Popular in psychedelia and beyond, flanging sounds like nothing else. We show you how to make your own unique effect that sounds just like the original with tools you already have.

When it comes to the classic psychedelic flanging effect the list of boxes and plugins that can get you to Swoosh Nirvana is endless. That said there’s only one way to get a totally unique effect like the original, and that’s to do it yourself.

How Was Flanging Done?

The original analogue technique involves two tape recordings of the same audio. A duplicate of a recording is played in sync with its twin, before having its playback speed modulated slightly ahead, then behind the original by applying pressure by hand to the tape reel flanges on one or both tapes. There were variations on this from studio to studio, with some even developing ways to control the tape speed remotely.

Making It Yourself

Using a dedicated plugin or multi FX box will get us most of the way there, but the downside sometimes is a cyclic sound that doesn’t capture the organic chaos of the original. To get true “through-zero” modulation, where the copy momentarily runs fastest, we need to slip the original audio behind the duplicate by a few milliseconds before delaying the latter. This gives your flanging the classic "turning inside out" aesthetic that makes it so hypnotic.

For example, a duplicate that plays 4ms earlier than its twin will actually be 4ms behind with an 8ms delay. It will then go "through zero" with a 4ms delay, and 4ms ahead with no delay. You can also experiment with inverting the polarity of the copy to avoid big jumps in level whenever the two signals sum.

Using this technique will give you a totally unique authentic effect that doesn’t sound anything like a canned preset. Mapping delay time to a mod wheel and/or flares/headband combination optional!

Photo by Little Visuals from Pexels