The Flanger Effect

There are countless effects units out on the market that help mold, shape, and totally distort your sound. But today I'm going to tell you a little bit about, one of the more popular, and commonly used effects, the flanger effect. So what is a flanger exactly? Well, a flanger effect is kind of like a delay that happens really quick(1-10 ms), so quick in fact that you can not hear the delay by the human ear, instead we hear a whooshing sound on the instrument. The flanger is most commonly applied to a guitar, and/or drums.

The flanger effect comes in a few different forms. You can find it as a software effect,a hardware (rack mount) unit, or as an effect pedal for your guitar. If your looking to get your hands on one of these effects pedals. The Boss BF3 Flanger Effects Pedal is a great deal for about a hundred bucks, but if your more of a music programmer than a software version of a flanger effect is maybe more up your alley. Some synthesizers and mixers also have a flanger effect built in as an added feature.

Common Parameters

LFO Waveform - The waveform that manipulates the actions of the delay on the sound.

Sweep Depth - The span between the minimum and maximum value of the amplitude on the delay.

Rate/Speed - Control of how fast the lfo waveform repeats itself.

Application of the Flanger Effect

They are most commonly used on instruments like guitars/drums in a song, in most cases a flanger effect should be automated, or used rationally or else your song might sound like a whooshing disaster, All depending on how heavy the effect is applied to the sound and how often the effect is used over the length of the song. If you are looking for past references of the use of the flanger check out the beatles and jimmy hendrix. They were both known for using flanger effect in there songs, and to even today its use is widely popular in reference to (the acidy string sound) very psychedelic and heard in many genres of electronic music.

If you found this article helped you understand what a flanger effect is, and how to use it, then you may want to read this topic related article on the reverb effect.