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7.55pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
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I love the echo effect in Paperback Writer and want to know how to recreate it. It was originally done with send tape echo echo delay which is a complicated process you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…..echo_delay
STEED is what created this effect and similar effects on Everybody’s Tryin To Be My Baby and Birthday .
Does anyone know how this can be recreated in GarageBand or Audacity?
9.21pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
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Which echo effect are you referring to exactly?
I know Audacity has an echo effect.
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9.52pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline That’s why I’m asking… It’s not an effect (that I know of) in either of those programs, I was asking if anyone knew howto replicate that specific effect instead of the generic echos that these programs have. Like a custom effect if you mess around with the delay etc…
9.54pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline Mr. Kite said
That’s why I’m asking… It’s not an effect (that I know of) in either of those programs, I was asking if anyone knew hoe to replicate that specific effect instead of the generic echos that these programs have.
I meant, where in the song is this effect?
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9.55pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline IveJustSeenAFaceo said
Mr. Kite said
That’s why I’m asking… It’s not an effect (that I know of) in either of those programs, I was asking if anyone knew hoe to replicate that specific effect instead of the generic echos that these programs have.I meant, where in the song is this effect?
0:46-0:50 in the song.
10.01pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline Mr. Kite said
IveJustSeenAFaceo said
Mr. Kite said
That’s why I’m asking… It’s not an effect (that I know of) in either of those programs, I was asking if anyone knew hoe to replicate that specific effect instead of the generic echos that these programs have.I meant, where in the song is this effect?
0:46-0:50 in the song.
Oh I see what you mean now. That’s a pretty cool effect, I’d never really noticed it before. Interesting.
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10.15pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline IveJustSeenAFaceo said
Mr. Kite said
IveJustSeenAFaceo said
Mr. Kite said
That’s why I’m asking… It’s not an effect (that I know of) in either of those programs, I was asking if anyone knew hoe to replicate that specific effect instead of the generic echos that these programs have.I meant, where in the song is this effect?
0:46-0:50 in the song.
Oh I see what you mean now. That’s a pretty cool effect, I’d never really noticed it before. Interesting.
Yup! And I’m starting to record my own stuff so I wanna see if I can try that… I’ll just have to play with the options until I get it unless someone else knows.
10.50pm
14 December 2009
Offline
I have no experience with Audacity or GarageBand, but they’ve got reverb controls as well as echo, haven’t they? Maybe try experimenting with those two combined. Possibly a little bit of fade-out in there as well might help. Good luck!
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
10.54pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline Von Bontee said
I have no experience with Audacity or GarageBand, but they’ve got reverb controls as well as echo, haven’t they? Maybe try experimenting with those two combined. Possibly a little bit of fade-out in there as well might help. Good luck!
Thanks, I’ll try that as soon as I can…
11.22pm
5 February 2010
Offline Yeah, without knowing exactly what settings they used in terms of the delay time and the decay factor, it’s hard to pin-point how to repeat it with Audacity. You may have better luck with the GVerb plug-in than the standard echo settings. Another tip that I’ve picked up from using Audacity over the years is that you’ll most likely want to have two duplicate vocal tracks, one without any effects and one with the extra echo/reverb added. That seems to work better than just using one vocal track and trying to apply occasional effects to it.
Not a bit like Cagney.
11.25pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline PeterWeatherby said
Yeah, without knowing exactly what settings they used in terms of the delay time and the decay factor, it’s hard to pin-point how to repeat it with Audacity. You may have better luck with the GVerb plug-in than the standard echo settings. Another tip that I’ve picked up from using Audacity over the years is that you’ll most likely want to have two duplicate vocal tracks, one without any effects and one with the extra echo/reverb added. That seems to work better than just using one vocal track and trying to apply occasional effects to it.
That’s an interesting idea, I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll have to try that too.
What exactly is the difference?
11.35pm
5 February 2010
Offline Mr. Kite said
PeterWeatherby said
Yeah, without knowing exactly what settings they used in terms of the delay time and the decay factor, it’s hard to pin-point how to repeat it with Audacity. You may have better luck with the GVerb plug-in than the standard echo settings. Another tip that I’ve picked up from using Audacity over the years is that you’ll most likely want to have two duplicate vocal tracks, one without any effects and one with the extra echo/reverb added. That seems to work better than just using one vocal track and trying to apply occasional effects to it.That’s an interesting idea, I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll have to try that too.
What exactly is the difference?
When you apply echo and/or reverb to a vocal track, it loses some of its original clarity. It doesn’t sound like a clean vocal track anymore because it’s smothered in effects. If you can have a clean vocal track with a separate “effects” track, the original remains with all of its clarity and quality, while the effects are still there. It’s also nice to be able to mess around with the output levels on the effects track separately.
I use this technique with pretty much every vocal track I use, because I always want some degree of reverb on the track, but I don’t want it screwing up the quality of the original track. My technique is to simply duplicate (copy-paste) the original vocal track, add whatever effects I want, and then drop the output level on that effects track to 1 or 2 clicks below the “clean” vocal track.
Not a bit like Cagney.
11.36pm
5 February 2010
Offline BTW, Mr. Kite, if you want to PM me with an email address, you might be able to email me the Audacity project and I can probably spend a few minutes mucking around with it to see what I can accomplish on adding echo effects. Just a thought.
Not a bit like Cagney.
11.55pm
5 February 2010
Offline After messing with the settings a bit, I’d say the delay time on that echo is about .25 seconds, and you’d want a fairly high decay as well, maybe .75 seconds to 1.25 seconds, somewhere in there.
Not a bit like Cagney.
2.25am
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline @PeterWeatherby Thanks for all your help! 
I’ve been wondering this for a while and just asked while not working on a project at the moment, but if I ever need any more help with this stuff I’ll PM you. Ill try those settings whenever I have a chance to record as I’ve been busy with other things lately.
I have one more question though, I don’t usually put effects on my guitar, but if I did should I use that double track method, or would it not matter as guitar doesn’t need to be as clear as vocals?
4.33pm
5 February 2010
Offline Mr. Kite said
I have one more question though, I don’t usually put effects on my guitar, but if I did should I use that double track method, or would it not matter as guitar doesn’t need to be as clear as vocals?
That depends on the effects, I suppose. If I’m just doing a straight acoustic guitar track and I want to add a bit of reverb in Audacity, then yes, I’ll duplicate the track and add the effects there. But if I’m adding the effects via a processor or pedal prior to sending the signal into Audacity, I usually don’t bother double tracking and adding further effects with Audacity.
Not a bit like Cagney.
5.55am
20 September 2013
Offline Great thread, just a thought-working with tape delay probably utilised variations in tape speed? Something that is difficult to replicate with static, linear digital audio tracks. I seem to remember reading the engineers would use pencils to allow the tape to be fed in at random amounts, using the torque of the machine to provide the required amount of “wobble “. This may not have been used at all in this instance, but may help to give an idea of how inventive the processes were.
Peter’s suggestion about double tracking/keeping one track clean is excellent, one way to replicate the above may be to fade the second track up and down slightly? If Audacity allows, it may also help if you can pre-fade the vocal (through an auxiliary send) to the reverb, allowing you to vary the return level from the reverb while keeping the original audio clean?
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