I’d like to discuss a trend that has become an increasing annoyance: the ‘delay double’ (yes, I just coined that term). We’ve talked about doubles on the podcast before. Basically, a double is when you record a line a second time, slightly different and layer it back over the original. Puffy explained this really well in an episode of Making the Band. Pretty much everyone does doubles. They are easy to do and give tracks a little oomph.
Proper doubles are subtle and they don’t call attention to themselves. Listen to 99 Problems by JayZ. You barely notice it, but Jay doubles during the chorus. It adds a whole new acoustic dimension. This is what Puffy was getting at.
A ‘delay double’ is when you repeat a certain line or excerpt again for emphasis - but it’s delayed a second or two. For example, you may hear something like ‘Shorty be the hottest thing I ever seen,’ followed quickly by ‘I ever seen’. Often it will be whispered or hushed and extended.
Delay doubles are used extensively in hip hop and pop music. The reasoning is simple: it’s easy and it simulates a listener repeating his favorite part of a lyric. If you hear a particularly good punchline, the kind that makes you go ‘ooooo snap!’ and hip hop heads live for, you may be tempted to repeat the last two or three words. That is what the delay double is after. Producers are trying to encode this reaction into the track up front.
A prime example of offensive delay doubling is Bustit Baby by Plies. Take a listen. He does it on every. single. line. First, there are no punchlines worth repeating. Second, even if there were - repeating the last two words of each line is just plain annoying; your listeners are not deaf! Someone please clue me in - how does this sell records? Is this what’s hot in the street? Is this what you’d call really hood? Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.
Usher and Jeezy are both guilty of misdemeanor delay doubling on Love in This Club. I think I could cosign the delay if it were used a little more sparingly, but things as they are, I want to slap every artist employing it. Other offenders include: Destiny’s Child (Soldier), Mariah Carey (Touch My Body), The Dream’s (I Luv Ur Girl) and heaps and heaps of others. Even Mos Def must be brought to task (Ghetto Rock)!
I’m sorry to say it, but delay doubles may one day unseat the vocoder as the worst thing to ever happen to music.
you’re right in one respect that delay doubles are overused. however, as someone that records a lot of music, i disagree with your explanation of why they’re used. they serve a very practical purpose when done right, which is to emphasize the vocals (especially on a song that has a really full / loud backing track). i think they’re the equivalent of backup vocals on a rock track. most bands use them poorly, but some do them right. i could see some hip hop producers over-thinking it and saying that they’re used to emulate a listener repeating their favorite lyric, but i’ve only ever used them as musical tool to drag out a sound or add in something fun.
ok i can feel that, for some producers it is just about emphasizing a particular line. i had actually included that in a previous draft…
perhaps what gets me the most about the delay double is that it is bandied about with such abandon. there is no attempt made to do it well or use it sparingly. it’s become an all or nothing effect.
background sound effects, the kissing cousin of the delay double, can ‘add in something fun’ too, but they walk the same treacherous line. Eminem’s singles overuse soundeffects - but it is kind of his signature style now.
what are some other tracks that do delay doubles right?