Have you ever put together a mix and felt it sounds very “dry” or that there’s no real sense of space of feeling to it? Sure, you’ve added some reverb and delay here and there but it’s still not quite cutting it.
I know what that’s like and I know what can help.
Delay is one of the most underused but most effective mixing tools you have at your disposal. When used the right way, delay will truly serve your song.
Today, I’m going to share 5 easy tips with you that you can use straight away and hear amazing results instantly.
First of all, let’s look at what delay is…
The most simple explanation is that it’s an echo. In mixing, the unit or plugin delays the input signal by a set amount of time and creates an echo.
Boiling it down to such a simple idea should help take away any fear or apprehension about ruining your mix. If you think of it as a tool you can use to create echoes and a sense of space for your music, then you can have a lot of fun with it.
If you’re already having that fun, make sure to comment down below and let me know how you use delay. You’ll definitely help out someone searching for the answers you already have!
First of all, there are example tracks I’ve included for each point so it might be helpful for you to open them up on YouTube or Spotify.
(Please note that the Spotify playlist is updated weekly. The tracks listed might not match the information below!)
Now, on to the 5 juicy tips that will help you…
1) Tempo sync your delays
Tempo syncing your delays can be very powerful. Whether you set the delay to a quarter note, eighth note or a tempo of your choosing is up to you. But making sure the delay matches the BPM of the song is very helpful when it comes to using delay creatively.
Once you get good with simple quarter or eighth note delays, you can start getting more creative and adding in different rhythms for the right and left side, or creating layered delays.
Here are some great examples:
- U2 – ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’
This has become an iconic guitar sound associated with The Edge. To replicate this in a simple way, you can set up two digital delays – one with a dotted eighth pattern and enough feedback to provide one or two echoes and then another quarter note delay, slightly lower in the mix.
- Pink Floyd – ‘Run Like Hell’
The Edge is a big fan of David Gilmour, as we all should be! The riff in ‘Run Like Hell’ uses a triplet style delay that has been created with some layered delays at different millisecond values.
- Guns N’ Roses – ‘Welcome To The Jungle’
The stabs at the beginning of the track have a delay time of about 320ms with enough feedback and delay to fill in the space between each stab.
And that leads me to my next point…
2) Use delay to fill in space
There are gaps in the audio in almost every song. Delay can be used to fill those time gaps or gaps in the stereo field.
Here are some examples for this tip:
- INXS – ‘Need You Tonight’
Once again, I’m going to start with the guitar riff in this song. It’s one of the most recognisable of all time and you can hear an example of how delay is used to fill in gaps in space at 0:15. A couple of short echoes help to pave the way for the next riff.
By contrast, the vocal is focused more on using slap delay and reverb to fill in the space and it’s much less pronounced.
- David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’
‘Let’s Dance’ has an iconic delay sound that Bob Clearmountain
added to Nile Rodgers’ guitar part in the mix. It helps to blend the
guitars perfectly with the vocals, synth and brass parts and it’s
badass!That delay is also added to the snare at 0:26 as a transition between sections.
3) Add emphasis to lyrical content
The whole purpose of music production is to serve the original intention of the song. That includes emphasising and accentuating certain elements of the lyrics. Delay is a very useful tool when it comes to this purpose.
Phil Tan’s mix of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ is one of my favourites for vocal delay. Listen to the words “shooting star” at 1:45 and what happens at that moment… a superb reflection of the song lyrics in the mix and a mixing engineer staying true to the intention of the song.
4) Delay as part of your style and taste
Certain effects can be used and implemented as part of an engineer or producer’s style. Just like you can instantly identify some guitarists’ iconic tones, the same can be said for some, if not all, mixers and producers.
I think Jaycen Joshua is the perfect example of a mixing engineer who uses delay as part of his style and taste.
If you listen to ‘We Can’t Stop’ by Miley Cyrus (yes, really) you’ll hear a lot of his style and taste shine through – particularly in the chorus.
Remember… our taste is what separates us from the rest.
5) Delay as a unique effect
Delay can be used to create some useful and truly unique effects. There are a multitude of examples you can find, but here are some I like:
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Don’t Forget Me’
The verse guitar delay is a combination of a dotted eighth delay and a 32nd note delay.
They combine to allow John Frusciante to pick the high E string of his guitar and create a very unique sound.
- Animal Collective – ‘Fireworks’
In this track, the guitar is used as a percussive instrument. The various layers combine to create unusual, creative effects.
- Busta Rhymes ft. Pharrell – ‘Light Your Ass On Fire’
Probably the most creative song name of all time… said no one. The beat features a very short but heavy delay on the drums, which creates a very robotic or laser-like sound.
Proof that if it works, go with it!
So, there you have it… 5 easy tips for using delay in your music!
If you start using them today, you’ll never complain about dry mixes ever again. You might also find that the use of delay becomes a key part of your mixing style over time.
Now, I’d love to know…
How do you use delay in your music?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
I use delay to carve a pipe for an element (often vocals) through a busy mix.
It works so much better than reverb, although I’ll send a little of the delay buss through the reverb buss, too.
If used well, it is very a effective tactic when dealing with a busy mix.
“Carve a pipe” is an interesting phrase. Must remember that! I tend to lean on delay a lot more than reverb too. Thanks for your comment, Robin!
I use delay occasionally to create a space that feels like a large live venue (as opposed to a chamber or hall reverb with a big pre-delay).
In live performance, this can also be used to make a venue “feel” larger – if used tastefully. (Sync to tempo makes it easier for me to manage, too.) When I ask someone how they liked the sound of a live event when I used this technique, I like to hear that they thought it sounded really good and large, but they don’t know why…
Great comment, Walt! It’s especially cool to hear how delay can be used in live sound in a non-technical way. Thanks!