

It can be used on any instrument, but sounds particularly great on guitars, drums, lead vocals, and you guessed it, background vocals. Slapback was super popular in the 50s, and you can hear it all over old rockabilly and Elvis records. Since the delay time is so short, we don’t perceive it as a traditional delay sound-which is typically synced to a rhythmic subdivision-but rather a thickening of the signal. Nectar also allows you to further refine your sound with EQ, de-essing, reverb, and more, letting you dial in just the right amount of these effects.Ī slapback delay is a delay set with a relatively short delay time, around 40–100 ms. So in most cases, one of the three will do. You can only select one of these three effects per instance of Nectar 3, but throwing too many effects on your background vocals may cause them to distract from the lead, defeating the purpose of your backing vocals. In terms of tech, Nectar 3 is a great option because its Dimension module includes modes for phasing and flanging, as well as chorus, which we’ll talk about later.

Both effects work really well for shaking up the sonic image of your background vocals, and a little bit of either effect can go a long way in your mix. Phasing is also a popular effect on vintage electric pianos like Rhodes, Wurlitzers, and Clavs. People sometimes compare the effect to the sound of a jet plane or drain pipe.īoth phasers and flangers are really popular sounds for guitar pedals, classic sounds that musicians have been using for decades. That movement results in a swooshing sound that also has a distinct, resonant pitch with a notable rise and fall. The delay time of the delayed signal is constantly in motion, going back and forth between a certain set of values, such as 10 ms and 25 ms. A flanger is a delay device with a short delay time-usually around 20 ms-whose rate is modulated by an LFO. A phaser creates a flanger-like whooshing sound, but one that is more subtle and doesn’t introduce any pitch-shifting effects.įlanging is similar to phasing, but is a different process and creates a more distinct, pronounced sound. In other words, it’s several notch filters that make deep cuts at different points in the frequency spectrum, and these cuts travel across the frequency spectrum at a rate and depth determined by the device’s LFO controls. Phasing and flangingīy using filters called “all-pass filters,” a phaser basically acts as a comb filter whose position is modulated by an LFO. In this article we’ll take a look at five different techniques to create these textures, including phasing and flanging, pitch shifting and pitch-related effects, slapback delays, chorus and doubling, and distortion. Because of the unique role they play in your production, background vocals are great candidates for creative processing that may be more difficult to get away with when processing a lead vocal or focal musical element.

They sit further back in the mix, playing a supportive role from a sonic standpoint, and an important compositional role as a counterpoint to the lead vocal.
