear that? The initial snare hits, there's a pocket of silence, and then the reverb wash comes in. That initial gap makes the entire reverb tail feel like a single, fat echo. It’s starting to sound more like a delay, doesn’t it? By the time the pre-delay is all the way up, it’s essentially a single-tap delay that feeds into a wash instead of more echoes.

Step 2: Kill the Reflections

Reverb plugins separate reflections into two stages:

• Early Reflections: The first few bounces of sound off nearby surfaces (walls, floor, ceiling).
• Late Reflections / Reverb Tail: The dense, complex wash of sound bouncing off everything imaginable in the space.

In Valhalla VintageVerb, you have control over the mix between these. If you turn down the late reflections and focus only on the early reflections (or turn the "diffusion" knob way down), the reverb loses its smooth tail. It becomes grainy and separated.

Combine a long pre-delay with low diffusion, and your "reverb" now sounds almost exactly like a slap-back delay. It’s no longer the sound of a room; it’s the sound of a few distinct echoes.

How to Make a Delay Plugin Sound Like a Reverb

Now let’s flip it. Can you make a delay plugin, like the legendary Soundtoys EchoBoy, create a reverb-like ambience? Absolutely.

Step 1: Fast Times and High Feedback

The key to smearing echoes together is to make them happen insanely fast and have them repeat a ton of times.

1. Set a super-short delay time. We're talking under 80ms, maybe even down in the 20-40ms range. At this speed, your brain can't distinguish the individual repeats.
2. Crank the feedback. The feedback knob controls how many echoes you get. Push it up high so the rapid-fire repeats sustain for a long time.

Instantly, you’ll hear the delay transform from a distinct tap-tap-tap into a metallic, resonant smear. It's not a lush hall reverb, but it's definitely a "space." This is a classic trick for creating tight, controlled ambience that doesn’t wash out your mix.

Step 2: Add Diffusion and Modulation

Many modern delays, including EchoBoy, come with "reverb-style" controls. Look for a "Diffusion" knob. This adds a series of even smaller, faster delays (all-pass filters) to the signal, smearing the echoes even further.

On top of that, add some modulation (wow and flutter). This will slightly vary the pitch and timing of the repeats, further blurring their edges and pushing your delay firmly into reverb territory.

Practical Choices for Your Metal Mix

Okay, so now that you know you can bend a reverb into a delay (and vice-versa), when should you reach for which tool?

Use a Delay For:

• Rhythmic Guitar Leads: You want those repeats to lock into the song's groove. A simple quarter-note or dotted-eighth-note delay from a plugin like EchoBoy or the stock delay in your DAW is perfect for adding space and excitement without creating mud.
• Vocal Throws: To make a specific word or phrase jump out and then fade away, automate a send to a delay. The clear repeats give it impact.
• Adding Tight Depth: A quick, filtered slap-back delay on a snare or vocal can push it back in the mix and give it a sense of dimension without the long tail of a reverb that might clash with your guitars.

Use a Reverb For:

• Creating a Cohesive Drum Room: Sending your entire drum kit (or just the snare and toms) to a single reverb makes it sound like the kit was recorded in one epic-sounding space. A plate or room algorithm from Valhalla VintageVerb is a go-to for this.
• Epic Vocal Ambience: For big choruses or atmospheric sections, a long, lush hall or plate reverb creates that massive sense of scale. The key is to EQ the reverb return so it doesn’t cloud the mix. (Learning how to surgically apply EQ to your instruments is a non-negotiable skill here).
• Giving Guitars a Sense of Place: Even on heavy rhythm guitars, a very subtle, short room reverb can keep them from sounding sterile and disconnected. Just be careful not to make them muddy. Often, a tiny bit of pre-delay here helps the initial pick attack cut through.

The Takeaway

Understanding the relationship between reverb and delay is one of those things that separates amateur producers from the pros. It gives you the power to create the exact space your mix needs, whether it’s a tight, rhythmic slap or a vast, atmospheric wash.

Mastering these tools is what the best mixers do on every single song. Watching guys from our list of world-class instructors like Will Putney or Taylor Larson dial in these effects on real tracks is the fastest way to level up your own mixes.

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, we have over 1,500 more insanely detailed tutorials covering every facet of production inside URM Enhanced.

And to see these exact techniques used on massive songs from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Knocked Loose, check out the full Nail The Mix session catalog. You get the raw multitracks and watch the original producer mix it from scratch. Game-changer.