Using Extra Delay When Recording

[GAJ52]

I have just been listening to the sound file Oxygen IV by Phil McGarrick - very good it is too. He mentions adding extra delay for a more 'spacious' sound. I was just wondering if anyone else on the forum does this and could they give me any tips. I am using Cubase Studio 5 which has quite a few VST tools. When I record something to a backing track it doesn't seem to mix properly but sits outside the mix if you know what I mean.

Thanks

Glen

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Glen,
I don't think extra delay will solve a lead instrument not sitting properly in the mix, that has much more to do with EQ.
Regards,
Charlie

[joeboy]

Hi Glen

I have both Magic Stomp & Q20 connected to my amp, I switch between the 2 while playing as there are one or two pre-sets on the Magic Stomp that I prefer over the Q20 & visa versa.

I was playing The Frightened City last night & thought to myself Wow! that sounds good! I then noticed I had both units turned on so I had 2 different pre-sets running at the same time, it sounded great!.... not authentic but a very pleasing spacious sound

A critical ear may have found it too much, but I loved the extra atmosphere it gave to the tune.

[GAJ52]

Charlie

Having read many messages on this forum about EQ I still find it a bit of a mystery. I will just have to accept I will never make the grade as a sound engineer

Joeboy

From what you say it appears, even by accident, two sounds played together can improve the sound.

I seem to have wrongly assumed this was common practise to have a delayed stereo signal when recording a lead, to add to the overall sound. I'm sure if it was more people would have jumped into this thread.

Glen

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Glen,
Correcting a bad or wrong sound with EQ is very difficult. I used to trust my ears until I realised how far I could be off. Now I use what is basically a spectrum analyser to make EQ decisions. I learned how to use it by studying the spectrum of known good sounding recordings and then trying to match it. This is of course the most effective on a sole instrument since the analyser cannot separate sounds that are on the same track. It is not possible to make one guitar tone sound exactly like another but it is sometimes possible to get close.
Some sounds can't be improved beyond a certain amount even with any amount of EQ. It takes a fair amount of practise to recognise sounds that are not worth bothering with other than to learn from it. Sometimes it takes other things to make a good sound happen. In other cases a sound can be too far damaged making it too late to perform any kind of correction.
It is possible to add two delays together but results can be very unpredictable if you don't know what you are doing. The thickening of sounds is usually done with a double track type delay of around 20-30 milliseconds.
Regards,
Charlie

[grip]

Jun 6, 2010 17:37:17 GMT joeboy said:

I was playing The Frightened City last night & thought to myself Wow! that sounds good! I then noticed I had both units turned on so I had 2 different pre-sets running at the same time, it sounded great!.... not authentic but a very pleasing spacious sound

Hi Robert,

I have used this method for my last 3 recordings (Tales of a Raggy Tramline, South of The Border and Hey There Lonely Girl) with "matching" EFTP on G2.1u and Quadraverb Plus, I like the extra width it gives to the sound. I also used another echo (Echo Platter model from my M13 stompbox) to add a little W&F, but the penalty of doing this is I have to set an echo tap in there at its lowest setting of 19ms, unfortunately it won't go down to zero.

Kind regards,


Chris

[joeboy]

Jun 8, 2010 10:08:17 GMT grip said:

Hi Robert,

I have used this method for my last 3 recordings (Tales of a Raggy Tramline, South of The Border and Hey There Lonely Girl) with "matching" EFTP on G2.1u and Quadraverb Plus, I like the extra width it gives to the sound. I also used another echo (Echo Platter model from my M13 stompbox) to add a little W&F, but the penalty of doing this is I have to set an echo tap in there at its lowest setting of 19ms, unfortunately it won't go down to zero.

Kind regards,


Chris

Hi Chris

I've tried a bit of experimenting with various echo units & have come up with some very nice sounds, the only problem is remembering which settings I used for what ;D

[clivea]

Hi Robert,
Any chance of a sound file with you using your Magicstomp and Q2 at the same time?
Rgds - Clive

[joeboy]

Hi Clive

I'll put something together for you sometime this week, I've been very busy lately so not much time for posting

[clivea]

Thanks my friend, I'll look forward to listening to it, and may try it myself.

Rgds - Clive