What is a “wet/dry recording sound”?
When a sound is produced, what a listener or microphone hears is not just the source of the sound. Rather, it is an aggregate of the source and its reflections off of surfaces around it (i.e., sound reflections or echoes). A space is considered to be ‘wet’ or reverberant when there are a high amount of sound reflections. When there are a low amount of reflections, or none, a space is considered to be ‘dry’ or non-reverberant.
When a sound is produced, what a listener or microphone hears is not just the source of the sound. Rather, it is an aggregate of the source and its reflections off of surfaces around it (i.e., sound reflections or echoes). A space is considered to be ‘wet’ or reverberant when sound reflections are prominent. When reflections are muted or absent, a space is considered to be ‘dry’ or non-reverberant. One example of a ‘wet’ sounding space is a tiled bathroom, or large cathedral. An example of a ‘dry’ sounding space is a closet filled with clothes. For a Pandora Presents… episode on related recording techniques, see Recording Vocals.
