Editing Flanging (section)

==Origin==
As an audio effect, a listener hears a ''drainpipe'' or ''swoosh'' or ''jet plane'' sweeping effect as shifting sum-and-difference harmonics are created analogous to use of a variable [[notch filter]]. The term "flanging" comes from one of the early methods of producing the effect. The finished music track is recorded simultaneously to two matching [[tape recorders|tape machines]], then replayed with both decks in sync. The output from the two recorders is mixed to a third recorder. The engineer slows down one playback recorder by lightly pressing a finger on the [[flange]] (rim) of the supply reel. The ''drainpipe'' or subtle ''swoosh'' effect ''sweeps'' in one direction, and the playback of that recorder remains slightly behind the other when the finger is removed. By pressing a finger on the flange of the other deck, the effect sweeps back in the other direction as the decks progress towards being in sync. The [[Beatles]]' producer [[George Martin]] disputed this ''reel flange'' source, attributing the term to himself and [[John Lennon]] instead.<ref name=Martin/><ref name="monro">{{cite book |last1=Monro |first1=Michele |title=Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer |date=2011 |publisher=Titan |isbn=9781848569508 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDu_BgAAQBAJ&dq=matt+monro+decca&pg=PT117 |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>

Despite claims over who originated flanging, [[Les Paul]] discovered the effect in the late 1940s and 1950s; however, he did most of his early phasing experiments with acetate disks on variable-speed record players. On "Mammy's Boogie" (1952) he used two disk recorders, one with a variable speed control.<ref>[[Harald Bode|Bode, Harald]] (October 1984) "History of Electronic Sound Modification". ''[[Audio Engineering Society|Journal of the Audio Engineering Society]]''. Vol. 32, No. 10, p. 730. ([http://www.matrixsynth.com/blog/media/misc/bode/History%20of%20electronic%20sound%20modification.pdf Convenience archive]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}).</ref><ref>Thompson, Art (1997) ''The Stompbox: A History of Guitar Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes and Wahs''. Backbeat Books, p. 24. {{ISBN|0-87930-479-0}}</ref> The first hit song with a very discernible flanging effect was "[[The Big Hurt (song)|The Big Hurt]]" (1959) by [[Toni Fisher]].<ref name="Lacasse2004">Lacasse, Serge (2004) ''[http://www.mus.ulaval.ca/lacasse/texts/THESIS.pdf 'Listen to My Voice’: The Evocative Power of Vocal Staging in Recorded Rock Music and Other Forms of Vocal Expression]''.</ref>

Further development of the classic effect is attributed to [[Ken Townsend]], an engineer at [[EMI]]'s [[Abbey Road Studio]], who devised a process in the spring of 1966. Tired of laboriously re-recording dual vocal tracks, John Lennon asked Townsend if there was some way for the Beatles to get the sound of double-tracked vocals without doing the work. Townsend devised [[automatic double tracking]] (ADT). According to historian [[Mark Lewisohn]], it was Lennon who first called the technique "flanging". Lennon asked George Martin to explain how ADT worked, and Martin answered with the nonsense explanation "Now listen, it's very simple. We take the original image and we split it through a double vibrocated sploshing flange with double negative feedback".<ref name=Martin>{{cite book|last=Martin|first=George|title=Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt Pepper|author2=Pearson, William|publisher=Pan Books|year=1994|isbn=0-330-34210-X|location=London|page=82|author-link=George Martin}}<!--|access-date=7 October 2008--></ref> Lennon thought Martin was joking. Martin replied, "Well, let's flange it again and see". From that point, when Lennon wanted ADT he would ask for his voice to be flanged, or call out for "Ken's flanger". According to Lewisohn, the Beatles' influence meant the term "flanging" is still in use today, more than 50 years later. The first Beatles track to feature flanging was "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]" from ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'', recorded on 6 April 1966. When ''Revolver'' was released on 5 August 1966, almost every song had been subjected to flanging.<ref>Lewisohn, Mark. ''The Beatles: Recording Sessions'' (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), page 70.</ref>

Others have attributed it to [[George Chkiantz]], an engineer at [[Olympic Studios]] in [[Barnes, London]]. Another flanging instance on a rock-era pop recording occurs in [[the Small Faces]]' 1967 single "[[Itchycoo Park]]",<ref>Hodgson, Jay (2010). ''Understanding Records'', p.142. {{ISBN|978-1-4411-5607-5}}. Interludes between chorus and verse at 0:50–1:07, 1:40–2:05, and 2:20–2:46.</ref> recorded at Olympic and engineered by Chkiantz's colleague [[Glyn Johns]].

{{listen
|filename=Itchycoo park.ogg
|title=''Itchycoo Park'' – The Small Faces
|description=Tape flanging effect on the 1967 single "[[Itchycoo Park]]".
}}

The first stereo flanging is credited to producer [[Eddie Kramer]], in the coda of [[Jimi Hendrix]]'s "[[Bold as Love (song)|Bold as Love]]" (1967). Kramer said in the 1990s that he read [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]] journals for ideas and [[circuit diagram]]s.{{cn|date=December 2020}}

[[File:FLANGING5.PNG|300px|thumb|right|Kendrick's setup to control flanging]]
In 1968, the record producer for [[the Litter]], Warren Kendrick, devised a method to precisely control flanging by placing two 15 ips (inches per second) stereo [[Ampex]] tape recorders side by side.<ref name="KTelReissue10002">Diagram by Warren Kendrick – 'K-Tel Reissue CD 10002 (1991)'</ref> The take-up reel of recorder A and supply reel of B were disabled, as were channel 2 of recorder A, channel 1 of recorder B and the erase head of recorder B. The tape was fed left-to-right across ''both'' recorders and an identical signal was recorded on each channel of the tape, but displaced by approximately 18&nbsp;inches along the length of the tape. During recording, an ordinary screwdriver was wedged between the recorders to make the tape run "uphill" and "downhill." The same configuration was employed during the playback/mixdown to a third recorder. The screwdriver was moved back and forth to cause the two signals to diverge, then converge. The latter technique permits zero point flanging; i.e., the lagging signal crosses over the leading signal and the signals change places.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mda.smartelectronix.com/effects.htm|title=Thru-Zero Flanger - Classic tape-flanging simulation|work=smartelectronix.com|access-date=17 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kvraudio.com/product/liquid-by-audio-damage|title=Liquid by Audio Damage - Modulation (Flanger / Phaser / Chorus / Tremolo) VST Plugin and Audio Units Plugin|work=kvraudio.com|access-date=17 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.instructables.com/id/Flanger-Effect-in-Audacity/|title=Flanger Effect in Audacity - All|work=instructables.com|access-date=17 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/group/rec.audio.pro/msg/c7055c32f0ab1992?hl=en|title=Google Groups|work=google.com|access-date=17 April 2017}}</ref>

A similar "jet plane-like" effect can occur naturally in long distance [[shortwave radio]] music broadcasts. In this case the delays are caused by variable radio wave propagation time and multipath radio interference.