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For decades, reverb has been a go-to effect for adding depth, dimension, and character to recordings. But over the years, we got away from room mics and massive plates in the basements of studios. and moved towards more convenient digital solutions.
Now, Swedish manufacturer AfterSound is taking the concept back to its roots with the Reverbophone, a one-of-a-kind all-analog reverb unit built for modern studios.
Standing just over five and a half feet tall, the Reverbophone combines a large metal plate with two microphones mounted inside a handmade wooden cabinet featuring an open grille on the front and an acoustically dampened grille on the back.
Place the Reverbophone anywhere in the room you’re recording in, and the sound waves from the performance will vibrate the plate, delivering detail, depth, and movement that other microphones in the room don't pick up.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes the Reverbophone one of the most unique studio tools we’ve seen in years.
At its core, the Reverbophone is essentially a very large stereo microphone. AfterSound even jokes that you could call it a "macrophone," and honestly, that's not far off.
Here's how it works: inside the cabinet, there’s a large, tensioned metal plate that begins to vibrate as sound waves hit its surface. Two microphones mounted directly to the plate capture the natural decay that the plate produces.
The length of the reverb can be manually adjusted using the decay lever on the back of the cabinet (or via the optional remote control), allowing you to dial in a wide range of sounds from a tight, room-like ambience to a rich, hall reverb sound with around five to six seconds of decay.
And, because the Reverbophone is all-analog, it’s a completely mechanical process. When you move the lever, a secondary damping plate is brought closer to the main plate, which physically slows down the vibration by restricting air movement between the two surfaces, shortening the decay time.
AfterSound says Reverbophone is like a great-sounding room with two room mics inside, and the decay lever gives you the power to adjust the size of the room.
Just like any stereo microphone, the Reverbophone has two balanced XLR outputs; one for each internal microphone. Simply connect them to your preamps or interface, just as you would with any other mic, enable phantom power, and press record.
In addition to the decay lever mentioned above, the rest of the controls for the Reverbophone are included in the I/O panel on the back of the cabinet.
From left to right, you’ll find Left and Right XLR outputs with a sweepable high-pass filter up to 200 Hz, allowing you to dial in just the right amount of low-end.
Next, you’ll find an XLR Line Input and a 12VDC input for using the Reverbophone as a traditional plate reverb (more on that later). There’s also an Amp On/Off switch and an Input Volume knob for adjusting input gain.
Finally, on the right side, you’ll find a standard XLR input for connecting the optional remote control.
To make the Reverbophone even more studio-friendly, AfterSound offers an optional remote control system that allows engineers to adjust decay time directly from the control room.
Connected via a standard XLR cable, the remote physically controls the Reverbophone’s decay lever using an integrated servo system. This allows users to dial in different room sizes without leaving the listening position, making workflow much faster and more intuitive during tracking sessions.
AfterSound offers the Reverbophone in four different finishes, allowing studios to match the unit to their space and aesthetic. For facilities looking for an even more personalized touch, the large front panels can be customized with studio logos or graphics, which can really make the Reverbophone feel like the visual centerpiece of your studio.
Unlike a reverb plug-in or an artificial room simulation, Reverbophone doesn’t just add a tail to an existing signal. It actually records new information. Because it’s a real microphone, the sound of the Reverbophone is naturally influenced by the room it’s placed in.
The room you place the Reverbophone in has a major impact on the final sound. In open, lively spaces, the surrounding ambience feeds naturally into the plate, adding even more depth and atmosphere. In tighter environments, positioning the unit near a wall often helps create a more focused response.
Like any microphone setup, experimenting with placement, distance, and angles is key to finding the perfect sound.
Reverbophone can also be used as a traditional plate reverb by connecting a balanced mono line signal to the Line Input on the control panel and powering the built-in amplifier with 12 V DC.
The amplifier feeds a small speaker attached directly to the plate, which vibrates the plate in response to the incoming signal. The output is recorded the same way, via the XLR outputs on the back of the unit.
Some engineers even choose to use two Reverbophones when tracking drums or other large instruments.
While a single unit already delivers a wide stereo image, adding a second Reverbophone allows you to capture the source from multiple positions within the room. By setting each unit to a different decay time, you can blend separate room characteristics together later in the mix for even greater depth and dimension.
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