From the course: Audio Foundations: Delay and Modulation

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Get in the Mix: Creating slap-back echo with long delays

Get in the Mix: Creating slap-back echo with long delays

From the course: Audio Foundations: Delay and Modulation

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Get in the Mix: Creating slap-back echo with long delays

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A popular sound in 1950's rock, slapback echo is sometimes part of a contemporary mix. If you've heard Elvis sing, you've heard slap. Guitars playing the blues sometimes reach for it too. It adds liveness and excitement wherever we use it. So lets go to the live room where David's playing the drums. In the control room, we'll add slap echo. Alright David, we're rolling. Let's add some slap to that. This single audible echo between about 80 and 200 milliseconds adds a distinctive bounce and pulse to every drumhead. On a vocal, slap echo can add a retro feel to the sound. Elvis and his contemporaries reached for this effect so often that it has become a cliche. It's evocative of the time. Listeners today associate slapback with those happy days of the 1950s. You can almost hear the fins on the car. On a solo instrument, like guitar, or a rhythm interment like drums, slap echo makes a performance sound more live, putting the listener in the noisy bar with the band. It reminds us of the…

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