00:00:08 Good morning children!
Today, we are going to take
a majestic step towards world peace
by learning how to use
delays on your vocal tracks
so they can sound every bit as good
as those inspirational artists
such as Katy Perry, Britney Spears,
and Kenny G.
00:00:23 Isn't that wonderful?
It can be very difficult to figure out
how people do it on records
because the vocal is
almost never in solo,
and most of the time, little secret,
when the vocal gets to be in solo,
the engineer tends to modify the reverbs
so they're less obvious
and more difficult to figure out,
because that's the fun part!
I'm gonna show you a bunch of tricks
that are gonna be very useful
for you to integrate your vocal
within the playback track.
00:00:48 Let's work on a trick to put some
distance between you and the singer.
00:00:53 Back in the day, a very smart
German dude named Helmut Haas
came up with the Haas Effect.
00:00:59 Basically what you need to know
about the Haas Effect
is that if you have two signals,
a Direct Signal and a Delay Signal,
if the Delay Signal is close enough
to the Direct Signal,
they will be perceived as one,
which we are gonna use
to trick the brain into thinking
that there is more space behind
the Direct Signal than there is.
00:01:18 Here's Pam from The Arrows singing
the verse for "Prisoner", all dry.
00:01:22 All I have here is
a little bit of De-Esser,
some light EQ,
and a little bit of compression.
00:01:28 That's the usual stuff. Now we're gonna
talk about delays and reverbs.
00:01:32 Here's the verse dry.
00:01:42 Decent Recording...
Actually not too bad.
00:01:45 Let me add some Standard Edition delay.
00:01:48 You don't need a fancy delay for this.
00:01:51 We're gonna start
in the 20 to 50 ms range,
because this is where the Haas Effect
is most useful.
00:01:59 Now... There is no absolute rule.
00:02:01 You have to listen to your material
and figure it out.
00:02:04 But the rule is:
under 50, it should be fine.
00:02:07 Check it out. So I'm gonna put it up
for you, for example,
and slightly add more here with my Mix.
00:02:25 It makes sense?
As I add more of that little delay,
it sounds like she's further and further
away into some sort of a corridor.
00:02:32 If I go into the 10 to 20% range,
it sounds like this.
00:02:41 Without.
00:02:46 With.
00:02:51 You hear that it does this slightly.
00:02:54 If I do it in the middle of the track,
when she's singing,
you'll hear it.
I'll start with.
00:03:06 Without.
00:03:15 It's a nice, little, subtle effect
that lets you do this to the vocal
without adding any gook, or any trail,
or anything complicated to manage.
00:03:24 So in practice for our purpose,
you start getting
a useable effect in the 20 ms range,
all the way to the 50-55 ms range,
depending on... the weather,
what your singer sounds like,
who's president,
and the tempo of the song.
00:03:40 If you are asking yourself why I put
the Haas Effect delay
straight on the vocal track,
and not on a bus send,
it's because in my brain, this really
pertains to this one track.
00:03:50 Also it's nice to be able to use
that little slider
to do a blend between the Direct Signal
and the Delay Signal
and find the right spot,
at constant level.
00:04:00 So that's it for the Haas Effect.
00:04:02 Let's stay on delays for a while.
00:04:04 On most of my sessions, I set up
an 8th note and a 16th note delay
because they allow me
to add fat to the vocal
without being
so omnipresent and obvious.
00:04:15 The fact that they are locked to the grid
means that they will be somewhat hidden
by the snare drum, the hi-hat,
the bass drum, the bass,
the kazoo, whatever you have
on your track. Let me show you.
00:04:25 I chose the Soundtoys EchoBoy because
that's my go-to delay these days.
00:04:30 I have a Send called 1/8 Delay
that goes to my 8th note delay...
00:04:35 Incredibly efficient!
So this is what it sounds like.
00:04:45 Obviously that's too much.
But if you tuck it in a little bit...
00:04:55 And in the track...
00:05:05 As I explained before,
because the delay is tied to tempo,
it's hidden by all the stuff
that's playing around it.
00:05:12 Just like with the Haas Effect,
it's a good idea to EQ your delay,
so I can high-pass the delay, so I cut
all the bottom so it's not as thick.
00:05:28 That's nice! It adds a little bit
of tail, but it doesn't cloud judgment.
00:05:32 And also, by default, I always have
the high end kind of low-passed
so it's not so bright.
00:05:38 Without the EQs, it sounds like this.
00:05:45 And with a little bit of high pass
and low pass...
00:05:54 You don't have
to high-pass and low-pass,
but for my taste, I like the vocals
to stay centered,
I just want a little bit of a cushion,
and this gives me a cushion.
00:06:02 Another way to get a cushion
is to use a 16th delay.
00:06:05 So I use also the EchoBoy,
and I have a Send called 1/16 Delay.
00:06:10 It sounds like this. I'm gonna mute
the 8th note delay
so you can hear
just the 16th note for a second.
00:06:24 So this is dry...
00:06:26 With just the Haas Effect, actually.
00:06:33 With the 16th...
00:06:39 16th and 8th...
00:06:48 In the track...
00:07:04 So here we started dry
with no Haas Effect and no delays.
00:07:08 It sounds like this...
00:07:17 It sounds very raw. Then...
00:07:19 Haas Effect and the two delays.
00:07:32 In the end it's your choice whether
you want to hear or not hear the delays,
and how much of them you want to hear
and how much personality they have.
00:07:38 You could go in and saturate
the hell out of the 8th note delay
and give it a real distinct sound,
and that would be your sound.
00:07:46 If you want it to be completely discreet,
you high-pass, low-pass,
and tuck it under, and it gives you
that cushion,
that bouncy thing under the vocal
without loading your track
and making it heavy and slow.
00:07:55 The combination of the Haas Effect
and a couple of delays
that are tied to tempo really lets you
put your vocal in the track
without having too many artefacts.
00:08:05 The 8th note delay
and the 16th note delay
have two different functions
depending on your track.
00:08:09 If you have a very dense track
with a lot of stuff going on,
you can use more of the 8th note delay
and make it kind of like heavier,
and the 16th note delay
to fill the holes.
00:08:19 If you have a very sparse track,
the 8th note delay
is gonna be too obvious
and it's gonna show as a delay,
so you might want to use
more of the 16th note delay
and use the 8th note delay very,
very little, just for a bit of a tail.
00:08:31 The combination of the Direct Signal
and the two delays and the Haas Effect
really lets you put your vocal
in the track without weighing it down.
00:08:39 Delays are also great
to patch holes in vocal lines.
00:08:43 Very often on choruses,
you have a big beautiful line
and then you have a hole in it.
And because it's a chorus,
and there's a lot of stuff going on,
pads and guitars and stuff like that,
it feels kind of lackluster
to have the vocal stop.
00:08:55 So it's in good taste
to use a longer delay,
say a 1/4 note, or even a 1/2 note,
to create that kind of a traily long
and kind of like expansive, with an A,
sound on the vocal.
Let me show you.
00:09:07 Let's go to the chorus.
I'm gonna copy...
00:09:10 what I did on the verses on the chorus
so that the sound is consistent,
and I'm gonna add
on the chorus this echo.
00:09:18 Echo, Delay, same thing, right?
Lead Echo. This is what it would
sound like in solo.
00:09:37 You will notice that for the first time
since the beginning of this video,
we're actually using some feedback,
meaning the delay is repeating itself.
00:09:44 The reason for that is
I want to hear this delay.
00:09:46 This is gonna help me trail the vocal.
00:09:48 The other delays were there
to be discreet
and create pseudo-acoustic spaces.
00:09:52 This is really designed to be
an effect that I can hear.
00:09:55 So if you listen to it in the track...
00:09:57 You'll notice that I high-passed
and low-passed,
just like the other delays. It's just
a longer delay with more feedback.
00:10:14 Obviously that was too much.
00:10:16 I'm lowering the amount
so that it sounds normal
and not completely overt.
Here we go.
00:10:33 As a reminder, the track without...
00:10:46 See the difference in vibe.
I'll do it again with.
00:10:58 In this case, if I find that it's a little
too obvious and too present,
and not diffuse enough,
I can high-pass it further,
and it would sound like this.
00:11:12 Or in the case of EchoBoy,
I can actually change the tone of it
because they've modeled
different kinds of delays.
00:11:17 I'm using an 'AM Radio,' which is gonna
be pretty bright and aggressive.
00:11:20 Maybe I wanna go to say... 'Tube Tape,'
which is a little duller.
00:11:30 That's nice. I can add more of it.
00:11:38 In the track...
00:11:49 Without...
00:11:58 With. Check out how the delay
helps the track and the vocal
kind of like get together.
00:12:16 It does that
by creating a block of sound,
more of a block of sound for the vocal,
as opposed to just one phrase, silence,
one phrase, silence.
00:12:24 We have kind of a trail on the vocal.
You could do that with reverbs
but delays have a different personality.
00:12:29 We'll look at reverbs
in a different video.
00:12:31 In summary, you have your vocal track,
and it sounds too dry.
00:12:35 First thing you might want to do
is use the Haas Effect
to put a little distance
between you and the microphone.
00:12:40 Second, you might want to use
a 8th note or 16th note delay
to create that bounce and that cushion
under the vocal, within the track.
00:12:47 If your track is sparse,
you can use a 16th delay,
because it won't show as much.
If your track is a little more dense,
you can use 16th and 8th note delay
combination thereof.
00:12:56 Season to taste,
your mileage will vary.
00:12:59 And then, if you have a big arrangement,
usually on choruses, with big pads
and guitars that soak up
a lot of the ambience
you already have made with
the Haas Effect, 8th and 16th note delay,
then you might want to add
a 1/4, or a 1/2 note delay,
season to taste also,
that would let you fill the holes
and give a trail to the vocal
so that the track sounds like
one piece of music,
as opposed to just a vocal over a track.
00:13:25 Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Fab Dupont is a Grammy winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has been nominated for Grammys 6 times, including two Latin Grammys and has received many other accolades around the world, including Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards and US independent music awards.
Parts of this site and some files are only accessible to pureMix Pro Members or available to purchase. Please see below our membership plans or add this video to your shopping cart.
Should you use a Haas delay for all vocals, including harmony, doubles or background? Or is this primarily for the lead vocal?
Masterlogic
2017 Sep 22
Both the video and the content: fabulous. But Fab speaks very quickly and the translation written in Spanish sometimes does not give time to read it. There are also phrases that are not well translated (or Fab says strange things) and have no meaning in the context.
telaim
2017 May 20
Bravo! So useful
ilyaorlov
2017 Jan 29
Thanks you! Clear and helpful!
soundspace2001
2016 Dec 16
Very helpful! THX
viccieleaks
2016 Dec 14
Splendid!
rickdrumss
2016 Jul 27
really great!! best regards from Chile.
Fabulous Fab
2016 Jan 14
@CCHorton: Universal Records did not do the best job at distributing this otherwise fantastic record. The best would be to write to the artist. They are great people.
Fabulous Fab
2016 Jan 14
@ ccbass2: point taken. Will experiment with more transparent ways to A/B. Thanks for the feedback
Fabulous Fab
2016 Jan 14
@djdrew: Both. As you get more used to the sounds you'll be able to decide which you;re in the mood for that day.
djdrew
2016 Jan 14
Great stuff Fab! So would you use this as an addition to reverb or as an alternative?
ccbass2
2015 Nov 23
I love your tutorials but I find it frustrating, distracting and breaks concentration when you demonstrate BEFORE & AFTER by stopping the track and announcing that you are doing that.
It's enough that there is a fantastic visual indicating that the effect is active or bypassed.
Also switching multiple times allows the listener to reference the differences.
Regards
CCHorton
2015 Jul 07
Awesome video! I was trying to find Disaster Queen, but iTunes and Amazon only have them on mp3, which I find unacceptable to listen to. Any idea where I can get a real, full resolution, tangible copy of their album???
PSW
2015 Jun 02
Awesome vid, Fab. Thank you.
emeyer
2015 Mar 23
Yeah, nice! Thank you VERY MUCH...UCH...uch...h
CCHorton
2015 Mar 22
Sweeeet! Multiple delays, thanks for the breakdown!
jasonxoc
2015 Mar 21
ahhhhhh!! I've never gotten delays to feel right to me. I love the fact that you talk about philosophy rather than just technique.
jeromewauk
2015 Mar 15
Best tutorial on how to use delay EVER!!!! Thanks Fab.
adyonline
2015 Mar 08
Love it! Thank you, that's a new take on delay for me.
Some Guy
2015 Mar 03
Neat. Great example material for getting the points across right away.
Gotta say though, I found the super ultra compression on Fab's voice (or is it a cold?) kinda distracting to listen to. Most of us are not listening to these videos on our laptop speakers, so more of a natural approach to the voice would be welcome. Or maybe I should just try a different breakfast. ;-)
Alberto Rizzo Schettino
2015 Feb 25
@Tolchocks:
Both Haas-Delays and "Office reverbs" are great for pushing things back or adding halos around something that is too "definite". Early reflections are indeed closely related to the Haas effect. I believe both methods are great and you have to have both at your disposal to determine which fits better in a specific case. Often times, even with the same settings, a simple delay is more "artificial" and dehydrated when compared to the sound of a reverb plugin calculating early reflections. Sometimes you need more artificial, other times more natural stuff. Happy puremixing! -Alberto
tolchocks
2015 Feb 25
great. I know that delays are "cleaner" than reverbs, but they do not create the same spaces that we sometimes need. The question is... when talking about just pushing back a track in the mix, whats better? short reverb (bedroom/office) or haas? I feel that the delay causes a lil more comb filtering.
