This effect is great for transitions and even for smooth, dreamlike fade-outs at the ends of songs. Sometimes I’ll even put a reverb on that howling feedback to create this ethereal, smeary cloud that trails the vocal. I also expand on the concept and rather than restrict the delay to 2-3 repeats, turn up the feedback and let it howl. Verses, choruses, bridges, it doesn’t matter - it’s one of those techniques that makes a pop mix sound “more expensive”. I sneak in vocal throw delays all over my mixes. The key is making sure that only the words that you want to be processed return on the auxiliary. Revisit the paragraph on how I setup reverb tails for information on my preferred method of routing. The Classic “Throw Delay” (expanded)Ī tried-and-true ear candy element for decades now, you can still regularly hear this technique on Pop, R&B and Rap. I just mastered a track by the band Plake, and you can hear the technique in action during the verses. I often place a good deal of compression right after the reverb, because I usually want an unnatural, almost synthetic-sounding tail. UAD just released an emulation of the Lexicon 480L which I’m sure would work splendidly for this purpose. My favorite plugins for this application are Soundtoys Little Plate, FabFilter Pro-R and a handful of UAD Reverbs including the EMT 250, EMT 140 Plate and Lexicon 224. In practice, I soft-send the vocal to an auxiliary track, place a reverb on that auxiliary, and then automate the send level so that only the exact words that I want to be drenched in reverb are reaching the auxiliary return.
It works great as a transitional effect, too. On certain words, generally at the ends of phrases, producers place a long, lush reverb on the voice, creating a ghostly, lingering quality. This has been an en vogue production technique for a few years now. Here are some interesting ways in which I process my vocals: 1.
The human voice is the most expressive instrument, and not only lends itself to creative production styles but sometimes needs it. I find that when producing music, the way that rhythm sections are processed tends to follow convention more so than vocals.