Music Production: Learn the Delay (Echo) Effect

1. Introduction to the Delay Effect: in this video, you are going to learn the basics of how the delay effect works in music production. Delay effect has been one of the most used effects in music production for decades. It is great for adding a sense of depth and space to a mix without compromising clarity as much as the reverb effect usually does. And it can also be used for many different creative effects. What is delay? The delay effect is sometimes referred to as an echo effect because that is what it is. In essence, on echo off the signal you feed into it. I'm sure you have heard the effects often echo in the real world many times. Well, the delay effect is based on the same principle. But you can do so much more with a delay effect. You can in fact, control the timing off the echoes and even sink them to the temple of your song. So the echoes are aligned with the grid in your project. What does this mean? It means that you can assign a grid value that the delay effect echoes the sound on a longer great value means more time between the echoes in a short agreed value means faster echoes. Here's a quick demo of various echo great values. First, I will turn on the click track or measure alone so you will hear the delay timing more accurately compared to the grid. No, let me press play and this is 1/2 note delay. Uh uh. Now let's test 1/4 note delay, and finally, an eight notes delay. So the most important value off the delay effect is the time off the echoes, which you can either sit manually in mili seconds. But most often you sync it to your projects grid and said great values to sink to the second most important value to dial in is the feedback off the delay effect. The feedback value controls? How much of the echoed sound will feed back into the delay effect again to create a new eco at a lower volume. Basically, this means that you can control how many echoes you here until it fades out completely. Setting the feedback to 100% means an infinite amount of echoes and setting the feedback on C represent means you will only hear one distinct echo and the third most important value to dialling is the level off the first echo, which is usually a value named what? It can also be dialed in using the senate. Nope. On your mixer if you use the delay, plug in as a sand effect. If you said the wet to 100% it means the first echo will be the same volume as the audio being sent into it. And the lower you go, the less volume the first echo will have. So remember those three main elements off the delay effect one. The timing of your delay either as a great value or manual timing in Mili seconds to control the time between each echo to the feedback value to control how long the Echos continue before it fades out. And three the wet value or send value to control the volume or the first echo. After that, you can also shaped the sound of the delay effect in many more creative ways, and we will take a look at that next I Mike and I'll see you in the next video 2. The Delay Effect in Practice: In this video, you will learn how to apply the delay effect in practice on any track in your music productions. You will also get practical demos or various delay, effect timing, values, feedback values as well as wet values. And on top of that, I will show more advanced, sound shaping features in DeLay effects. Let's begin as well the reverb effect. You can choose to add your delay effect in two ways, either as an insert effect on any individual track or as a send if IQ to use on a number of tracks with reverb. I highly recommend using send effects because it makes more sense both for creating a more unified space for your mix as well as saving. Computer resource is because reverb is very hungry on CPU power. But with the delay effect, the choice is not as clear. Personally, I use both methods on the delay. Plug ins are used as send effects. I use a couple of common delay settings, which can be used on many tracks. For example, as sand effects are usually have a straight quarter noted delay set up with a stereo ping pong effect as well as a short slap delay on another send. Then I use insert effects if I want to do something more creative for any specific track. Now let me demonstrate setting up a delay effect on a piano, tracked first using the insert if IQ method and then using these send effect. All right, so here I have a p an effect. Sounds like this right now. So next you go down to the insert effects section of your track, which is here in logic, which I use Find a delay you want to use. Let's go for this one added to the trek, and then simply dial in the settings you want for the note value dry and witness. And ah, find a setting you want. Let's listen to some. Yeah, right. That's it. Now it's day delay using his send effect instead. So open up the mix of first so you can see what you do. And we're gonna use these Send section here on the track to send it to new bus track. So we have already two created here. Let's use the 3rd 1 Click that and then you send bus is created, rename it into delay and then you add the delay as uncertified checked on the send the bus . So go to the delay again. Let's go with the same one and make sure the wit level is 100% on dry on cedar percent. And then you simply shape the delay as you want so you can use these send knob. This is the biggest difference in workflow when using a send effect, compared to an insert effect, because it's this send knob that controls how much off the effect you want on a track by track basis. So if this is on zero, there is no delay now, even though this is on 100%. But as you increase these sentinel, you hear more and more off the delay effect. All right, so that's how you sit up and add delay to any tracking your project. Now, how do you actually dial in the delay effect creatively for your music? Well, let's take a look at that now, and I will demonstrate various timing, values, feedback values as well as input levels or wet values off the delay effect. Now I have loaded a delay effect once more into this piano track as an in start effect. So let's go through the three main settings over DeLay, the note value or timing the feedback and the West level. So this particular delay effect also has a dry fader. But that's simply controls Thea amount off dry signal that is added into the delay effect, which simply increases the volume of the original signal. So in most cases, I would usually keep this on C 0% and just use the wet level to control how much signal you want to run into the delay effect. If you have this on zero, there's no delay. And if you have it on 100% the input value into do delay effect is the same volume as the original note, as you can hear now. And since I have the feedback old syrup percent, it means that it won't feedback the Seydel once more into the delay effect, which means it's simply one echo. If I have this on 100% the feedback will be infinite. So usually you don't want to have this somewhere. No, in the middle, perhaps because then it fades out naturally. So let's put this on 50% and Now let's get to the timing, which is controlled here by the node value. So these sinks to the greed now on. We can have it on, Let's say a half note and the shorter denote value agreed value, the faster the echo would be great. Now let's get creative here. Most delay effect Have various ways to shape the delay sound. Let's check out some common sound shaping features off the delay effect. All right, so now I have switched to another D a job. You called reason because I want to show this particular echo effect or delay effect, since it has many sound shaping capabilities. So I have made a simple vocal recording here because I have found that it is much easier to hear what the delay effect does when you use something very common to you. Like the human voice. Let's listen to the vocal with the delay in bi pas mode so you can hear how it sounds like dry. This is a delay effect. Next, let's start with quite a common preset for a delay effect. A simple straight quarter note delay, time ah, beat of feedback level and quite low sitting on the wet value. So let's put this to own and listen to have it Selves. These is a delay effect. All right, let's do some sound shaping next. The 1st 1 which is very common, is the Ping Pong effect, which turns this into a stereo delay where each echo bounds will bounce in opposite directions or starting from the left. The next one will be on the right shuttle and so on, and these controls how wide it will pan those delays. So let's listen to it in full stereo mode. This is a delay effect, right? So that was the Ping Pong steri effect. The next effect, which is quite common in delay effects, is the diffusion section, which basically makes the sound more cloudy on and makes it basically go back in the mix. More like a reverb, Gus, actually. So if you listen to it without diffusion of first, this is a delay. If IQ you can hear the delay bounces or quite distinct. Now, if you turn on diffusion and turn it all the way up, this is a delay effect, so diffusion basically makes the sound off the echoes mawr cloudy, so to speak, so essentially the sound will be pushed back a bit in the mix, so the already it'll signal will be Maurin focus. That's why I recommend using diffusion a lot. I basically do it on well, almost all of my delay presets to have the delay sound less pronounced compared to the original signal. The next common feature on a delay effect is the filter section, which basically thins out the sound of the echoes. Compared to the traditional dry signal you use the filter section to reduce the low and high frequencies in the delay bounces so that the regional vocal sound will still have some focus in the low end and clarity in the high end. Basically, you use the filter section to reduce the competition between the delay bounces on the original sound. I usually prefer to use a low pulse and high pass filter, but this specific delay effect simply has a band pass filter where you choose the mead or Centrepoint frequency as well as a residence value on that frequency. So if I turn the zone but choose ah centrepoint frequency and very high residence values, you can really hear the effect off the filter. So let's listen without first. These is a delay effect. And now, with the filter activated, this is a delay effect. And as you heard, the sound of the delay, bounces was very thin in this case, so I can reduce the residence, which will mean I include a wide range from this Central point frequency. So let's go, Bickmore moderate setting on Let's listen again. This is a delay effect. All right, So now let me show you the final, most common sound shaping feature in DeLay effects, in my experience, at least, which is the color or saturation or drive mode. So basically, this adds harmonic saturation to the delay bounces. So let's listen without these is a delay effect. And now let me add heavy saturation or drive to the delay bounces. This is a delay effect, all right, So now you have learned about the most common sound shaping features in DeLay effects, which, in my experience, or the ping pong or stereo delay effect the diffusion mode, which may basically makes the sound of the delays more cloudy. The filter mode that basically thinness out the echoes compared to the original signal and finally the color or drive mode, which adds harmonic saturation, toothy echo bounces now take action and practice sitting up the delay effect both as an insert effect as well as a send effect Bus I Mike and I'll see you in the next video. 3. Live Demo: in this video, I'm going to give you a live demonstration off adding a delay effect, adjusting it as I want it as well as do creative sound shaping off the sound to get the result I am after. I am also going to explain my creative decisions as I go along. Let's begin. I'm now here inside my d W. And I have a piano track loaded with a quite dry and close mic pres it without any delay effect. It sounds like this now. First priest that I want to create on the delay effect is a classic ping pong stereo delay , but with some modifications to push the delay sound back so it doesn't interfere as much with a dry piano sound. I've ought to keep the clarity and focus, but still have some depth erred in hysteria space. So when you have chosen your values for the delay, time feedback and what level I want to go with a simple quarter note timing for this delay effect, then you turn on the ping pong mode and then you choose ah, how much the Ping pong effect should be. So if you have it all the way to the left. It means that the first echo will be panned all the way to the left in hysteria field. The second echo will be all the way to the right and going forward from there, and you can reduce this by turning it closer to the middle. But let's turn it all the way to the left and listen to how these sounds right now, right? Sounds pretty nyse. But let's use some sound shaping features to push the delay sound back. So we keep the clarity off the original piano sound. I want to add some diffusion spread for the diffusion. Um, about had some distortion to the delays, not too much. And I especially want to filter the delay bounces. I believe the filter is actually the most important. So I want to have quite a ah, low setting for this to keep the delay sound in the warmer section over the frequency range . Let's listen to how it sounds now. Quite nice, actually cool. So the next priest that I want to create is a short slap back echo. This is an echo that does not sing to the grid and has a very short delay time, it slaps you back, so to speak. So for this effect, you actually want to turn off the sink mode off your delay. Most often, you use delay effects in sync with your grid, so the timing is in actual note greed values. But in this case, turn it off and you will see the timing off the delay in Mili seconds instead. And for a slap delay, you want to go for a quite a short delay time, usually in between around 40 to 120 milliseconds. So let's go for 80 in between there on. The next thing you want to do is turn the feedback all the way down, so you will only have one distinct echo. So let's listen to how this sounds. As a composer, I am a huge fan off cinematic big lush sounds. I also like that beautiful, warm and shimmering sound that almost sounds magical. So let me demonstrate how to make this sound on the delay effect. So for this kind of effect, I want to go with a triplet value, actually 3/16 for the timing. I also want to turn on the ping pong because I want to spread the delay in the stereo space , turn it all the way to the left so it is spread far across the stereo space. I want to add diffusion. Put it on Max to get that cloudy feel and spread to the max as well on, I want to turn up the delay sound quite high, but even more important is to have really high feedback value. And when you use that, you also need to use the filter to thin out the sound so it doesn't become to money. I have found that the warm arranging the delay. I've usually used somewhere around 607 100 Hertz a bit of residence here to call out the space and some drivin the limit mode here. So let's listen to how this sounds now. No, As you can hear, the echoes continue for a long time, but they have that warm character in their sound. Amazing. Now you have learned how to practically set up use and adjust the delay effect to create various types of results. Now, make sure to practice using the delay effect yourself to truly learn how to use it. I especially recommend you to focus on the delay time, the feedback value as well as the wet value, since those are the most important elements off the delay effect, I Mike, and I'll see you in the next video. 4. Mike's Bonus Tips: in this video, I'm going to share some of my best tips on using the delay effect in music production. Here we go. Tip one. Use the delay effect sparingly. You should not use the delay effect on every track. In fact, the full music production can soon become Miss it if you use too many delay. Evicts tip To make your delays thinner from my experience, you don't use a delay with the full range sound. Very often, I recommend that you most often seen out the delay sound. Most delay. Fix Haddaway off, filtering the sound off the echoes, for example, filtering out the low and frequencies and the high end frequencies. Tip. Three. Mangle the sound if needed. Most often, the point of using a delay effect is not to have distinctly audible echoes but any sense of space and depth. That is why you should not be afraid to use heavy saturation, diffusion modulation and other effects to completely mangle the delay signal. Many DeLay plug ins have these features built in tip for duck. The delay fate. Some delay effects have a feature that automatically ducks the delay signal when audio is coming into the effect, meaning that it would automatically duck the outgoing delay signal. When you, for example, sing into the microphone and as soon as you stop singing, it opens up again, so you will hear the delay effect. This is a kind of a special trick that will keep the clarity or, for example, the vocals while still adding great depth between phrases. Tip five Used delay to Add Groove Here is a very cool technique. I use personally quite often. Set your delay to sink to your grid. For example, quarter notes. Then switch over to manual timing, which will display in milliseconds and finally, your ideas to timing slightly shorter or longer, depending on if you want your groove to rush or drag. Remember that in music, having these timing imperfections adds to the organic, musical and human quality. Great, Now you have there in some of my top tips on using the delay effect in music production, test them out for yourself and become familiar with the sound I Mike and I'll see you in the next video 5. Your Project: all right now it's time for you to take action. Which is always the best way to learn your project is to record a vocal track in your D. W. Why a vocal track specifically because our ears or trained through history to hear all details of the human voice. This means he will be able to recognize what the delay effect dust to your vocal. Here is your guy to complete this project one record a vocal track to add a delay effect and three experiment and practice with all the features you have learned. Finally, when you have a delay effects down that you like, save it as a preset that you can use in your future music productions, I might reaching you Good luck with your delay Effect adventures because you look my friends.