Mixing with Delays

First, listen to Mike Senior’s delay examples.

Delays in Reaper

Delay is a close cousin of reverb. Reverb creates many repeats packed tightly together; delay creates repeats spaced farther apart.

Open the Reaper starter project here. Add ReaDelay to the Flute track. By default, delay time uses Length (musical). Adjust it to taste, preferably to a whole number. If the repeats feel out of time, set the correct project tempo.

Next, raise Feedback to hear longer repeat trails. Then adjust the filter section to color the repeats.

Create a stereo multi-tap delay. Pan the first tap left. Create a second tap and pan it right. Build complex rhythms by changing the tap times.

You can also set delay time in milliseconds instead of musical values. Around 100 ms creates a slapback echo.

Run your own delay experiments on the spoken-word vocal. Build a texture with multiple taps, then try chaining several ReaDelay instances in series for more complex effects.

Dynamic delay

This technique is similar to the dynamic reverb method from earlier weeks. The delay comes in and out based on signal dynamics.

Create a delay send track and route your vocal to it. Add ReaDelay to the Delay track. Turn off the dry signal because the dry vocal already comes from the source track.

Set Length (musical) to 2, increase feedback, and filter the repeats to thin them out.

Key steps to create dynamic delay

Prepare the effect: add a delay plugin (ReaDelay) to your vocal track or delay bus. Dial in a wetter sound for phrase gaps, then a drier sound for active vocal lines.

Setup parameter modulation:

Open the Parameter Modulation window for the delay Wet control.
Enable Audio control signal and link it to the vocal input channels.

Configure modulation settings:

Set baseline to your target wet level.
Set direction to negative so delay wet level drops when vocals are present.
Adjust minimum volume and strength to control how far wet level dips while the singer is active.

Refine timing: tune attack and release so delay transitions quickly but smoothly between sung phrases and pauses.

Now try a sidechained compressor on the Delay bus:

Keep your dry vocal on the original Vocal track.
Put a compressor after ReaDelay on the separate Delay bus track.
Drag the Vocal track routing icon onto the compressor so vocal channels 1/2 feed sidechain channels 3/4.
In the compressor, set detector input to Auxiliary Inputs, set attack and release to 0, and set ratio to inf.
Lower threshold until delay is reduced while the singer is active and becomes more audible in the gaps.
Lengthen release slightly for a smoother, subtler transition.

Create your own dynamic delay on a synth part with spaces in it. Program the delay to turn on only when the synth pauses. Use any synth; if you need one, try Vital Synth.

Automated delay

This is similar to dynamic delay, but the effect turns on only for selected notes or syllables. You get tighter control by automating delay mute. Set up a delay send track as before and route the vocal to it.

Open the vocal track envelopes window. In Send Envelopes, select Delay Send Mute. Draw the envelope so mute is off only for the word “then.” Listen closely to the rhythm of both repeats and match their timing.

You can also create a delay throw by automating delay volume instead of mute. Recreate the same effect with volume automation. This gives finer control over the sound. We will go deeper on automation in the next lesson.

Coloristic and more extreme delays

If time allows, explore these delay effects.