Greetings! My name is Ian Vargo, I’m with The Pro Audio Files, and today I’m going to be showing you how to create an extended reverb tail and throw delay that you can use as a transition in the context of a pop music mix.

The track I’m going to be using is Not Cool Enough by the band Gentle Mechanic. This single that was just released is available for streaming virtually everywhere. Make sure to check it out.

Okay, let’s listen to the second half of the first verse.

[song]

So, there could definitely be a little bit more of a dramatic transition in that sort of empty space between the two verses, so what I did is sent the lead vocal to a variety of different aux tracks. One had a reverb on it, one had a delay with an eighth note time value, one with a quarter note time value, and a couple more, actually.

So let’s go ahead and un-mute these and check it out in the context of the mix.

[vocals in the mix]

And let’s solo it.

[vocals with reverb and delay effects]

Something to keep in mind is that I’m actually only sending certain parts of the vocal to these aux tracks down here, and the way that I’m doing that is automating the send level. So if you look here, I’ve got the send level, and I am not sending this line.

[vocals]

But, I am sending this line right here.

[vocals]

And then, I’m using volume automation on the aux track on which the reverb and delays are applied to create sort of a swell right leading up to different verses and choruses.

So I do this several times within the song. Let’s play it again from here.

[song]

Let’s check this one out here.

[vocals]

Alright. So I actually have different tracks. This line right here, “won’t catch me dead.”

[music]

Is being sent which creates this sort of dramatic swell that just makes the arrangement a little bit more interesting. There are little things that you can do like this in a track, which is supposed to sound like it’s from a certain genre or decade. In this case, it would be sort of 80’s synth pop that really help reinforce the production.

So I hope this has been helpful. Once again, my name is Ian Vargo, I’m with The Pro Audio Files. Make sure to check out Not Cool Enough by Gentle Mechanic.