Church Sound

Supported By

Church Sound: Effective Uses Of Audio Delay

There are tons of uses for delay -- here, the focus is on thickening and echo
This article is provided by ChurchTechArts.

Most audio effects processors include a simple delay.

Often, that effect gets overlooked because we typically reach for the plates, halls and other reverbs first.

However, if you have the capability, adding some delay can create some very cool effects.

For this post, I will contain the suggestions to vocals only. Guitarists often add tap delays themselves, and putting some tap delay on drums can be really cool (when done well).

But those will remain out of scope for the time being (play with those on your own).

There are tons of uses for delay; I will focus on two today—thickening and echo.

Fatten it Up
Sometimes getting a vocal to sit right in the mix can be tough. Turning it up doesn’t always help, and after you’ve applied some compression, EQ and perhaps even parallel compression, you may still want to round out the vocal sound a bit.

This is quickly becoming a “go-to” vocal effect for me right now.In those cases, I will often turn to some delay. I started doing this more after listening to a Dave Pensado podcast when he talked about using a roughly 100 msec delay on a lot of his vocals. As he described it, the delay could be anywhere between 96-104 msec; whatever works for the song. For some reason, 102 often sounds really good.

This short delay has two audible effects.

First, it makes it easier to hear the vocal (a very neat psycho-acoustical trick). Second, it can really round out a reverb sound. I typically combine the short delay with a reverb (I’m back to plates at the moment) and blend the two effects together into one.

The delays on the DiGiCo SD8 digital console at our church have the ability to do feedback, which creates that “echo loop” sound, but I normally don’t use it. I like to keep it simple (and my room has enough flutter echo anyway).

Audible Echo
Sometimes, certain songs can benefit from an audible echo. For example, I really like using a quarter note tapped delay in Your Great Name on the chorus to create an effect on the repeats of “Jesus.”

I use this effect sparingly as it’s really easy to overdo. But having the words echo back after you sing them is a great way to reinforce what you’re singing.

This delay equates to 3 eighth notes at 71 bpm in 4/4 time.

To set the delay times, you can either use a bpm to msec calculator (or perhaps your effects unit or plug-in works in bpm), or tap it using the tap button.

Tap buttons will calculate the time between taps and set the delay to that. You simply tap on 1 & 3, or 1,2,3 & 4 or just on 1. Sometimes tapping on odd beats works too. Tapping every three beats on a 6/8 song often produces a cool effect.

I usually tap the faceplate when I’m not tapping the button to maintain proper timing. Typically it takes one or two measures to get it dialed in.

Study Hall Top Stories

Supported By

dBTechnologies is an Italian-based speaker manufacturer, leading in the Touring & Live sound market by providing innovative audio solutions. Their flagship ViO series is made up of an entirely active/self-powered series of loudspeakers. The dBT lineup also includes passive loudspeakers, software, and amplifiers, all delivering uncompromising performance. dBTechnologies speakers headline some of the largest festivals and concerts worldwide, setting standards in both Live and Installation markets.