AUDIO
CONSOLE EFFECTS : OFF THE BEATEN PATH , PART 2 | Jeff Hawley
As mentioned in
Part 1 of the ‘ Console Effects : Off the Beaten Path ’ article last month , most of the go-to effects during any given live mix session include some combination of reverb , delay and compression . But there are a number of interesting ‘ mood ’ effects that can also be peppered in to add additional interest and to achieve a unique flavor for a particular input or even the entire output mix . In Part 1 we covered Automatic Double Tracking and Space Echo . In Part 2 we are going to cover phasers and the rotating speaker effect . Let ’ s dive right in !
JUST GOING THROUGH A PHASE … I can remember my first effects pedal experience like it was yesterday . It was actually about 35 years ago , but the feeling of engaging the various light blue , yellow and red toggle switches on the Maestro PS-1 still brings back fond memories . While you may not be familiar with the tune ‘ Itchycoo Park ’ by the band the Small Faces , their 1967 hit was one of the first notable instances of the tape flanging effect that most people now associate with a phaser . Eventide released the Instant Phaser in 1971 , which used all-pass filters instead of delay and created the common distinguishing element between phasing from flanging . The sonic effect is similar between a flanger and a phaser , but generally phasers are more mellow overall and perhaps described as being more psychedelic and ‘ out there ’ vs . the whooshing passing jet sweep of a flanger . The methods of creating the effect are different , but both can cover a similar sonic range depending on the particular settings . For this article , we ’ ll hone in on the specifics of phaser effects such as the 12 Stage Phaser within the Allen & Heath dLive internal RackExtra FX .
As the 12 Stage Phaser description states , it is designed to create rich textured phasing with control of feedforward , feedback stages and ‘ zero ’ depth manual mode . The characteristic sound is produced by careful emulation of the phase chain and operating frequency range around the offset control . The split / mono LFO switch toggles between in-phase intense phasing and split-phase mode for spatial rotary effects . There are endless possibilities through varying the number of stages or the feedback resonance path – typically lower numbers produce clean thin sounds , higher number of stages produce a richer phasing sound . Rather than just trying to explain how it sounds , here are
a few audio samples on a soloed bass track .
Just like I noted with the various off the beaten path effects in Part 1 , these sorts of phaser effects are likely not something you ’ d just decide to randomly throw onto a lead vocal or an overall mix on a whim . While there are a