What is Delay?
Ever climbed to the top of a mountain and screamed at the top of your lungs only to hear the rest of the mountain range screaming back? No? You should go on one of those red letter days or something. Anyway, that echo is emulated in the digital world by a plug-in called "Delay"
Simply put, it records what is played into it, and then plays it back after a certain amount of time.
What can you do with Delay?
Delay Time - This defines the amount of time that it takes before the recorded sound is played back.
Tempo Sync - This allows the Delay time to be locked to specific parameters so that the playback is in time with the music.
Feedback - This defines how much of the played back signal is fed back into the delay unit, resulting in the sound echoing out multiple times.
Mix or Dry/Wet - This controls what percentage of the output from the delay unit has the effect applied and what percentage is the original source sound.
Pan - This defines whether the delayed sound is sent to the left or the right of the stereo field.
Some useful techniques
This one is used in chart hits the world over - a simple, not too prominent delay on vocals with a high pass filter applied cutting off anything below about 2khz. This results in a vocal delay effect that doesn't interfere with the lower frequencies, making the mix clearer.
2. Metallic sounding delay
Make a fast delay with a high feedback setting and you'll get a cool, metallic reverberation sound!
3. Double Dub slap delay
Delay the delay! Try making one delay with a tempo sync to 1/8T of the tempo, then delaying that with another delay unit by 1/4 of the tempo. With enough feedback on both, this will result in a sweet delay that's brilliant for those one-shots in Dubstep or Trip Hop!
