Bob Horn
(BTS, Timbaland)Staying true with
Rev LX-24
Behind every great trend-setting, award-winning, life-changing record is a mix engineer turning technical knowledge and studio equipment into pure sonic magic.
Bob Horn is one such magician, and we were lucky enough to spend some time in his Hollywood studio putting Rev LX-24 to the test.
Go your own way
As well as being a Grammy Award-winning mix engineer, Bob Horn is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter. His creative edge and musical ear has ultimately led him to a decorated career with numerous A-list credits, including BTS, Michael Jackson, Timbaland, Lupe Fiasco, and many more.
His journey started at Berklee College of Music, and he spent years earning his stripes as an engineer before setting up his own studio in North Hollywood. But in his own mind, despite going through the motions and arguably working with the most demanding clientele in the business, the secret to his success has been doing it his own way.
I think I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to stay true to myself in this job, and not chase what everyone else is doing.
Discovering Arturia
As a seasoned engineer and producer, Horn has used his fair share of audio hardware and software. Like many of his peers, his first encounter with Arturia was a virtual instrument, but this eventually led him to FX Collection - which came at just the right time to fit into his workflow.
I first discovered Arturia with a synth plugin they had in their early days. They were always on my radar, so I was super excited when they came out with the FX Collection.
He notes that this wasn't just a case of ‘more’ plugins to bring into his DAW setup. This was a curated collection of emulated classics, retrofitted with just the right amount of modern flexibility to complement their authentic feature sets.
The nostalgia mixed with the adjustability with the modern features just really won me over.
On Rev LX-24
Horn remembers the original Lexicon units that Rev LX-24 is inspired by. It’s a relief therefore to hear that, in his opinion, this plugin not only sounds just like the real deal - it exceeds expectations.
As soon as I hear it, it just makes me think of that white box that used to sit on the consoles.
Extra-wide
Using a vocal stem as an example, he demonstrates Rev LX-24’s unique stereo field enhancement, without needing long decays or cloudy frequencies to enrich a sound.
The thing I love about it is how stereo it is, without being some crazy canyon reverb. The reflections are different enough on the sides that it’s just extra wide.
Changing converters
Rev LX-24’s 3 converter modes offer different sonic characters at the touch of a button, from the original warm & dark tone, to crisp modern clarity.
Without even changing presets or your reverb time or pre-delay or any of those things, you can immediately give your reverb a different character by going back and forth between these buttons.
Reverb on bass?
Thanks to the handy crossover and click-and-drag editing, Horn shows how you can use Rev LX-24 to enhance a bass sound, without the dreaded wash of low-end muddiness.
You can even take a bass with the crossover settings and the level of the bass and give it a space that doesn't feel wrong. You can spread it out and wrap around the sound, make that sound larger and more important.
Advanced view
For going a bit more in-depth, or simply opting for a more visual workflow, Rev LX-24’s Advanced view gives you the chance to interact with your reverb response in real time.
It gives you two ways to set it up: the traditional sliders, or you can go to this badass Advanced tab and you get a more modern view with a whole host of great features. Having this modern interface for it is just incredible.
New tricks
For Bob Horn, Rev LX-24 is equal parts blast from the past and a breath of fresh air. He knows the original unit, and he’s seen plenty of reverbs in his time - but, just like its digital hardware ancestor, this one brings something unique.
Back when I was an assistant engineer, we had that box at a studio I worked at. I’m real familiar with it. So hearing Arturia’s version and seeing some of the cool features is just phenomenal.
“To have that sound but flip it in a modern way is just incredible.”
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