Time Based Clichés

Slap Back – Turning the Other Cheek

Consider the recording studio innovation of Slap Back, made famous by Elvis prior to his death (note that he’s still doing it to this very day). Originally (and I do mean originally: Les Paul’s “How High the Moon” is generally considered the first multitrack recording ever and, guess what? Slap Back was the primary effect!) Slap Back used to be a tape delay – with the delay time determined by the distance between the playback and sync heads and the tape speed (approximately 65 milliseconds at 15 IPS). Now it is created digitally or, perhaps, through a tape machine developed specifically for delays, such as the Roland RE501 and the Jurassic Era Echoplex. It is interesting to recognize that this broadly used effect (John Lennon, Robert Palmer, and others offer examples beyond 50’s rock and roll) is cool in rock ‘n roll but is generally considered offensive when it occurs in nature. Studio and concert hall designers make it a top priority to remove slap back from their rooms. If I’m at a concert and I hear reflections of the lead singer’s voice bouncing back off the rear or side wall, I generally want my money back – primarily because I’m forced to listen to that same short delay on the guitars, the bass and every piece of the drum kit. Auditory chaos! Not a pleasing experience. But slap back, used selectively and tastefully used on lead vocals and other solo instruments, is most definitely pleasing. Created through the use of one or two distinct echoes in the 60 to 200 millisecond range, the relative level is adjusted to create a very apparent or more subliminal filling-out of the instrument. Singers can be made to sound stronger and solos more exciting. Separating the source and slap back through panning adds a bigness to the instrument. If an auto-panner is available, careful movement of a subtle slap back pulls listeners deeper into the mix and makes the song more exciting.

Echo Echo Echo Echo Echo Echo Echo Echo ...

Extending the slap back both in time and sometimes in number of repetitions brings us to another popular mix cliché: the Echo. Moulton’s Second Law of Echodynamics is important:

2. The time delay shall be a musical function of the current tempo of the piece.

Measure the tempo of the song and place your echo as a half note delay, a quarter note delay or whatever you desire. Do not forget dotted note and triplet values as these are often the most interesting echoes. Dotted eighth note delays can make a solo really swing! Unless the piece is classical or jazz, I generally measure the time value of the quarter note, divide by two for the eighth note, and divide by two again for the sixteenth note, which gives me most of the elements I need to create any desired delay with just a little math, most of which can easily be done by my assistant. And if you are feeling lazy or if the coffee machine isn’t working, any delay unit worth its ground lift will come with an idiot chart which lists the various musical delays at several tempos.

Echoes may play one or both of the following roles in a mix:

1. Emphasis/Hook
2. Call and Response

Through the selective use of musical echoes, one can emphasize certain words and melodies to help establish hooks. Another approach is to use the echo to create a call and response kind of counterpoint. Delays of an entire measure or two are not unusual in this situation.

Adding some regeneration to these delays is often useful but one should be careful here. First, make sure you’ve followed Moulton’s Second Law. Feeding some delayed signal back through the delay a few times will quickly expose any non-musical delay settings. Trust your musicianship, not the numbers on the display, and tweak the delay setting until the echo falls into the pocket. Second, practice restraint. Too much regenerated signal or too many echoes can be distracting and clutter the mix. Like learning to use equalization, one must learn to fine tune settings and know the difference between a special effect and a supporting or enhancing effect. Don’t be afraid to back off to a barely audible delay. These hidden layers in a mix might not be heard until the tenth or so listening. Needless to say, it is good to have your listeners find new treasures, new levels of complexity in your song on each listening. Keeps ‘em fresh and interested in you.

If you want to explore the wild frontier of echoes (where many fear to tread), try bending the delay times slightly out of their strictly technical musical values. That is, rush them or retard them ever so delicately to excite or relax the listener. Moulton’s Second Law of Echodynamics calls for a musical, not a mathematical delay. Listen to a standard blues album with drums (may I suggest Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood) and you will find that, though the drummer certainly knows the tempo of the song, the snare backbeat is consistently and oh-so-expressively late. This lazy snare is a pretty standard blues trademark, but its effect is universal. Like all clichés, it is available to you for your careful application to other styles of music. Try a lazy echo on a track for that laid back feeling, or an overly eager (i.e. early) echo to convey some urgency. If more than one delay is available, they can be chained together as discussed below and your echoes are made to swing. Consider first a straight eighth note delay:

	Figure 1. Straight Eighth Note Delay Using a Single Delay

Swing eighth notes have an offset feel roughly described as the quarter ‘n eighth of a triplet, which can be accomplished through the use of two delays in series. The first delay is set at the quarter note triplet value (2 x Q/3 where Q is the length in milliseconds of the quarter note) and the second delay is set at the eighth note triplet value (Q/3). The signal flow is shown here in figure 2:

	Figure 2. Signal Path Through Two Delays Enabling Echoes to Swing

The resulting musical delay is achieved:

	Figure 3. Swing Eighth Note Delay Using Two Delays

Adjusting the Send 1 level on Module 1 determines the amount of original signal sent to bothdelays. The Send level on module 3 controls the amount of regeneration for the whole quarter notes worth of delay (i.e. both the quarter note triplet and the eighth note triplet). There are quite a few gain stages in this signal path (watch especially the input adjustment on both delay units), so careful tweaking may be necessary to keep the delay stable. Keep in mind, such elaborate delay patches run the risk of distracting the listeners from the music. Watch it! The point is to remain supportive of the music.

Be as clever with your delays as with your drum sequences. Make them interesting and musical. Just as a singer or soloist carefully phrases, make your echoes more expressive by artistically pushing or pulling the time of the song and you’ll be impressed by the new depth, sophistication and musicality of your mixes.

The Moron Block and Tackle Choir: A Choir of One!

Through the miracle of multitrack, it is not unusual to hear Sting singing back-up vocals for himself. And through the miracle of multitrack or digital delay, it isn’t unusual to hear Sting singing with himself. Doubling and Chorusing are very popular uses of delays. Add a medium-short delay (not too short or the result is flanging) which varies slightly over time and you’ve created doubling. Add more of these delays and you’ve got chorusing, using one voice to create the impression of many. In popular music, this effect has graduated from cliché to de rigeur, especially in the chorus of a song. Doubling and chorusing can be spread across the stereo field to make the singer or instrument seem larger than life – a much sought after goal in pop music.

This Just Doesn’t Exist in Nature

Loudspeaker music has evolved to such a level that many of its clichés have no real equivalents in the real world of live music – flanging is an example. Some mix effects exist only in the digitally processed world of loudspeaker music. A classic example of this is the Gated Snare. A simple snare hit is made awesomely/absurdly powerful through the addition of serious reverb which is rather abruptly muted by a noise gate shortly after each snare hit. This effect is a cliché for many pop music styles – Phil Collins won’t leave home without it. Make sure you can dial in a controllable gated snare when you need one. It is pretty standard fare in pop music and should be part of your repertoire.