Effects

What are the three parameters that most effects feature?

Wet

Dry

Bypass

What is the wet/dry mix?

Wet - altered signal

Dry - unaltered signal

What is the bypass parameter?

The control that switches the effect on and off.

What are the all effects in music technology?

Reverb

Delay

Chorus

Flanger

Phaser

Distortion

Wah wah

Tremolo

REVERB: What is reverb?

Ambience as a result of spaces.

It can occur naturally (eg in a church hall) or artificially (DAW plugin).

How does natural reverb happen?

Sounds reflect of surfaces - creating reflections.

These reflections reflect off of more surfaces.

This creates an overlapping echoes sound.

How can unwanted reverb be eliminated?

Through close miking.

What is pre-delay time?

The gap between the original sound source and the reverb.

What is reverb time?

The amount of time taken for the reverb to decay to the point that we can’t hear it anymore.

What’s another word for reverb time? Why?

RT60.

Because reverb time is measured by how long it takes for the reverb to be 60db quieter than the original (non reverberated) signal.

What is reverb tail?

The general wash of sound that occurs after the direct sound dissapears.

What is HF damping?

A technique that increases the perceived warmth of the space by absorbing more high frequencies.

What is a live room?

A room that is chosen to act as a recording room because of its acoustic properties.

This room normally intentionally avoids reverb - so it can be added in post-production. This results in more creative freedom.

Although a live room can also be a chamber or hall.

What are the different types of reverb?

Plate reverb

Spring reverb

Digital reverb

Convolution reverb

Gated reverb

Reverse reverb

Plate reverb: When was plate reverb introduced?

In the late 1950s.

It was used frequently throughout the 60s and 70s.

Where was plate reverb commonly used?

On vocals and drum sounds - gave them a rich-sounding reverb.

How does plate reverb work?

The audio signal is fed through a thin metal plate suspended in a frame.

Reverb time is adjusted by damping the vibrations using felt pads.

Diagram of plate reverb

Spring reverb: When was spring reverb first manufactured?

In 1963.

Where were spring reverbs used?

In guitar amps.

They’re still used in some amps today - although some amps use digital reverb.

How does spring reverb work?

The same as plate reverb, but the plate is replaced with a loose spring.

An audio signal was fed through a loose spring suspended in a frame.

Why was spring reverb advantageous to plate reverb?

It was cheaper and more practical

How does the sound of spring reverb compare to plate reverb?

It’s more metallic, and less rich.

Diagram of spring reverb

Gated reverb: what is gated reverb?

Feeding reverb though a noise gate, which abruptly cuts the reverb tail off.

This is quite a dramatic effect.

When was this effect used?

In the 80s.

(Eg ‘In the Air Tonight’ - Phil Collins)

Graph of gated reverb

Reverse reverb: How is this created?

By playing the reverb tail backwards and playing this before the sound source.

This is available at the push of a button in DAW plugins.

DELAY: What is delay?

A repeat of a sound that occurs after the original signal.

What are the two categories of delay?

Analogue and Digital

What are the three types of analogue delay?

Tape delay

Bucket brigade delay

Slapback delay

When was slapback delay used?

On rock’n’roll recordings in the 1950s (eg Elvis).

What was slapback delay used on?

Vocals and guitars, to thicken their texture.

What does slapback delay sound like?

It makes a single repeat after about 100-200ms (very short).

It sounds almost like a percussive effect.

How did slapback delay work?

Magnetic tape machines captured the signal, delayed it slightly and re-recorded it.

How it was delayed - The tape travelling from the record head to the playback head created a small delay.

Delay time could be adjusted by adjusting the distance between the heads.

Tape delay: