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EMT 140 Plate Reverb

December 11, 2012 by Jack Menhorn

Guest Contribution by  Elizabeth McClanahan, Assistant Mixer at Heard City 

EMT 140 Plate Reverb

The majority of today’s common reverb plugins contain plate reverb settings, the designs of which are primarily based upon the popular Elektromesstechnik (EMT) 140 model plate. Upon its introduction in 1957, the EMT 140 Reverberation Unit quickly garnered popularity, providing a smoother substitute to spring reverb systems, as well as proving more space conscious and malleable than reverb chambers. While the EMT 140 presented a more practical alternative to other reverbs of its era, the advent of digital units created similar convenience advantages in an even more accessible package.

The 1957 production of the EMT plate marked a significant change in recording history, simplifying the process of affecting recorded sound while providing the engineer with a more versatile and customizable interface. Much like today’s convolution reverbs simultaneously provide convenience and complex control to reverb manipulation, the original EMT 140 plate established a consequential alternative to both spring reverbs and chambers.

Despite its roughly 600 pound weight, the EMT 140 plate provided a smaller solution to large echo rooms. Additionally, a remote controlled damping pad system allowed the engineer to adjust the reverb time, offering substantially more control than possible with a traditional chamber. The sheet metal plate is suspended from its frame by springs, a transducer mounted at the center of the plate drives movement, and returns consist of pickups mounted on the plate. While the 140 was originally available only in mono, EMT released a stereo model in 1961.

Though more convenient than its predecessors, the EMT 140 plate still required substantial storage space, and EMT’s own foray into digital reverb, most successfully with the EMT 250 in 1976, illustrated growing demand for easily controlled and versatile multi-effects units. Such early digital systems, including the ubiquitous Lexicon 480L, contained plate programs loosely based upon the original EMT 140. However, the sonic qualities of the 140 plate have been more accurately reproduced with modern modeling and convolution reverb plugins.

Like with any emulator plugins, the selection of gear from which to gather measurements greatly affects the outcome, and ultimately success, of any digital recreation. Those familiar with the EMT 140 plates will undoubtedly form opinions based on the individual plates with which they are familiar. Like any other classic gear, including the popular 1176 and LA2A, age, maintenance, and modifications factor into the sonic character of an individual piece of equipment. For this reason, Universal Audio based its EMT 140 plugin on several different plates from The Plant Studios, and Audio Ease provides impulse responses from multiple EMT plates housed in renowned recording facilities.

For designers and engineers seeking to add the sound of the EMT 140 plate to their collection, the Altiverb plate 140 impulse responses and the UAD EMT 140 modeling plugin offer the convenience and versatility of modern signal processing with the sonic personality of EMT’s original 140 reverberation unit.

 

 

Elizabeth McClanahan, Assistant Mixer

 

References

Eargle, John. Handbook of Recording Engineering: Fourth Edition. Norwell: Kluwer

Academic Publishers, 2003. Print.

“EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator Plugin.” UA Reverbs. Universal Audio, n.d. Web.

2 Dec. 2012.

 

 About Heard City:

Heard City is a boutique audio post-production company located in New York’s Flatiron district servicing the advertising, motion picture and television industries.

Filed Under: featured Tagged With: elizabeth mcclanahan, emt 140, heard city, plate reverb, reverb, reverb 2012

Comments

  1. Douglas Murray says

    December 11, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    Thanks Elizabeth. I’ve never used a plate, though we had a disused one at Ardmore Sound when I started working there in 1997. They had a disused chamber too. I regret that we never got those working. Too many higher priorities at the time.

    I often think of using a plate algorithm for post sound when the sound is effecting a solid object. But that’s just my literal mind at work, no doubt. I wonder when people pick a plate over a room emulation. Any thoughts?

  2. David Farmer says

    December 11, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    I love this! And is it any wonder why verbs tend to be metallic in nature seeing how classic plates are literally suspended pieces of metal? I remember seeing one of these in person and touching a quarter to the plate….. the ring out was just a gorgeous thing.

  3. David says

    December 11, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    I also wonder when people pick a plate over a room emulation. Any thoughts?

    • Palmer P says

      February 10, 2015 at 3:16 pm

      Having used, at various times, a range of ‘real’ live chambers, EMT 140’s and most of the well-known digital emulations, my personal take is that it comes down to having another color on the pallet. A well-tuned 140st, in particular, gives a mix a nice gloss. The slight randomness between the two outputs helps put certain sounds — say, a great string section — into a wider, richer space. A touch added to a vocal can provide a tasty, silvery edge. Start with a good source, maybe add a little delay going in, sonic bliss comes out.

      • Palmer P says

        February 10, 2015 at 3:19 pm

        …and I *did* mean to type ‘pallette’, as in the painter’s tool. A pallet is used to stack boxes of used digital reverbs to sell on e-bay. ;) Sorry for the typo.

  4. Vin says

    December 11, 2012 at 10:37 pm

    I have ran entirely analog signal through an EMT 140, and I will say the sonic character and infinite detail of pure sound waves against physical metal makes this piece of hardware one of the best sounding artificial reverbs I’ve ever heard. It’s borderline artificial because of it’s functionality. From my experience, unfortunately digital signal with digital reverb cannot yet be matched. But I look forward to new technologies making this become a thing of the past!

  5. Stuball says

    November 5, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    Answer as to why people choose plates over another reverb option: They sound gorgeous!

    If your point of reference is a ‘plate’ setting in a digital reverb, you’re missing the sound. AMS RMX15, for instance, was one of the early digital plate algorithms. Sounded garish and metallic, unlike a real EMT. My theory is that Yamaha and everyone else copied the algorithm from AMS rather than attempting to sound like a well-tuned plate!

    EMT140 and 240 reverbs: sweet and seductive.

    From: a user =)

  6. shoominati23 says

    January 22, 2017 at 1:03 pm

    The first couple of Van Halen Albums were drenched with Emt Plate. Actually the two brothers can’t stand it.

Trackbacks

  1. Unobtanium – Vintage Outboard you cannot afford! | Music of Sound says:
    January 7, 2013 at 7:10 pm

    […] also hate to think how many beautiful and truly amazing sounding plate reverbs were lost along the way…. I fully appreciate how difficult they would be to physically […]

  2. Unobtanium – Vintage Outboard you cannot afford! | Uber Patrol - The Definitive Cool Guide says:
    May 4, 2013 at 5:42 pm

    […] also hate to think how many beautiful and truly amazing sounding plate reverbs were lost along the way…. I fully appreciate how difficult they would be to physically […]

  3. The Best Reverbs for Dance Music | MMMMAVEN says:
    July 2, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    […] oldest, but most iconic reverb belongs to the behemoth known as EMT’s 140 plate reverb unit. It boasts a large metal plate, suspended by springs, which audio is tranduced through and then […]

  4. Killen and Marotta | The Ethan Hein Blog says:
    July 10, 2014 at 3:59 am

    […] channels for effects returns. Reverb and delay units included a Quantec room simulator, an EMT plate, a Revox tape slap, an AMS delay, a Delta Lab delay, and some other chorus-y effects. Daniel […]

  5. UAD’s EMT Plate is Basically Magic; Watch Videos Explain | dPico AUDIOS says:
    June 18, 2015 at 3:00 am

    […] Elizabeth McClanahan, who is Assistant Mixer at Heard City, has written a great overview history of the device, and its two best-known emulations – Universal Audio and Audio Ease – for Designing Sound. EMT 140 Plate Reverb […]

  6. Everything you Need to Know about Reverb - Zeroes and Ones says:
    April 12, 2016 at 11:24 am

    […] remember working at The Strongroom and there being several EMT 140 plate reverbs in the biscuit cupboard (of all places!) – these were hooked up to various desks across the […]

  7. Plate Reverb | Burning Rainbow Studio says:
    April 15, 2016 at 1:30 am

    […] sound in classic recordings from the 70s and 80s. The original, commercially made plates, like the EMT 140, were far too expensive for me to purchase so, having dabbled at audio electronics for quite a […]

  8. Simulating Space – Part 1: Analogue | Heritage, Music and Place says:
    December 9, 2016 at 8:48 am

    […] technique uses a bloody great sheet of metal to produce the reverberation effect and is known as Plate Reverb. Crucially, neither of these techniques need a dedicated room for their ambience and so tended to […]

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