Sound Definitions

Sound effects : flanging / flanger : origins

The origins

The name flanging comes from the original method of creation, which involved playing the same recording on two synchronized tape recorders with the output of one machine out of phase as above, and then mixing the two output signals together. As long as the machines are perfectly synchronized, the result will be silence, as the signals will be canceling each other out. Given the near-impossibility of keeping two analog tape decks perfectly in sync, however, this silence is only achievable for a split second before the signals slip slowly out of sync again. If the operator places his/her finger on the flange (that is to say, the rim) of one of the tape reels, that machine can be made to slow down, slipping out of sync by tiny degrees. A listener will hear the familiar "drainpipe" swooping effect as shifting sum-and-difference harmonics are created.

The classic flanging effect is believed to have been first perfected during 1966 by George Chkiantz, an engineer employed at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London. One of the first instances of the sound being used on a commercial pop recording was the Small Faces' 1967 single Itchycoo Park, recorded at Olympic and engineered by Chkiantz's colleague Glyn Johns.

How it works in practice

If the frequency response of this effect is plotted on a graph, the trace resembles a comb, and so is called a comb filter. Once the operator takes his/her finger off, that player will speed up until its tachometer is back in phase with the master, and as this happens, the flanging effect will be repeated, with the harmonics swooping gradually higher until both signals pass momentarily through the silent perfect sync point again. It is often aesthetically better not to let the two tapes reach this point, but to start the reel-slowing again just before they get back into sync.

John Lennon of the Beatles used the term 'flanging' to refer to automatic double tracking, a technique developed at Abbey Road Studios by recording engineer Ken Townshend, in answer to producer George Martin's joking assertion that the ADT effect employed a "double-bifurcated sploshing flange". This usage of the term is coincidental. Standard flanging was used on the Beatles song "Blue Jay Way", written and sung by George Harrison.

New age digital flanging technology

In the 1970s, advances in solid state electronics made the flanging effect possible using integrated circuit technology. Solid state flanging devices fall into two categories: analog and digital. The flanging effect in most newer digital flangers relies on DSP technology. Flanging can also be accomplished using computer software. Even today, though, many studio practitioners prefer the sound of analog tape flanging, finding the serendipitous nature of human intervention more interesting than the clinical perfection created by purely electronic means. Tape flanging requires bulky hardware and takes quite a knack to get right, but some consider the results to be well worth the time and effort.

Older age tape flanging technology

Note that the original tape-flanging effect sounds a little different (generally much richer!) from the later electronic and software re-creations. This is because, not only is the signal time-delayed, but the response characteristics at different frequencies of the magnetic tape and tape heads inevitably introduced some phase shifts into the signals as well. Thus, whilst the peaks and troughs of the comb filter are more-or-less in a linear harmonic series, there is a significant amount of non-linear behavior too, causing the timbre of tape-flanging to sound more like a combination of what came to be known as flanging and phasing.

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