How should I use outboard delay on vocals?

[mofat]

Sorry if this sound noobish...I'm confused on the purpose of a delay. Isn't reverb the same as delay because when you hear echo...that's a form of delay isn't it? I always see 2 effects on every board, reverb and delay. Could you suggest a setting on delays on vocals?

[wesg]

Slap-back delay sounds better than reverb in many contexts (rock), in my opinion. It's also safer to put in the monitors from a feedback point of view. What outboard unit do you have? Try a delay of around 80-120ms with little feedback so that the delay only happens once. I snap my fingers into a mic to check mine.

 

Wes

[mofat]

My Delay is a Roland SDE-330. Reverbs I have Behringer REV2496, TC Electronic M-One XL and Lexicon MPX-1.

[agedhorse]

Delay and reverb are very different things, though reverb is generated from multiple delay algorithms and a variety of filters.

[DanCostello]

Sorry if this sound noobish...I'm confused on the purpose of a delay. Isn't reverb the same as delay because when you hear echo...that's a form of delay isn't it? I always see 2 effects on every board' date=' reverb and delay. Could you suggest a setting on delays on vocals? [/quote']

 

They're different, but related. Delay can help give you a sort of echo-y feel like reverb, but cleaner and more distinct. As to what settings to use, just play around with it. I'd suggest starting with a low feedback setting. Around 150ms will give you the rockabilly slapback effect. Using a tap tempo control to tap out 1/4 or 1/8 note delays will help you keep the repeats in time with the music. Turning up the feedback can get you closer to The Edge's guitar sound.

 

-Dan.