By Zoe Brock

Here at Silver Sound, we provide audio post for commercials, shorts and independent films. Each project often has its own sound challenges, and it’s up to our engineers to find creative solutions using the tools available. One new tool at our disposal is Nugen’s Paragon, a surround sound reverb plugin from the makers of Halo Upmix, which is a super-handy tool we use to convert stereo tracks into surround.

In this review, I’ll be discussing both my personal impressions and the benefits of using this software, from the general layout of the plugin to the specific user control settings.

Left: Nugen Paragon main menu. Right: Nugen Halo Upmix main menu.

If you’re familiar with the Nugen Halo Upmix plugin, then Paragon’s main menu will feel very familiar. There is a visual representation of the spread, channel nodes that can be soloed or muted and output meters in the bottom corner. It includes the basic reverb controls you would expect plus a couple extras — Pre-Delay and Decay, HPF/LPF, Size, Brightness and Crosstalk.

Channel Nodes: Muting Abilities
For a 5.1 mix, let’s say you want reverb on the center, left and right channels but not the LFE, Ls or Rs. Instead of having to use an additional surround panner plugin, you can mute the channel nodes you don’t want to use. Because you can both mute channels and adjust the crosstalk between them, you’re not only able to adjust the reverb effect, but you can also adjust the spread and which channels you want affected.

Settings menu

Settings Menu
This is where you can set the input and output routing, as well as change between node soloing and muting. You can also change the colors of the nodes and visualization of the main menu.

I/O Panel
Using the I/O menu, you can adjust various parameters of each channel individually. This menu gives you even more control over each parameter per channel. Using the same example, I muted the L/R channels and completely turned off the wet signal for the LFE channel (nothing was coming out of LFE, and I didn’t want any accidental reverb coming through). I felt the center channel was too dry compared to the L/R channels, so I adjusted the output trim for the center channel’s wet output. You can also decrease the wet signal or turn it off completely from this menu.

IR Menu — Impulse Response Panel
There is a lot to look at and manipulate in this panel, but this is where you can really fine-tune the characteristics of your reverb.

The top spectrogram shows the impulse response of the chosen reverb model preset (in other words, the frequencies most affected by the reverb). There are test sounds to the right of the graph, split into Music and Foley categories, which you can listen to while you manipulate the reverb. I just tuned to my project audio.

The image below is a Frequency Graph Display, like an EQ graph, that shows frequency versus initial dBFS or decay-dB-per-second (depending on whether you have Amplitude or Decay selected). You can manipulate the EQ and see the visual representation on the spectrogram.

Frequency Graph Display

Working with the same example, I wanted to make a knife-stabbing scene sound like a foreshadowing dream. I like where it sits in the mix, but some of the knife sounds are a little too sharp and stand out too much. I attenuated the high-end frequencies without having to add an EQ plugin. The spectrogram made visual changes as I made my EQ adjustments.

Going into the Credits and Options Menu — by clicking the Nugen Audio Paragon logo on the bottom left side of the main menu, you can turn on the ability to automate all parameters.

Let’s say I want to use the same reverb for another scene, but I want to dial that high end back. I can add an automation envelope and adjust per scene accordingly.

Nodes

Wish List
Settings Menu: Nodes — There is the option to make the main and secondary nodes solo or mute, but it took me a few minutes to understand how to easily switch between them without having to go back into the settings menu. The main nodes are the circles around the visual aid, and the secondary node is represented by the output metering in the bottom right corner. After figuring it out, that makes sense, but it would be very cool if you could customize the colors of Mute versus Solo in Paragon, which is something I can in my Reaper DAW.

Final Thoughts
Overall, the manual was straightforward in explaining the different features and is a good place to start. If you’ve used other Nugen plugins, the Paragon Reverb main menu feels familiar, and even without using the additional fine-tuning options in the I/O and IR menus, you can still get a great-sounding reverb and position it in the space as desired.

I feel like some reverb plugins have a burdensome amount of control options, many to all of which are necessary to get the right tone. With Paragon, the preset reverbs sound great and can be adjusted easily with just a few basic controls on the main menu.

The IR menu was a bit visually overwhelming to me at first because I didn’t expect to see so many graphs with a reverb effect. (Many of the reverbs I use regularly, like ValhallaRoom, have simpler interfaces.) But if you’ve spent time using any spectrogram program (like iZotope RX), then it’s not entirely unfamiliar. The ability to see which frequencies are most affected and visualize the EQ changes makes it quick and easy to get the desired effect.

Paragon is different than many other plugins in that the user has complete control over each parameter of every channel separately. Because of that, you can really fine-tune each setting and how much wet signal you want in each channel. I found this incredibly useful for placing my reverb in the space without needing an additional surround panner plugin or specific routing. Even the IR menu lets you control what channels should be affected by the EQ and gives you the option to EQ the amplitude and decay.

Now that I’ve gotten to know Paragon, it just might be my new go-to surround reverb plugin. It gives me an extreme amount of control over almost every aspect of my reverb, with the ability to automate every parameter.

Zoe Brock is a Telly Award-winning sound designer and studio manager at Silver Sound in NYC .