Mckey wrote: So this was something I heard from a friend of a friend type thing. Anyways this guy was engineering for Ryan Adams a few years ago and Ryan told him to put a really small delay on his vocals - so small that you can't exactly hear it delay. But apparently Adams has been using this for years to get his vocals to sound really wide and full. I can't remember the full details of the delay setting, just make the time really low and I'm guessing feedback really high. Anybody heard of this before?

A lot of people do this. I wouldn't have the feedback high though; under (30%). Try having the delay time really short and the wet mix low too.

Delays shorter than 8 ms will sound like bad phasing. Feedback will only cause a nasty tonal resonance based upon the delay time. Less is more. Delays of 15 ms & 25 ms or greater will provide you with a better feeling of width and space, if panned left & right. It will add thickness if panned to center, with the vocal.

Thick as a brick
Ms. Remy Ann David

Yes, it's also referred to as "doubling." It's nothing new, nor any big secret.

It's less time delay than true echo, and not as short as phase shifting or frequency cancellation. If you want to hear some "old school" examples of this, listen to anything sung by Peter Cetera. (More likely in his solo recordings, but also done a lot at the end of his time with Chicago.) I've heard that he actually sang his parts twice, with all that accuracy (!!!) and that it wasn't done electronically.

Most folks opt for the time-delayed auto-doubling. However you do it, the trick is to hide it well, so that it's not obvious to the casual listener. You'll want to subtly change your delay times as well (usually with a VCO to control the delay time, set quite low) to keep the delay from becoming static and predictable. Once your ear "hears" the gag, it's not fun or interesting anymore.

Once you're hip to this technique, you'll begin to hear it everywhere. You'd be surprised how many folks use it, and how few don't.