ABSTRACT
Everyone knows the “HELLO, Hello, hello” echo effect. In the early days of audio
recording, this was created using a tape recorder having separate heads for recording and
playback. A tape recorder with separate record and play heads can play back while
recording, and the playback is delayed slightly from the original sound letting you mix the
two together to get a single echo. The delay time depends on the tape speed, as well as the
distance between the record and play heads. A faster speed, or closer spacing, creates a
shorter delay. A single echo having a short delay time was a common effect on early pop
music in the 1950s; you can hear it on recordings such as Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee
Lewis from 1957. This is often called slap-back echo because it imitates the sound of an
acoustic reflection from a nearby room surface.
