Welcome to this tutorial on conventional echo and delay effects.

At delay times of 70 milliseconds and greater, conventional repeating effects can be produced. If a tape recorder is being used there will be a limit to the maximum possible delay time, determined by the slowest speed the recorder can operate at.

No such limitations exist for digital delay lines which are capable of long delay times and multiple simultaneous delay lines.

Caption - Common delay effects

There are no rules for how Time domain (delay) effects with longer delay times are employed, but the following are some common techniques.

Caption - Lead performance delay

Delay is often used to add spatial dimension and a sense of movement and fluidity to a central performance such as a lead vocal or solo instrument.

Typical settings are ..

• stereo delay algorithm
• delay time of 445 millisecond on the left channel and 455 on the right channel
• a small amount of feedback such that only 2 or 3 repeats are heard
• no modulation
• low cut to remove frequencies below 500Hz
• significant hi-cut decay to dull the sound and ensure it does not clash with the source signal
• balanced significantly quieter than the source sound

Caption - Pitched delay

Some modern digital delay line devices and plug-ins allow the pitch of repeats to be precisely determined, thereby making possible musically harmonic effects.

Caption - Tempo synced delay effects

It is sometimes desirable to create time delays that are rhythmically synchronised to the tempo of a piece of music. A simple calculation can be used.

60,000 divided by the tempo (in bpm) will produce a quarter note (beat) delay time in milliseconds. For example, 60,000 divided by 120 bpm = 500ms

Caption - Ping-pong delay

Ping pong is a stereo delay effect whereby the repeats bounce between loud speakers. This effect can be created with two separate delay lines or a single delay line in which the panning of repeats can be precisely controlled.

Typical settings are ..

• a tempo synced delay time
• lots of feedback
• no modulation

Caption - Multi-tap delay

A multi-tap delay allows multiple delay lines to be combined. Each delay line can be set to a different delay time and have its source derived from the source signal or one of the other delay lines. Delay times can be subdivided into complex relationships which allow rhythmical patterns to be created which would be impossible with tape delay.

Caption - Thanks for watching

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