Adding delay and echo effects in a mix is a time-tested and great-sounding way to add depth and texture to a song. But if you’re not careful, delays can make a mix sound messy and cluttered. Here’s a cool mix trick that will ensure that the delay is triggered only when there’s space in the mix: use a noise gate with a sidechain input to control when the delay is audible.
1. In your DAW, create an aux track with a delay on it.
2. Put a noise gate with a sidechain after the delay.
3. Set the gate so that it clamps down on the output whenever it receives signal from the sidechain.
4. Create a send to the aux channel input on the track (or tracks) you wish to send through the delay.
5. Set whatever track(s) you want to “mute” the delay to the gate sidechain.
So for example, let’s say you want the lead guitar to be delayed, but you want the delay to stop as soon as the vocal comes in. Create a send on your lead guitar channel to the delay aux. Set your vocal track as the sidechain control for the noise gate. This way, your guitar echo will be muted whenever the vocal comes in, but will ring out when there is space for it.
Experiment with different signals controlling the sidechain “muting” the delay; a mix of tracks could also be used to control the sidechain using a bus.