Chapter 15: Time Based Effects - Posted on 2016-08-12 by James Ensley Peters

As a guitarist, time-based effects are something I'm familiar with. However, as an audio engineer, I was still new to it. I had an understanding that delay, choruses, flangers, and phasers all affect a signal by altering the spectrum of the signal. When it came to choruses, flangers, and phasers, I didn't know the real difference between the three. I learned that phasing is an effect that uses a short delay of 0 to 1msec and feedback, and is a common modulation effect do its viability and easy use. 

While in the studio, I learned how important it is to master delay. Not only does it provide ambiance and fullness as an effect, it allows for crisper counts and fit among tracks. My mentor showed both example on drum tracks. By adding only a small amount of delay to the snare, the bass drum note on count 1 of a measure was emphasized and gave the snare drum a stronger crack on 2 and 4.