In my previous post, we covered the Reverb effect in depth. In this post, we are going to explore the Delay DJ effect. Delay can be kind of odd, and often, DJs prefer either Delay or Echo with regulatory. Today we will cover delay on a technical level, the parameters which control it, and I’ll provide some techniques for how it can be used in your DJ sets.
Table of Contents
What is the Delay DJ Effect?
While there are a variety of DJ effects available, Delay is an audio effect that puts a time delay on a sound by making a copy of the sound and sending it to the loop. By creating a repeat sample offset with a certain timing, the perception of a “delayed” sound is created on playback – hence the effect is called Delay.
Let’s use an analogy. Imagine you have a leaky faucet. As one drop of water falls into the sink basin, you can guess that maybe 2-5 seconds later a second drop of the same size and weight will fall as well. This process repeats with regularity, and you can think of the subsequent drops of water as “delayed” copies of the first drop of water.
Example of the Delay Effect
Let’s listen for the difference between a clean snare drum sample and one with a delay applied to it. These samples were created using Ableton Live a popular music creation software for producers and DJs.
What is the Delay Effect used for?
In a music production environment, delay can add room dynamics and “humanness” back to a sound that is crafted from a clean sampling in the studio. When you listen to percussion and drums present in disco hits that got crowds and rooms moving, you will notice that the timing of hits is often imperfect. This phenomena of imperfect timing of notes creates the effect of swing time in rhythm theory, and is the basis of the “grooviness” of a lot of analog drumming. Delay can help with adding back some of the human elements for music produced almost entirely by computers. Delay can add movement, tension and a rolling sensation to a track depending on the parameters used.
What are the main parameters for Delay?
Parameter 1: Time
Time is the amount of time between each repeat of the delay unit.
A longer time will increase the offset between repeats creating more space between delayed signals. A shorter time will decrease the offset between repeats and remove space between delayed signals.
Parameter 2: Feedback
Feedback is how much output is fed back into the FX unit at input or how long the delay lasts after the first tap.
A longer feedback will increase the number of repetitions until the delayed signal ceases – this can make the sample sound more “ghostly”. A shorter feedback decreases the number of repetitions until the effected signal ceases.
Examples of Using the Delay Effect’s Parameters
Compare the difference between the following four bar snare drum loop played with 50% feedback and 80%. Notice how as the feedback increases, the number of repetitions does too; eventually, prior delayed signals overlap with emerging delayed snares creating a higher level “rolling” dynamic to the loop.
How to use the Delay Effect in DJing?
Tactic 1. Adding movement to a build up
While working through a build up towards a drop, using delay at an appropriate rate can create a sensation of momentum and “rolling” towards the climax as delayed signals begin overlaying one another.
Tactic 2. Giving dry acapellas and vocals more presence
Sometimes an acapella or vocal can lack the presence of a room from a clean studio recording. In order to blend the vocal into a track you can add delay to create small trails from the vocalist’s voice improving the perception of the blend and sense that the mix is “a single track”.
Tactic 3. Increasing smoothness of cut out transitions
Since the delayed sound is offset from the original source signal, adding a long delay time and medium feedback parameter can smooth out the cut transition of the exiting track, as you cut into the next track.
If you’re interested in learning more about this technique checkout L2DJ’s Beginner to Intermediate course for Electronic / House / Techno DJs.
Conclusion
While there are tons of DJ effects, arguably too many that go unused, for any DJ software or DJ starting out being able to access to the delay effect is typical. As a result, getting fine tuned understanding into the inner workings of this effect and the tactics that you can apply it with will give you an edge in crafting great sets.