Here’s this week’s semi-monthly tone tip. If you’re looking for that old school SUN Records tape echo stutter live or in the studio using your delay pedal or an outboard rig, start with the following settings:

• Delay: 130-140ms
• Feedback: 30%
• Mix: anywhere from 50% to almost 100%
• If High Cut is available, set it for 50% or less.

These settings will get you a fast 3 repeats with the first one being almost as loud as the original signal. The high cut attenuates the high end with each successive repeat, simulating tape degradation as if it was passing through a playback head over and over. These settings also work well for studio outboard delays if there’s no tape machine available, or if you want to customize a preset in your DAW plugins.

As far as adjusting these settings, try to match the delay speed to the tempo of the song, typically a 1/8 note. For ballads, try a bit longer, like 200ms.

In the studio, check how the outboard rig is bussed into the mixer, if you’re not doing it in the box with a DAW. You’ll get fine results for an ambient delay if the outboard is bussed in parallel, but in order to really get the sound, you’ll want to insert the delay into a secondary channel to buss the signal in series and record it to a separate channel. Remember, back in the day, these recordings were done live and on the fly. Ever notice how your guitar sounds when you have this setting in a delay pedal with the guitar signal in series? Same deal. Since a picture tells a thousand words, here’s a simple block diagram:

Here’s another nifty trick. Set the feedback at 0%-10% for a single repeat, with high cut at 0% and the mix at 100%.  Pick a tempo and play a muted note, let it repeat, and play another note and let it repeat. Watch what happens if you play a major scale exactly in time with the repeat!

Have fun!