Most of us currently use many different types of delays in our mixes, partly because long reverbs just aren’t that cool anymore (or at least in certain genres) and also because delays have always been cool (dating all the way back to the “analog tape loop” days) These, as a general rule, were utilized as mono delays. But have you ever used a stereo delay and although it may sound perfectly fine it just does not have any “stereo” image? The outputs of the delay are panned hard left and right but the delay itself, or echo if you will, appears to come from straight up the middle. This phantom center image may or moreover may not be the desired effect. Continue on if you would like to learn a little more about stereo imaging, phantom center imaging, and a few delay processing tricks to give your mixes a little twist.

If you have been using Pro Tools for a while you probably know that in most circumstances the practical way to use reverbs and delays (i.e. time based effects) is by placing the plugin on an aux input. So first - create a stereo aux input track and place a delay plugin on an insert of that track.

SHORTCUT: shift + command + N, and while continuing to hold down the command key tap the down arrow and the right arrow. (this will switch the create track type and format from a “mono audio” track to a “stereo aux input” track.

For this example I will be using the Digidesign Extra Long Delay II. Is this a great delay plugin? Well ask 10 engineers and you’ll get 10 different opinions. That being said, if you are reading this blog then you are stuck with hearing mine. I think it’s a great usable delay, it sounds fine, it’s easy to use and it’s not a horsepower hog. Does it have a wonderful warm boutique color? Well . . . no, not really, but if you are looking for that there is a wonderful world of boutique plugins out there to choose from. Just open your wallet and say “ahh”. But for a lot of applications, pardon the pun, this plugin works great and it’s free with ProTools.

So, moving on . . .

Set the “input” of that aux track to a designated bus of your choosing and on any audio track that you would like to add some delay simply place that designated bus on the sends of those tracks.

SHORTCUT: “select” all the tracks you wish to add delay, hold the shift and options keys, then create the bus on the send of one of those tracks to automatically create them on all of the “selected” tracks. (i.e. set selected to the same state).

To avoid any phasing issues keep your delay set to “100% wet” and then adjust the amount of delay on each instrument by the send fader on that instrument’s track.

You will notice in the picture that the song tempo is 83bpm and the delay time is set to quarter notes which at this tempo is 722.9ms. You will also notice that the same millisecond delay is set to both the left and right channels, i.e. a quarter note echo will come discretely from the left and right channels respectively. However you will not hear them coming from the left and right side. The echo from each channel will appear to be coming from the center between the two speakers. This is caused by a psycho acoustic phenomenon based on the theory that whatever is 100% common to left and right our brain will perceive as coming from the center, i.e. the exact point between the two speakers. How do we avoid this mono “phantom center” image of our stereo delay? Simple. Just change the delay setting ever so slightly on either delay side and your brain will perceive the echo to be coming from the left and right speakers independently. In the next picture you will see that I have changed the right side delay to 724ms. Now it sounds like a quarter note STEREO echo as opposed to a quarter note MONO echo. There is no longer a phantom center image but a true stereo image delay, the width of which can now be controlled by the pan pots on the aux input track. To create additional repeats of the echo just add some positive or negative feedback.

Now that our delay has true stereo imaging let’s give the echoes a little more character. If we leave the echoes “as is” then although each repeat will reduce in volume they still will carry the full bandwidth of the original signal. Often I like my repeats to take up considerably less sonic space than the original dry signal so I will place an EQ plugin on the next insert of the aux input track where my delay resides and use a high pass filter to roll off the lo freqs of the delay in the 400-500hz range. If I want my delay to sit a little further back in my mix I may add a lo pass filter to roll some of the hi freq content. Remember this: adjusting eq can turn an instrument up or down in a mix the same way a volume fader does. Example: The lo end is muddy on a rock track, perhaps there is too much lo freq content on the guitar track. Roll a little bottom end out of that guitar and not only does the guitar cut through in the mix better but now the bass guitar has more clarity because you opened up a little more sonic space for the bass guitar to reside.

OK, back to delays.

While we are in the groove coloring our delays why not put the echoes through a guitar amp plugin like Eleven or an “out there” patch of a convolution reverb like TLSpace.

Another great delay which has cool eq control built into the plugin is the WAVES SuperTap.

Not only can you place each of the repeats in a separate location of the stereo image but each each repeat can have it’s own eq color. Very cool. As an example you can make each repeat get narrower in bandwidth as it diminishes in volume. Fun stuff.

Now it’s your turn to find new ways to color your stereo delays.

Be creative and Happy Mixing.