If you’ve ever visited any sort of canyon national park or explored any sort of cave, you’ve most likely encountered delay before. Delay, or commonly called echo, is when a sound reflects off of a surface back towards a source and is duplicated. It’s a foundational element in just about every song you’ve heard, and we’ll be discussing the various usages of delay in today’s blog.
Delay is often very subtle. Try going into various rooms in your flat and clapping your hands. This can be your living room, bedroom, or bathroom. You’ll probably hear some *very* faint echoes depending on how much decor you have in your space (hint: decor typically absorbs sound). This delay is so subtle that it might even be mistaken for reverb (check out our blog from last month to read more on reverb!). In more dramatic cases, like the canyon scenario, delay can create replicas of audio. This is often used in music production to either create atmosphere or emphasize certain words or phrases in a topline. Let’s get into it!
Delay Time (sometimes just called Delay) is the amount of time that passes between each echo. Most plugins allow you to set this time in either milliseconds or beats. This is the most important parameter of delay that you’ll work with as it determines the overall feel and atmosphere of the effect. A short delay will create a sort of ambiance or blur to the source audio whereas a long delay will be more atmospheric or dramatic.
You probably won’t see a specific knob that says “Delay Type” on it. However, there are multiple types of delay. A few examples are a mono delay, or a ping pong delay. A mono delay will replicate a sound from the same area that the source material comes from, or set the sound to happen from the center of the stereo field. A ping pong delay will switch the delay from the left and right side of the stereo field.
Additionally, you may see an option for either an analog delay or a digital delay. This changes the sound of the delay slightly. Analog delays will incorporate some sort of signal degradation to the sound. This is often noticed in the pitch of the delay. An analog delay will have a bit of a warble or decay to the delay sound whereas a digital delay will recreate a perfect replica of the source sound.
Feedback is simply how long the delay lasts. It’s usually a time value in seconds. For example, a short feedback (like .5 seconds) may only produce one echo whereas a longer one (like 4 seconds) will produce more echoes.
The width knob determines the stereo image of your delay. Different plugins treat this knob differently, although it generally opens up the sound of a delay so it feels more like its coming from all around rather than one specific location. Width changes depending on what kind of delay algorithm you’re using. A ping pong delay will probably be less impacted by a width knob than a mono delay.
Spread is often confused with width, and can sometimes be used interchangeably. However, most of the time, spread adds an element of randomness to the delay time. For example, if you have your delay set to a quarter note, a high spread value will distort that time slightly. So each echo may occur slightly before or after the exact time that a quarter note would hit. The best way to understand how this knob works is to mess around with it!
Filter lets you take the delay signal and add a low pass or high pass to it to shape the sound a bit. It’s a pretty simple function, but does a LOT!
Much like our reverb plugins, delay plugins have a mix knob, or a dry/wet knob. This determines the mix of signals that are produced via a delay plugin. If a mix is set at 100%, the only signal you’ll hear is the delay. The source material will be completely filtered out. If a mix knob is set at 10%, you’ll hear mostly the source material, with a little bit of delay.
Delay has a wide variety of uses, and you’ll most likely have at least one instance of it in any song you create! Delay can be used for everything from adding slight ambiance to creating dramatic effects. Here’s some examples!
Using delay as a production element is probably one of most used production techniques. You can use delay to emphasize specific phrases or words in a melody, add depth and texture to a keyboard or guitar part, or even drown out a track in ambiance. One of my favorite uses is a dotted eighth note delay with a 3-4 second decay time. It adds a LOT of texture to instruments and can help fill out a track. There’s a wide use range for these types of long delays.
However, there’s often another application when it comes to very light and short delays.
Your dry vocal / guitar / drums recording probably is going to sound very unnatural on first listen. That’s often because when you record into a microphone, you’re getting a very direct sound and bypassing the resonance of a room. This results in a very unlively sound. In order to make your sound more natural, you’ll need to simulate the feel of a room with a super light delay, reverb, and some corrective eq. Try setting your delay time under 500 milliseconds with a very short decay, and low mix setting (5-10%) to achieve this effect.
The stock delay in your DAW is probably more than enough for 80% of your needs. Most DAWs have a few different delays that cover a wide range of uses. The screenshot above is of Logic’s stock tape delay. I definitely recommend experimenting and learning with your DAW’s stock delays before expanding to some of the suggestions I’ve listed below. Once you’re comfortable on working with delay, you can start to expand your plugin arsenal.
Just like last month’s blog on Reverb, Valhalla has a great delay plugin. At only $50, Valhalla Delay is a great tool to have in your plugin folder. It does a great job, and it’s incredibly simple to use. Some stock delay plugins on DAWs can be difficult to navigate, so if you’re running into user interface issues, and want something fast and easy to use, Valhalla Delay is the way to go!
D-16 Repeater is a vintage modelled delay that simulates the sound and feel of many famous delays that have been used across multiple award winning records. There are 23 delay models ranging from classic oil cans to famous vintage digital designs. One of the best features is that this delay acts as a stereo processor, but gives you individual control over each channel. So, the delay on the left side can sound drastically different from the delay on the right side. This plugin is my first recommendation when it comes to expansive features and tones for delay. The best part - it’s part of the Slate Digital All Access Pass. At only $9.99/mo, you can have this delay along with an entire suite of mixing and music production plugins.
Last, but not least, Soundtoys makes some amazing effects plugins that will add incredible texture and depth to any track. Both of these plugins are on the expensive side, starting at $149, but Soundtoys has 2-3 great sales every year where you can grab these plugins for much more affordable prices. Both Echo Boy and Crystallizer are top recommendations from me. Echo Boy functions more like a typical delay, but gives you granular control and groove control over every delay instance. Crystallizer (pictured above) functions a bit differently. It chops your audio up into a bunch of tiny fragments, and uses them to create echoes or flutters in audio. It’s a unique plugin that can add a lot of texture and variance to drum parts, create ethereal pads, or create huge “wall of sound” production effects. Both of these plugins are definitely on my recommended list.
Hope this helps! Delay, once you learn how to use it properly, can be a huge asset to any music producer's toolkit. Let me know if you have any questions on it! As always, I teach remote music production lessons, so if you want some direct help, feel free to reach out!
Keep up the good work!
Spike
