flanger?

i was lookin at some tabs it it sayin they are using a flanger????what is a flanger and what does it do? thanks!

[font=trebuchet ms]The name "flanger" comes from something that was discovered back in the day of reel-to-reel analogue tape recording. If you drag your fingers lightly on the flange of the feed reel during mix-down, you can cause just enough time-shift between tracks to cancel, or at least attenuate, some of the frequecy spectrum. This creates a thin, hollow kind of sound. Something like the #2 and #4 pickup selector positions on a Strat, but more extreme. And because the tape reel does not drag smoothly, the depth of this effect tends to change over time.

Modern effects units simulate this effect by mixing the 'dry' signal with a slightly delayed copy. The amount of delay is changed slowly, adding a swept 'aw' sound to the effect. It's a distinctive sound. Picked notes tend to go 'doink' instead of 'ping'. It's easy to recognise, once you've identified it.

'Phasing' is similar, but it adds a softer, 'whoosh' kind of sweep to the track.[/font]

a flanger tends to sound almost like you would expect an airplane to sound if it were singing what you are playing.

I think John Lennon was among the first who discovered/used it in music...by letting the tape slide along his finger.

A flanger gives a sorta "sweeping" sound to the tone...Listen to Van Halen's Eruption.

I alway's heard it was Jimmy Page that discovered the flanger effect by putting pressure on the flange of the tape recorder. Don't know though for a fact....

Eruption actually uses a Phaser (at least that's what I hear, along with any VH enthusiast). But you can defanately hear a flanger in "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love", "Unchained", and one more that I forget the name of (among many more).

Hmmmm, yeah, I know EVH used a phaser a lot, part of the "brown sound" but in the Van Halen book I've got, it say's to use a Flanger set to a slow sweep and slight delay for Eruption. I alway's thought it was a Phaser on that recording too, but going by the book, it's a Flanger. It may be a Phaser, I don't know, the book may be wrong. Flanger's and Phaser sound a lot alike to me anyway...

you can tell it's a phaser for sure if you listen to the last few seconds of it. But hey, we could both be wrong. Since it's Eddie we're talking about, there's no telling what he was using :rolleyes:

BTW, what bood was it?

It's the book that Cherry Lane publications printed. At least I think that's what it is, Cherry Lane. I'll have to check when I get home to be sure..

Okay, I checked the book and it was released by Cherry Lane. It also does say "slight flanging and slight delay" for Eruption. May be a misprint though, I don't know.