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10/07/23
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Helps my understanding of different effects and the range of Different tones
Science of Sound: Time-Based Effects (FaderPro)
Everything Music Producers Need To Know About Time-Based Effects
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About this course
Journey deep into the world of time-based effects with Jono Buchanan, and discover the variety of ways you can use them to create inspiring sounds and hone your mixes. Whether you’re looking to thicken a sound up with stereo width, give the impression that multiple players are contributing to an instrument track, or add subtle or pronounced echoes to a vocal channel; you’ll find everything you need to know in this course.
Over the course of two hours, you’ll build a strong understanding of time-based effects like delay, chorus, phaser and flanger, learning the ways in which they work and how they can be applied in the context of a mix. These are all techniques that have been used by audio engineers for decades, and in this course Jono will familiarize you with the modern software tools you can use to harness them yourself today.
At the end of this course you’ll know the difference between feedback and mix level, how to control the stereo width on a ping pong delay, and how to add polyrhythmic variation and stereo interest to your drum programming. You’ll also know how to use a time-based effect plugin as either an insert or an auxiliary effect, and learn which method is best for you at a particular moment of the mixing process. As well as this, you’ll get a grounding in characterful time-based techniques like regenerative delay and slap-back echo that have made a huge impact on whole genres of music.
In total, there are twelve chapters of content in Science of Sound - Time-Based Effects, and once you’ve signed up you can watch the video lessons at a pace that suits, and return as many times as needed. All of the production techniques that are covered in this course are explored through audio examples in a Logic Pro session, so you will hear for yourself the amazing effect they can have on a mix.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as engineers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your productions with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
Over the course of two hours, you’ll build a strong understanding of time-based effects like delay, chorus, phaser and flanger, learning the ways in which they work and how they can be applied in the context of a mix. These are all techniques that have been used by audio engineers for decades, and in this course Jono will familiarize you with the modern software tools you can use to harness them yourself today.
At the end of this course you’ll know the difference between feedback and mix level, how to control the stereo width on a ping pong delay, and how to add polyrhythmic variation and stereo interest to your drum programming. You’ll also know how to use a time-based effect plugin as either an insert or an auxiliary effect, and learn which method is best for you at a particular moment of the mixing process. As well as this, you’ll get a grounding in characterful time-based techniques like regenerative delay and slap-back echo that have made a huge impact on whole genres of music.
In total, there are twelve chapters of content in Science of Sound - Time-Based Effects, and once you’ve signed up you can watch the video lessons at a pace that suits, and return as many times as needed. All of the production techniques that are covered in this course are explored through audio examples in a Logic Pro session, so you will hear for yourself the amazing effect they can have on a mix.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as engineers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your productions with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
What you'll learn
- Identify the key parameters in modern delay plugins
- Configure delay timing synced to song tempo
- Balance dry and wet signals appropriately for insert effects
- Learn the difference between tape, analog, and digital delay characteristics
- Recognize classic delay units and their applications in famous recordings
Release date: 08/22/2023 • 2h 19m runtime
Sample lessons
Rhythmic Delays
Demonstration
Stereo Width Effects
Demonstration
Cinematic Delays
Demonstration
What's included
12 lessons
Science of Sound: Timed Based Effects
Time-based effects come in various shapes and sizes. You may be looking to thicken the sounds in your mixes with extra stereo width, give the impression that multiple players are contributing to a specific instrumental track, or even reinforce vocals with subtle or very bold echoes.
Producers have long discovered the power of techniques that manipulate time. The technique that often comes to mind with time-based effects is delay, which, as its name suggests, records or buffers sound, holding it for a moment before playing it back. This predates pop music and was a popular method with early 20th-century music concrete pioneers like Schaeffer and Stockhausen. They played around with these techniques to explore their capabilities.
Tape delay involves recording a section of audio to a loop of tape and manipulating the record and read heads of the tape machine to feed a signal to a loop of tape, then play it repeatedly. By changing the length of the tape loop or controlling the playback speed, a range of different tones can be produced. These tones might include characteristic artifacts such as hiss and pitch wobble, a common feature of tape-based delays.
It didn't take long before these pioneering techniques reached the ears of pop music producers, who embraced the potential of delay effects. They used everything from short slap-back delay effects for vocals to more interesting long rhythmic delays.
Rather than commandeering entire reel-to-reel tape machines to produce echo treatments, commercial echo units became available, dedicated to producing tape-like effects. This started most classically with the Echoplex in 1959, a unit designed by Mike Battle, which set the standard for echo treatments in the following decade.
The Roland Space Echo followed in 1974, featuring three separate tape heads and variable tape speed playback for multiple delay and even reverb effects. By manipulating tape speed and signal feedback, it became possible to produce pitch-based effects and regenerating audio signals, techniques still heard in pop music, particularly in dub.
In the 1970s, the first non-tape echo machines were released. Bucket brigade delays were solid-state devices using Panasonic chips to briefly delay input signals. These delays were warm, broad, and darker, made famous by Boss's DMM2 stompbox.
The stage of using digital delays then began as electronic components became cheaper. Manufacturers like Eventide and AMS offered pioneering echoes with longer delay times before others like Lexicon, Roland, and TC Electronic reinvented audio fidelity and flexibility from a delay perspective. For studio-based producers and guitar pedal designers, there were innovations like the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, a seminal example of delay-based effects.
If you've wondered how the cascading arpeggiated guitars from U2 are produced, look no further than the Korg SDD-3000 digital delay, which creates amazing syncopated rhythms.
Digital delays sample or record audio signals to memory before playback. We've become familiar with tools and techniques within plugin-based delay effects in digital audio workstations today. Parameters such as feedback, which controls the number of echoes, or EQ controls, which let you change the tonal range, are particularly important.
You might also emulate characteristic tape-based effects like increasing hiss or controlling wow and flutter effects, introducing pitch wobble to bring the essence of tape-based effects to modern productions.
Dedicated hardware delays, like Universal Audio's Starlight Guitar Pedal and Ryman's Timeline, are popular choices for out-of-the-box processing, enjoying a renaissance now.
But time-based effects can go much further. Techniques like chorus effects that briefly delay a signal before playing it a few milliseconds later, combined with a low-frequency oscillator, can make sounds thicker, richer, and lusher. Phasing and flanging are extensions of this, offering sweeping, lush sounds associated with seventies disco or producing interesting overtones, a popular guitar technique.
Synth users and instruments like Roland's Juno-60 offer classic chorus variations. Techniques like these are back in favor, in part due to the "Stranger Things" soundtrack, which pays homage to doubling techniques.
A notable mention must go to the multi-generational Eventide Harmonizer, setting the tone for time-based effects since 1975, and its successor, the classic H-3000 in 1986. This multi-effects processor combines rich sonics with harmonizing delay, pitch shifting, and more, leaving an indelible mark on the recorded music industry.
Understanding the history of delay and other time-based effects is essential. It's like building on the shoulders of giants. These effects are an incredible playground for experimentation in your productions.
So before diving into examples of how delay and doubling effects can enhance your work, let's have a parameter tour to really explore a delay plugin in depth, helping you understand exactly what's available to you.
Producers have long discovered the power of techniques that manipulate time. The technique that often comes to mind with time-based effects is delay, which, as its name suggests, records or buffers sound, holding it for a moment before playing it back. This predates pop music and was a popular method with early 20th-century music concrete pioneers like Schaeffer and Stockhausen. They played around with these techniques to explore their capabilities.
Tape delay involves recording a section of audio to a loop of tape and manipulating the record and read heads of the tape machine to feed a signal to a loop of tape, then play it repeatedly. By changing the length of the tape loop or controlling the playback speed, a range of different tones can be produced. These tones might include characteristic artifacts such as hiss and pitch wobble, a common feature of tape-based delays.
It didn't take long before these pioneering techniques reached the ears of pop music producers, who embraced the potential of delay effects. They used everything from short slap-back delay effects for vocals to more interesting long rhythmic delays.
Rather than commandeering entire reel-to-reel tape machines to produce echo treatments, commercial echo units became available, dedicated to producing tape-like effects. This started most classically with the Echoplex in 1959, a unit designed by Mike Battle, which set the standard for echo treatments in the following decade.
The Roland Space Echo followed in 1974, featuring three separate tape heads and variable tape speed playback for multiple delay and even reverb effects. By manipulating tape speed and signal feedback, it became possible to produce pitch-based effects and regenerating audio signals, techniques still heard in pop music, particularly in dub.
In the 1970s, the first non-tape echo machines were released. Bucket brigade delays were solid-state devices using Panasonic chips to briefly delay input signals. These delays were warm, broad, and darker, made famous by Boss's DMM2 stompbox.
The stage of using digital delays then began as electronic components became cheaper. Manufacturers like Eventide and AMS offered pioneering echoes with longer delay times before others like Lexicon, Roland, and TC Electronic reinvented audio fidelity and flexibility from a delay perspective. For studio-based producers and guitar pedal designers, there were innovations like the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, a seminal example of delay-based effects.
If you've wondered how the cascading arpeggiated guitars from U2 are produced, look no further than the Korg SDD-3000 digital delay, which creates amazing syncopated rhythms.
Digital delays sample or record audio signals to memory before playback. We've become familiar with tools and techniques within plugin-based delay effects in digital audio workstations today. Parameters such as feedback, which controls the number of echoes, or EQ controls, which let you change the tonal range, are particularly important.
You might also emulate characteristic tape-based effects like increasing hiss or controlling wow and flutter effects, introducing pitch wobble to bring the essence of tape-based effects to modern productions.
Dedicated hardware delays, like Universal Audio's Starlight Guitar Pedal and Ryman's Timeline, are popular choices for out-of-the-box processing, enjoying a renaissance now.
But time-based effects can go much further. Techniques like chorus effects that briefly delay a signal before playing it a few milliseconds later, combined with a low-frequency oscillator, can make sounds thicker, richer, and lusher. Phasing and flanging are extensions of this, offering sweeping, lush sounds associated with seventies disco or producing interesting overtones, a popular guitar technique.
Synth users and instruments like Roland's Juno-60 offer classic chorus variations. Techniques like these are back in favor, in part due to the "Stranger Things" soundtrack, which pays homage to doubling techniques.
A notable mention must go to the multi-generational Eventide Harmonizer, setting the tone for time-based effects since 1975, and its successor, the classic H-3000 in 1986. This multi-effects processor combines rich sonics with harmonizing delay, pitch shifting, and more, leaving an indelible mark on the recorded music industry.
Understanding the history of delay and other time-based effects is essential. It's like building on the shoulders of giants. These effects are an incredible playground for experimentation in your productions.
So before diving into examples of how delay and doubling effects can enhance your work, let's have a parameter tour to really explore a delay plugin in depth, helping you understand exactly what's available to you.
Anatomy of a Delay Plug-in
In this lesson, we will explore the intricacies of delay effects in music production, focusing specifically on Valhalla's delay plugin. We will dive into various modes and parameters of the plugin, starting with an overview of different delay algorithms that emulate historical tape-based delays, digital eighties delays, and contemporary digital effects, including the "bucket brigade" method. Key concepts will include the selection of a specific delay mode, the balancing of dry and wet signals, the age dial's control over noise and artifacts, and the ability to configure delay times in single, dual, or ratio modes. Specific examples will demonstrate how these parameters can affect an individual sound within a mix, providing an in-depth look at how to configure the delay effect for different musical needs. Whether dealing with simple quarter note delays or more complex dual delays with independent left and right signals, this lesson offers a comprehensive guide to understanding and utilizing delay effects in modern music production.
Rhythmic Delays
In this chapter, we will explore the creative use of delay effects to enhance beat programming, moving beyond the traditional use of MIDI notes and grids to create patterns. By focusing on the Waves H-Delay plugin, we will delve into techniques that allow us to create polyrhythmic variations and more engaging rhythmic patterns. We'll examine the application of delay effects on specific percussive hits, and how to select and utilize various settings within the plugin, such as the "ping-pong" delay, dotted eighth note delay, dry/wet balance, and feedback control. Attention will be paid to the analog circuit control to ensure that unwanted noise, such as hiss, is eliminated. Through hands-on examples with individual percussive elements, we will demonstrate how delay can be used not just as a time-based effect but as a creative tool to enhance the rhythm and interest of a beat, contributing to a richer and more complex musical texture.
Vocal Slapback Delay
In this lesson, we will explore the application of delay to enhance a vocal part within the context of a track, focusing on the use of Valhalla delay plugin as an insert effect on the channel. We will begin with a vocal that has already been EQ'd, compressed, and added with a small amount of plate reverb, aiming to achieve a subtle slapback echo effect that complements the atmosphere of the track without overwhelming the lyrics. Through hands-on demonstration, we will illustrate how to adjust the mix dial to blend the original dry signal with the delay signal, setting it to about 25%, and how to select a single style delay effect timed to the track, specifically using a 32nd note for an almost immediate echo. We'll explore how varying delay time can change the character of the vocal, either subtly enhancing the sonic footprint or becoming a more dominating, dubby effect. The goal of this lesson is to skillfully use delay to enrich the vocal part, maintaining clarity while adding depth and dimension to the mix.
Vocal Auxillary Delay
In this lesson, we will explore the technique of applying delay effects to individual lines within a vocal track, a method that creates longer delays on specific words or phrases without affecting the entire vocal. This will build on the previous chapter's exploration of using delay to sit the vocal in the mix. Through hands-on examples, we will illustrate how to set up an auxiliary bus to create a much longer delay effect, like a quarter or half note, synced to the tempo of the project. Participants will learn the challenges of using this effect throughout a track and how it may interfere with the vocal, along with the adjustments needed to fine-tune the effect. Specifically, we'll explore the control of feedback amount to reduce echoes, the selection of a brighter, Hi-fi mode, and the setting of an age parameter to zero to avoid unwanted artifacts, all aiming to add a more pronounced and tailored echo to particular parts of the vocal line without overwhelming the rest of the track.
Regenerating Delay
In this chapter, we're going to explore a specialized technique commonly used in dub music: regenerating delay. This process involves the creation of delays that increase in volume, becoming louder and more insistent instead of fading away. While intriguing, this technique requires careful control to prevent the sound from evolving into a howling feedback loop. Through hands-on experimentation, we'll examine how to set up such a regenerating delay effect using an auxiliary effect and Waves H-Delay plugin. The objective is to fill a gap in a specific musical arrangement with a particular guitar note, creating a ping pong effect that bounces across the stereo field. Key to mastering this technique is finding the "sweet spot" in the feedback level that turns the dying echoes into regenerating ones, a setting that varies depending on the delay plugin used. Participants will learn how to carefully adjust this feedback level to harness the intriguing power of regenerating delays, allowing them to enrich their music without overwhelming the overall mix.
Anatomy of a Chorus Plug-in
In this lesson, we will explore the application of chorus, a time-based effect that uses a delay to create a richer and thicker sound. Unlike the obvious and rhythmic delays previously explored, the chorus effect is subtler, duplicating the incoming source signal and delaying it by just a few milliseconds. By employing an LFO (Low-Frequency Oscillator), we can introduce variations to the repeated signal, simulating the natural fluctuations of pitch found in a choir or ensemble. Utilizing Logic's built-in chorus effect, the lesson will guide the viewer through the process of modulating this delay, adjusting parameters such as intensity, rate, and mix to achieve a desired sonic texture. By enhancing an '80s-inspired beat and baseline, we will specifically focus on enriching a pad sound, demonstrating how the chorus effect can make a part feel substantially more lush and vibrant. The practical examples will enable viewers to understand the nuanced control over pitch and intensity that chorus provides, allowing for creative expression in their own music production.
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