Delay
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Delay
What is Delay?
Delay is when the incoming signal is split and one is slightly delayed by anywhere from 5ms, to 300ms, beyond a 3-500ms its more commonly thought of as an echo. Any delay under 30-40ms is inaudibly separate from the original, however beyond 30ms ones ear begins to think of the 2 signals as different sounds.
An alternate delay technique is to delay just the left or the right channel of a signal causing the illusion of panning. Our ears detect spatial position of a sound by both volume comparison between our two ears and the difference in time it takes for the sound to reach our ears, so by delaying the right or left channel it can cause the sound to be pulled to the left or right. For more information on the natural use of delay in stereo micing check out the A-B or ORTF Microphone Technique.
Most delay processors allow the signal to be delayed as a rhythmic time value, such as quarter note. This type of delay is most common in modern day music and can form an integral part of the music’s rhythm. Even when using a fast delay under 100ms it is common to use a fraction of the note value. at 120bpm a quarter note is 500ms, an 8th 250ms, a 16th note is 125ms, and a 16th quintuplet only 25ms. Delays that are not a fraction of the beat can sound off and wreck the groove of a recording. One technique however can be to adjust the delay to alter the groove and move it a bit more ontop of or behind the beat.
To figure out the delay that corresponds to a rythmic time value you can download an application like "beat detective" for the mac, or do the math
Calculating the Delay Time:
- Start a stopwatch when the song is playing and count 25 beats.
- Stop the stopwatch on the 25th beat and multiply the time by 41.81.
The results are the delay time in milliseconds for a quarter note delay.
Predelay and Reverbs
Most reverbs have an optional predelay. The predelay is the time before the initial reflections and reverberation begin. Adding a longer predelay greatly expands the percieved room size. If you think that sound travels approx. 1 ft. per ms. a large hall has a good amount of predelay if you are sitting in the middle of it.
Usage
Guitar: If you want a "fuller" or "larger" guitar sound their are 3 primary methods:
- 1: add a 12ms delay and hard pan the guitar and delay left and right
- 2: bus the guitar to a stereo aux track and put a stereo delay w. mix at 100% and a 25 and 50 ms delay (try and make it a fraction of the tempo of the song)
- 3: have guitar centered, and add mono delay at center, slowly increase till it sounds bigger, usually 20-30ms.
Vocals: Add a choruser which in essence is very short modulated delays, apply different reverb and EQ settings on delays.
Synths Add a stereo delay of 100 and 200 ms to simulate a room.
