Using sidechain compression for dynamic delays

It's easy to have too much of a good thing, especially when that good thing is delay! Automating every single second of a delay send is tedious and unnecessary work, that’s why the recording gods gave us tools like compressors and expanders with sidechain inputs to do our work for us.

Ben Lindell shows you one of the best tricks for containing the spray of echos and fit your delay returns perfectly into the vocal gaps, no automation required. This technique helps you keep your mix from getting too washy, cloudy, busy or over-processed.

In this tutorial Ben works in Presonus Studio One but this technique applies to any DAW.

You’ll learn how to:

• Achieve more clarity with your delays
• Easily obtain a natural sounding balance between the delays and the dry vocal
• Flip the trick around to an expander and gain dynamic control ove the delay tail