Zero-Point Flanging

The flanging effect is accomplished by mixing a signal with a delayed version of itself. One of the signals is unaltered in time, while the other signal is alternately delayed behind the original and then sped back up; the two signals are combined to produce the effect. In analog-tape flanging, first the original signal is delayed then the second signal is slowed to “catch up” with the delayed one. The second signal passes through the point of perfect time alignment (the “zero point”) and continues to slow down, thus becoming itself the delayed signal. This effect is sonically much more dramatic than simple one-track flanging.