If you’re in any way familiar with the recording industry, you know the name of the Hit Factory Recording Studios. Originally based on of New York City, the company eventually built studios around the world that have hosted legendary artists like The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, and too many others to name. Over the 50 years the studios have been in operation, a total of 26 great sounding rooms have kept top artists coming back again and again. Now 12 of these famous studios from various locations have been modeled and are now offered in Hit Factory’s own plugin called HitVerb.
Impulse recordings that have been taken of these 12 rooms were used to create convolution models that provide the closest sound to actually being there. Each of these room presents have a display of what the actual room looks like (or looked like, since some no longer exist), as well as a display outlining the shape of the room.
Plenty Of Flexibility
As if having 12 distinctly different rooms weren’t enough, there’s also enough variables in each to dial in just the right sound for your mix. For instance, the plugin has three sections: Mixer, Shape, and Source. The Mixer allows you to change the level of the Early Reflections and Tail, and these have a switch so that they both can be controlled simultaneously. There’s also a large Mix control if balance between source and reverb is needed.
The Shape section has a large Tail Length control along with Low Cut and High Cut controls. A unique feature is a Carpet switch, which allows you to dampen the tail of the reverb with the application of a virtual carpet on the floor.
The last section is Source. First, you can switch between three different microphone pairs: U67s, Coles 4038s, and Sennheiser MKH800s. You’re able to change the X and Y position and the Height of the source, which is represented by a white dot on the 3D rendering of the studio shape display. Next you’re able to control the Height and Width of the two microphones, which are represented by yellow dots on the display.
Hit Factory’s HitVerb is available for $199 with a 14 day trial available. It works on both Mac and PC and in all popular plugin formats.
Click here to find out more about HitVerb and the fascinating history of the Hit Factory.
