It's easy to have too much of a good thing, especially when that good thing is delay! Automating every single second of a delay send is tedious and unnecessary work, that’s why the recording gods gave us tools like compressors and expanders with sidechain inputs to do our work for us.
Ben Lindell shows you one of the best tricks for containing the spray of echos and fit your delay returns perfectly into the vocal gaps, no automation required. This technique helps you keep your mix from getting too washy, cloudy, busy or over-processed.
In this tutorial Ben works in Presonus Studio One but this technique applies to any DAW.
You’ll learn how to:
Achieve more clarity with your delays
Easily obtain a natural sounding balance between the delays and the dry vocal
Flip the trick around to an expander and gain dynamic control ove the delay tail
00:00:09 Today I'm gonna show you
a couple of creative uses
for both delays, and Sidechain
compression and gating.
00:00:14 Let's get started!
We're gonna be working
in Presonus Studio One.
00:00:18 I've got my track and vocal here.
00:00:21 Before we start adding delays, let's
take a listen to just the dry vocals
so we can hear what we're working with.
00:00:36 As you can hear, there's a lot of space
in between each vocal phrase.
00:00:39 That's a lot of opportunity for me
to add some cool color using delays.
00:00:43 I'm gonna drag the Analog Delay
plug-in over to my Sends,
on my vocal track.
00:00:49 I'm gonna set it up for
a 1/8th note delay.
00:00:54 Let's give it a lot of feedback,
and give it some saturation.
00:00:59 Cool! Let's check this out
and see how it sounds.
00:01:01 This is the Analog Delay on 1/8th notes,
just on the vocal track.
00:01:16 I really like the delay tail
that I'm getting now.
00:01:18 But on this 3rd line,
while he's still singing,
the delay is starting to jumble it up,
and it's getting a little less clear.
00:01:24 And that's what I want to try to avoid.
00:01:26 Let's listen to that 3rd line,
just on its own.
00:01:39 The way I'm going to solve this problem
is by using a compressor after the delay.
00:01:43 And then use the Sidechain function
so that it's listening to the dry vocal,
and compressing according to that.
00:01:49 So while the singer is singing,
Boom! Compression...
00:01:53 And as soon as he's done singing,
the compressor will let up,
and we'll hear the delay tails.
00:01:57 I'm gonna set that up
and show you how it's done.
00:02:00 I'm gonna drag over the Compressor
and place it after the Analog Delay.
00:02:04 And then on my vocal track's Sends,
I'm gonna Add... Sidechains...
00:02:10 Sidechain - Analog Delay - Inserts -
2 - Compressor. Perfect!
As you can see, the Compressor
automatically switched over
and now it's listening to the Sidechain
input, which is my lead vocal.
00:02:22 Now I'm gonna press Play
and adjust the settings
so that when he's singing,
I don't hear this much delay,
and as soon as he stops singing,
I'm gonna hear a lot of delay.
00:02:30 Let's check this out.
00:02:57 So generally speaking
with Sidechain Compression,
the most important knobs are
your Attack and Release knobs.
00:03:04 In this case, I'm gonna want
to have a short attack,
so it clamps down
as soon as there's the lead vocal,
and then I need to time my release
so it's musical,
and helps shape how the delay is
coming in after the vocal finishes.
00:03:16 So let's take a listen, and I'm gonna
continue to tweak the Release knob,
so you can hear the differences between
a short release, and a long release.
00:03:41 When I have a short release,
the ducking isn't quite as effective
and it's letting some delays through,
even before the phrase is finished.
00:03:48 That's because he's finishing a word,
the amplitude goes down,
and the compressor lets up.
00:03:52 With a longer release, the compressor
waits for the phrase to be finished,
and slowly lets up from the compression,
letting you hear the delay tail.
00:04:00 So let's hear that again,
without the Sidechain compression.
00:04:13 And let's hear that again
with the Sidechain Compressor enabled.
00:04:26 So that's a very practical way
to deal with delays
by using Sidechain compression.
00:04:31 Now, I'm gonna use
the Sidechain Expander
to do the exact opposite, which gives
a very cool and creative effect.
00:04:38 I'm gonna turn off the Compressor...
00:04:42 Drag over an Expander, once again
after my Analog Delay...
00:04:47 On the vocal track, I'm gonna add
a Send to my Expander's Sidechain.
00:04:52 And now my Expander is automatically
listening to the external Sidechain.
00:04:56 Now I need to disable the Duck function
on the Expander,
and let's check this out.
00:05:18 By using the Sidechain of the Expander,
I'm getting the exact opposite effect
of what I was getting
with the Sidechain of the Compressor.
00:05:24 When the vocalist is singing,
it's allowing the delay to speak.
00:05:27 But as soon as the vocalist
finishes a phrase,
the Expander clamps down
and cuts off the delay tail.
00:05:33 So today I showed you two creative uses
for Sidechain compression
and expansion,
while using delay Sends.
00:05:39 One of them helps clear up the mix
and unmuddies the vocal from the delays.
00:05:44 The other one is a very creative way to
add almost an unnaturalness to the space.
00:05:49 And both of these you could take
and apply to any other effect,
reverb, chorus, flange... you name it.
00:05:55 I want you to take these techniques and
run with them, and make them your own.
00:05:59 Till next time! I'm Ben Lindell.
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Featured Music
Freddie Cosmo - Floating on Air on iTunes or Spotify
Ben is a NYC based producer/engineer who has worked with artists from MGMT to Soulja Boy, Bebel Giberto to Lloyd Banks, Ryan Leslie, Olivia, Tony Yayo, Red Cafe, Edie Brickell, Carole Pope and hundreds of other artists from around the world. He grew up in Iowa and then attended the University of Miami.
In addition to being a fantastic musician he is also a tremendous geek when it comes to anything technical, be it software, plug-ins, microphones or outboard gear. It's this marriage of musical creativity and technical know-how that makes him an in demand producer/engineer.
You are an excellent instructor! While I have a firm grasp on these side chain techniques, you have a way of explaining it that makes it new again. Haven't used the expander as a sidechain on delay in a long while, and it brought back some creative ideas I haven't utilized for a long time. Thanks for your clear examples Ben, I always enjoy your vidz!
Cheers, Tunemxr
QV
2019 Feb 03
Very helpful technique. Thanks. However, after watching a few of the free tuts on here, I don't think I'd ever buy a subscription because they all did the absolute most damaging thing you can possibly do in an audio tutorial: Stop the playback in the middle of comparing two settings and say "Now hear it with…" Pretty much makes an audio comparison worthless for training the ear or noticing subtle differences. Rookie move. Ideas are great, though.
alex22watts
2018 Feb 14
Thanks, great example and explanation.
leonardoroa
2018 Jan 20
amazing little teqcnique. beautiful. thanks
prula
2017 Dec 08
Thank you! Very intersting!!
LSDXERXES
2017 Mar 26
Thanks, man! It's an open mind tutorial! Can't wait to try them up!
G.MICHAELHALL
2017 Mar 23
Hey Ben, You really ought to be making more and more videos..this is another excellent example of your concise to the point approach to mentoring. Be well man,g
isaac acevedo
2016 May 27
Excelente video, gracias por compartir esos conocimientos
G-Pizzy
2016 Apr 27
Ben your a treasure...thanks!
rswadhawan@gmail.com
2016 Mar 23
Ben thanks for this nice tutorial...it is great
wrharrison
2016 Mar 20
Clear, concise and practical.
Excellent work, Ben.
nesto
2015 Dec 25
1 of mine fav videos ..wish if could create playlist
KingJ91
2015 Oct 18
Awesome. Love the effects. BTW which song is this?
iLL DB
2015 Sep 30
Right on Ben. Thank you!
5corde
2015 Apr 30
Excellent lesson, very useful.
Thanks a lot.
Slick_64
2015 Feb 01
nice! def gonna use it in my next tracks!
dsquared
2015 Jan 27
Nice.
BrunoM
2014 Dec 04
Ben, great easy trick with loads of options… gotta give a try. Thanks
tabletopdrummer
2014 Nov 28
VERY Cool! I would like to learn more about side chaining.
Thanks!
yitzchokgreen
2014 Nov 27
a++++ WOW
dblshrp
2014 Nov 26
Nice trick! I'll be sure to use that! I always like how Ben explains stuff. And he always seems to offer more than one thing in his tutorials (here, sidechain compression and sidechain expansion). Thanks for the great stuff!
