The Short Delay, Par t II– Flange and Chorus BY ALEX CASE

This month’s Nuts and Bolts column wraps up our Fig u r e 1 rei t e r ates the controls on a standard digital th r ee-month look at delay. Your writer hopes that de l a y device (we looked at this some in our two earli e r by the end of this column you’ll have ren e wed interest in columns on delay) . This month we focus on the modula- using the humble delay, a simple effect with power f u l tion section of this delay unit. These controls let us sonic capabi l i t y . change the delay time in control l e d , cl e ver ways . In the preceding two-month discussion on delays — l o n g Fig u r e 2a describes a fixed delay time of 100 millisec- and short—we’ v e spoken almost entirel y about fi x e d on d s . It ’ s a slap echo as discussed last month. The delay de l a ys (i.e. setting the signal processor to a single unit takes whatever signal you send it, holds it for the un c hanging delay time). Things rea l l y get interesting as de l a y time you set (100 ms), then sends it out. Tha t ’ s it. you start to change the delay time as part of the effect. Thr oughout the song, all session long, the delay time Ma n y effects are built on var ying delays . remains exa c t l y 100 milliseconds; all signals sent to it— gu i t a r , voc a l , or didgeree d o o — e xperience the exact same amount of delay. Tha t ’ s a delay without modulation. Some great effects begin when you start using some of the delay modulation controls. Usually three basic controls are found: Rate, Depth, and Shape. Ra te co n t r ols how quickl y the delay time is cha n g e d . Fig u r e 2b gives a graphic rep re s e n t a t i o n of what happens when this control is cha n g e d . You’ll find cases when you’ll want to sweep the de l a y time imperce p t i b l y slowl y (the dashed li n e ) , and other times where you dial in a fas t , ver y audible rate (the solid line). De pth co n t r ols how muc h the delay is modulat- ed . Fig u r e 2c grap h i c a l l y contrasts two differen t se t t i n g s . That fixed delay time might be increa s e d and decreased by 5 milliseconds (the dashed li n e ) , 50 milliseconds (the solid line), or more. The third control , Sh a p e , describes how the de vice moves from one delay setting to the next .

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 The way cool effect comes from modulating the delay time. As you r modulated delay sweeps from one de l a y time to another, the comb fil- ter bumps and notches sweep also. Fig u r e 3 shows the result: flanging. Sometimes you don’t hold back: the entire mix gets flanged. Ot h e r times you might apply the effect to a single instrument, li k e the drum kit. You might flange just a single track . Or you might limit the effect to just one section of that trac k (e.g. on l y on the bridge). Flange to taste. Pop music is full of examples of fl a n g i n g .“ T hen She App e a re d ”f ro m XT C ’ s last effort as a band on the album No n e s u c h of f e r s a good case st u d y of a gently sweeping flange. Ea c h time the wor ds “T hen she ap p e a re d ”o c c u r , a bit of your trad i - As Fig u r e 2d shows , it can sweep in a The flanger’s ringing, wh o o s h i n g , tional flange begins courtesy of a short perfect sinusoidal shape (the dashed ear tickling sound comes from the vocal delay being slowl y modulated. line) back and forth between the comb filter effect we discussed last In this example the flange comes upper limit and the lower limit you month in combination with the mod- and goes throughout the song, o f f e r- set (those upper and lower limits you ulation controls we just went over . ing us a good chance to hear the set with the Depth control ) . Or you Recall from last month what hap- vocals with and without the delay might want a square wave sort of tra- pens when you combine a signal t re a t m e n t . Feel free to take a more je c t o r y between delay times, in which with a delayed ve rsion of itself. subtle approa ch , as on Mich a e l the delay time snaps—instead of When the delay time is below Pe n n ’s “ C over Up” f rom the album swee p s — f r om one setting to the other. about 20 milliseconds, certain fre- R e s i g n e d. A wa cky flange appears on Fig u r e 2d highlights a common quencies are constructive ly re i n- the vocal for the single wo rd fe a t u r e of the Shape control: it lets fo rc e d . Other frequencies oppose ‘guests’ near the end of the second you use a shape that is some mixture e a ch other, a t t e nuating or eve n vers e . Th a t ’s it. No more flange on of the two—part sinus o i d , pa r t canceling each other out. Th a t ’s the vocal for the rest of the tune. sq u a re . Your delay may also have a good old comb filtering. I t ’s just a pop mix detail to make random setting in which the delay Those peaks and val l e ys in the fre- the arrangement that mu ch more time moves less orde r ly between the qu e n c y spectrum introduced by a i n t e re s t i n g . tw o delay ext re m e s . short delay offer a distinct sound. The flange effect actually softens Fin a l l y, some delay units let you use The specific frequencies where spec- the rather hard sounding, si b i l a n t , a combination of all the abo ve, for tr al boosts and cuts occur depend on and difficult to sing ‘sts’ at the end of example var ying the delay time in a the specific short delay time we use. the wor d ‘g u e s t s . ’ And it makes me sl i g h t l y ran d o m ,m o s t l y sinusoidal gen- One delay setting causes the peaks smile ever y time I hear it. The simple er al pattern. The Shape control lets and val l e ys to occur at one set of fre- effect that comes from mixing in a you mix these options and set a con- qu e n c i e s . A different delay setting sh o r t , modulated delay offers a broa d tour for how the delay moves betwee n results in a different set of peaks range of audio effects. Fl a n g i n g its highest and lowest settings. and val l e ys (see Fig u r e 3). in vites your crea t i ve exp l o ra t i o n . These three controls let you take co n t r ol of the delay and play it like a musical instrument. You set how fas t the delay moves (rat e ) . You set the limits on the range of delay times al l o wed (depth). And you determine ho w the delay moves from its shortest to its longest time (shape). Fl a n g i n g , cho r u s i n g ,d o u b l i n g , and rel a t e d effects are now you r s for the taking. Flange Dialing in a ver y short delay time and modulating it via these three co n t r ols lets you create flanging. The on l y rule is that the delay time needs to be less than about 20 mil- liseconds—in fact I recommend start- ing with a delay time of 10 millisec- onds or less. This ensures that audi- ble comb filtering will occur. Set the de l a y modulation controls to taste.

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 Double The result is neither an echo nor a The first Nuts & Bolts of Delay col- fl a n g e . The delay is too short to be umn (Jul y 2000) focused on long pe rc e i ved as an echo . It happens too de l a ys—those greater than about 50 fas t . But the delay is too long to lead mi l l i s e c o n d s . We saw how long delays to audible comb filtering. ar e used for a broad range of echo - What do these medium delays do? based effects. Try a 30 millisecond delay on a voc a l

Short delays of about 20 millisec- tra c k for a good clue. This kind of onds or less create the ra d i c a l medium delay sounds a little bit like comb filtered effect that, e s p e c i a l- a double track — l i k e two trac ks of the ly when modulated, we call flang- same singer singing the same part. i n g . What goes on in between 20 It is a common mul t i t ra c k prod u c t i o n and 50 milliseconds? Natura l ly, t h e te c hnique to have the singer double a best way to answer that question is tra ck . You rec o r d a killer take ,t h e n to listen to the effect of combining ha ve the singer rec o r d the part again a signal with a medium delay some- on a separate trac k along with him or w h e re between about 20 and 50 he rs e l f .The resulting sound is stron g e r m i l l i s e c o n d s . and riche r . It even shimmers a little.

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 If you are unfamiliar with the sound of doubled vocal track s , a clean example can be found at the beginning of “Y ou Never Give Me Your Money” on the Beatles’ Abb e y Ro a d .Ver se One begins with solo voc a l . On the wor ds “f u n n y paper” the doubling begins. The voc a l remains doubled for the next line and then the harmonies commence. Speaking of harmonies, am o n g other things Roy Thomas Baker is famous for taking doubling to the h i l t .C h e ck out the harmonies, do u - bled and tripled (prob ab l y muc h mo re ) , th r oughout The Cars’ first al b u m . For exa m p l e , listen to the fi r st harmonies on the first song “Good Times Roll,” when they sing the hook “good times rol l . ” It sounds deep and immense; the vocals take on a slick, hyped sound. This layering of tra cks borrow s f rom the tradition of forming instru- mental sections in orch e s t ras and ch o i rs . The value of having mu l t i p l e instruments play the same mu s i c a l part is indescribab ly magic. A dd i n g m o re playe rs doesn’t just cre a t e m o re volume—the combined sound is rich and ethere a l . It tra n s p o r t s the listener. A contemporar y application of doubling can be found on Macy Gr ay’ s “I Try” fr om the album On How Life Is.Typ i c a l l y, do u b l e t ra ck s support the voc a l , ad ding their inex- pl i c a ble ext r a bit of polish. The y are ge n e ra l l y mixed in a little lower in le vel than the lead voc a l , rei n fo rc i n g the principal trac k from the center or panned off to each side. The Macy Gray tune turns this on its head. At the cho r u s , wh e r e you need a good strong voc a l , the voc a l tra c k panned dead center does some- thing quite brave: it all but disap- pe a rs . The chorus is sung by double- tra c ks panned hard left and right. It ’ s brilliantly done. Rather than supporting the vo c a l ,t h ey become the voc a l . The chorus doesn’t lose stren g t h and the tune doesn’t sag or lose ener- gy one bit. The doubled track s — panned hard but mixed aggres s i vel y for wa r d—offer a contagious hook that in vites the listeners to sing along. Pop voc a l s — e s p e c i a l l y backg rou n d voc a l s — a r e the instrument most often doubled, fol l o wed fai r ly closely by the rhythm electric guitar. The same part is rec o r ded on two differ- ent track s . On mixdown , th e y appear panned to opposite sides of the st e r eo field. The two parts are nearly identical. Sometimes you swi t c h to a differen t gu i t a r , a different amp, a differen t mi c r ophone or slightly change the tone

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 of the guitar are mixed together at similar vol u m e s . You get a good taste of cho r u s . And you get great inspira- tion to do more with it. A simple delay unit offers a broad range of audio opportunities, repre- senting a nearly infinite number of patches. Short delays create that family of effects called flanging. of the doubling trac k in some other the sound of an entire cho i r — Medium delays lead to doubling and way. Ma ybe the only differen c e cho r u s —t h r ough the use of medium chorusing. be t w een the trac ks is the perfor m a n c e . de l ay s . Na t u ra l l y, st a c king up 40 We can take a quick tour of all of Ev en roc k and roll guitar legends medium delays of a single voc a l i s t the abo ve with a single album: Ki c k ar e human (mostly) , leading to a pair will not sound convi n c i n g l y like a by INXS. To hear a terrific use of of guitar trac ks that var y slightly in choir of 40 people. Think of it fl a n g e , listen to “M e d i a t e . ”The y rea l - ti m i n g . The ‘c hugga chugga’ of the instead as a special electronic effect, ly went for it. True doubling? Listen left guitar trac k is slightly early in not an acoustic simul a t i o n . to “S we a t ” and those hard panned one bar, sl i g h t l y late in the next . And it isn’t just for voc a l s . Joh n q u e s t i o n s ,“ H ow do you feel? Wha t Thr ough the interaction of the two Sc o f i e l d ’ s trad e m a r k tone includes a do you think? Wha t c ha gonna do?” guitar track s , our ears seem to pick st r ong dose of chorus (and distortion, Fin a l l y, the same album gives us a up on these subtle delay cha n g e s . At and a sweet guitar, and brilliant classic application of chorus to an times the two trac ks are so similar pl ay i n g , among other things). You ’ l l electric guitar. Ch e c k out the rhyt h m th e y fuse into one meta instrument. often hear a bit of chorus on the guitar in “N e w Sensation” and the Then one trac k pulls ahead and we electric bass. This medium delay con- st e e l y cool tone the chorusing adds . notice it. Then the other trac k pulls coction is a powerful tool in the cre- Of course , when the delay is long ahead in time and temporar i l y draws ation of musical text u re s . enough it separates from the original our attention. Doubled guitars are part audio illu- si o n , part audio roller coaster.The y ar e an audio trea t , plain and simple. La yering and doubling trac ks can be simulated through the use of a medium delay. If it isn’t conven i e n t , af fo rd ab l e , or phys i c a l l y possible to ha ve the singer double the track , ju s t run it through a medium delay. Modulate the delay so that the dou- bled trac k moves a little. This helps it sound more orga n i c , not like a clone co p y of the original track . The result is the beginning of a sl i ck , mul t i t ra c k effect. Ad d a bit of reg e n e r ation (the lower control in Fig u r e 1), and you’ll create a few lay- er s of the trac k underneath the pri- ma r y one. Some delay units have the ability to offer sever al delay times simul t a n e - ou s l y (called a multitap delay) . Di a l in sever al slightly different delay times in the 20 to 50 millisecond area and you are synthesizing the richn e s s of many layer ed voc a l s . Sp r ead them To see how “out there” the effect signal and becomes its own perce p t i - out to different pan positions for a can be made, spin Throwing Copper ble event: an echo . Fl a n g e , cho r u s , wide wall of vocal sound. by Live and listen to the beginning and echo — t h r ee ver y different kinds Fun stuff. Just make sure the of the tune “Lightning Crashes.” I’ve of effects that come from a single sound is appropriate to the song. The no idea what kind of craziness is kind of effects device: the delay. solo folk singer doesn’t usually bene- going on. The guitar sound includes In fac t , th e re ’ s more. This Nuts and fit from this trea t m e n t . Neither does short and medium delays, among the Bolts series will soon discuss rever b the jazz trumpet solo. But many pop panning, distortion, and phase shift- and pitch shifting, tw o more classes tunes welcome this as a special ing effects going on. To my ear the of effects that, at their heart, ar e effect on lead voc a l s , ba c king voc a l s , delay is being modulated between a based on the delay. keys , s t r i n g s ,p a d s , ba s s , and so on. short flanging sort of sound (around 10 milliseconds) and up to a longer, Alex Case used to sing in ah co r u s . Chorus chorus sort of delay time (around He hopes to one day sing in a flange. An alternative name for the dou- maybe 40 milliseconds). Request Nuts & Bolts topics via bling effect is cho r u s . The idea is Note especially the sound of the ca s e @ re c o r d i n g m a g . c o m . that you could add this delay effect guitar in the second vers e , when the to a single vocal trac k to simul a t e effect and the rel a t i vel y clean sound

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2000 Excerpted from the September edition of RECORDING magazine. ©2000 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5412 Idylwild Trail, Suite 100, Boulder, CO80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-800-582-8326