The War on Drugs vocal delay

by **msmith92** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:37 pm

There is a band TWOD and I want to know ow o get that same vocal delay as on their new cd.

http://www.thewarondrugs.net/

by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:46 pm

The first tune sounds like it is capitalizing on some heavy phase cancellation. Some of the other stuff seems like old "Elvis" style 'natural' reverb. I wouldn't be surprised if they did a lot of that stuff with creative live mic placements in front of speakers during performance and not necessarily as a digital insert on a track. Not my cup of tea, but well done walls of sound. The mastering certainly holds your interest.

by **msmith92** » Wed May 30, 2012 6:24 pm

So a plugin chain would not work?

by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed May 30, 2012 6:34 pm

You're asking the wrong guy. I am something of a traditionalist but maybe one of these smarty pants guys can answer you. It should be possible with the right delay-compression-reverb settings. If I had to do it for a project, I would figure it out, but it reminds me of my acid guitar days using an actual amp as a preamp. They seemed to have really captured the power of live speakers kicking-arse! That's it! I'm taking my guitar out tonight!

by **HCMarkus** » Thu May 31, 2012 9:06 am

You need a lot of reverb on the delay only.

Set up your delay on an Aux track as a 100% wet insert. Bus your vocal to that Aux Track via a Send. Then Send the delay's output to your reverb via an Aux Send or insert a Reverb below the Delay. Adjust the delay and 'verb character and levels to taste.

For the sound you seek, a big hall 'verb on the delay would do the trick. A bandpass filter inserted after the delay is also a good way to tune the character of the delay and reverb.

By the way, adding reverb to delays as noted above is almost always a good thing. Delays sit IN, not ON, the mix that way.

by **msmith92** » Thu May 31, 2012 9:47 am

HCMarkus wrote:You need a lot of reverb on the delay only.

Set up your delay on an Aux track as a 100% wet insert. Bus your vocal to that Aux Track via a Send. Then Send the delay's output to your reverb via an Aux Send or insert a Reverb below the Delay. Adjust the delay and 'verb character and levels to taste.

For the sound you seek, a big hall 'verb on the delay would do the trick. A bandpass filter inserted after the delay is also a good way to tune the character of the delay and reverb.

By the way, adding reverb to delays as noted above is almost always a good thing. Delays sit IN, not ON, the mix that way.

Oh cool! I like that idea. Thanks.

I really want to get vocal sounds like that or like the band Beach House.