Danja’s Funk & Reggie Guitar Delay
Create two mono auxiliary tracks. Put a half note delay on one track and a quarter note delay on the other side. Run the outputs of the two mono tracks into a single stereo auxiliary track. Use some kind of panning plugin on the stereo track such as the Soundtoys Panman and set the speed to be in time with the music.
Five Chamber Vocal Reverb
In this technique create five mono auxiliary tracks and put a different chamber reverb on each track. Hard pan one reverb on the left side, place a reverb at 50% towards the left side, place one reverb in the center, place one reverb at 50% towards the right side, and then hard pan the final reverb on the right side. Run the five reverbs to a stereo auxiliary track and then apply a stereo gate to the track and input the dry vocals as the sidechain input. This will create a very smooth and creamy, yet short vocal reverb. Sometimes a plate reverb is hard panned on one side as a replacement for a chamber reverb. One or more plate reverbs can also be used to replace chamber reverbs.
Common Vocal Delay
Make a copy of the vocal track and nudge it so that it acts like a delay. 175 millisecond nudge is good. Add some distortion or spectral processing such as in Alloy 2, to the delayed track. Automate this track so it pops in just as the vocal phrase is ending. Add a quarter note delay to the delayed track, but then adjust it to bit a bit slower than a quarter note on one side and a bit faster than a quarter note on the other side. Automating the delay to increase in feedback as the delay fades out can also sound good.
Long Vocal Delay or Last Word Delay
Create two mono auxiliary tracks. Apply a light reverb to each mono auxiliary track and run a band pass EQ from 500 Hz to 4 KHz. Add a gate to each track and set the dry track as a side chain input so that the gate shuts down the reverb after the gate closes. Apply a delay ranging from 250 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds to each side. Make the delay on one side 5-10 milliseconds longer than on the other side. Optionally, you can add distortion to each delayed track to give it a more vintage vibe. This kind of delay is often applied to the last word in a vocal phrase.
Slap Delay
To create a slap delay, first create an auxiliary track. If you want to put some reverb on the delay, add the reverb first so that you can gate the reverb using the dry signal as the input. After adding the reverb and the gate with the dry signal routed into the sidechain input, put a delay ranging from 60 milliseconds to 125 milliseconds onto the auxiliary channel. It is important that the delay does not fall on a half, quarter, or eighth note. Also try adding in other effects to the delayed sound like a doubler, distortion, or stereo imaging effect.
Radioized Delay
Create an auxiliary track. Add a very slight amount of reverb to the track. Add a gate to the track and insert the dry track into the sidechain input so that the reverb is quickly shut down. Add a delay to the track. A quarter note delay is a good starting point. Run a band bass EQ from 700 Hz to 6 KHz. Use an expander to help minimize noise. Phase effects and distortion may also be added to accentuate the ‘old radio’ like effect.
Virtual Instrument Reverbs
Generally these reverbs are sub-par compared to dedicated reverb plugins such as a Valhalla reverb, PhoenixVerb, Altiverb, UAD Reverbs, etc. Also, using an onboard reverb prevents the mixer from putting a high pass EQ on the reverb. Reverb is nearly always used in conjunction with a high pass equalizer so that the low end stays dry.
Asymmetrical Delays
Set up five different delays at different pan points and set their delay times from roughly 30 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds. Make sure that the delays are slightly off tempo with the song, ranging from five to fifteen milliseconds off the half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, or sixty-fourth note. Try alternating between the delay being early and late as the notes progress from short to long, so that the first delay is early, the second is late, the third is early, etc. Make the delays get quieter as they get longer.
Pop Delays
Use only delays that are a quarter note or shorter during the verse. Delays get louder and longer during the chorus.
By Jack Johnston
Jack Johnston has a Master’s of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the New School University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Western Governors University, and a Master’s in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.