One of the go to tools in sound design is a good reverb. We use them a lot not just to put them in a space, but to change the characteristics and presentations of a sound. DesigningSound.org had a nice little tutorial up recently from Jim Stout on how to make the creepy voice sound from Poltergeist.
In it, he uses a process that involves reversing an audio clip, applying a reverb to this new backwards clip, and then reversing it once more (now with the reverb). The result is that the tail of the reverb builds up to where the initial attack of the sound occurs and smooths it out. This is great for creating a sound that sort of slides into existence. Here's an example of the final product of that process, I used a layered effect of metal bangs that I built for a recent project:
Reverse reverb by spfarley
Like I said, this can be a great method for creating a sound that slides into existence. It also gives the sound a nice sense of movement. What happens if you want to preserve the sound of the attack though?
In that situation, I like to do an internal bounce to a separate track that has a reverb plug-in instantiated. So, my original clips place on one track, and feeds a second via an internal bus. I set that second track to record, and capture the reverb at my desired wet/dry ratio. Now, all you have to do is reverse the new clip, and line up what was originally the attack of the reverb clip with the attack of the original dry clip. It will give you something that sounds like this:
Preverb by spfarley
If you want, you can add a reverb to the the original dry clip to locate the entire clip within a space. I didn't do that here, as my original clip already had some reverb in it; and I didn't want to overdo it.
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