Guitar Tricks presents The History of the Flanger

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The History of the Flanger

By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer, the original platform for online guitar lessons.

The Flanger guitar pedal has an interesting background that involves both science and a lot of luck! Like many guitar and music effects it stems from early experiments with audio signals, in some cases mistakes and even breaks turned into new sounds and ideas! While not quintessential to starting out on guitar or taking online guitar lessons, flange can be appreciated by all guitar players and musicians alike. Here is the history of flanging and how we arrived at the modern flanger effect.

It’s All About the Signal!

Guitars were never that popular over 100 years ago, they had a difficult time competing in volume with other instruments. And then with the invention and mass production of electric items we soon realized metal strings could be amplified, and overnight the guitar became the predominant instrument of the 20 th century! Not only did the electric guitar create a signal we soon found ways to manipulate it!

First guitar players realized that if they poked holes or overpowered their amplifiers they could get distortion and overdrive, which led to a revolution in blues and rock music. Besides tinkering with amps they also started recording the signals onto magnetic tape, which allowed for more experiments. It was found that if you record the signal, and then layer it on top of itself, new effects and sounds were created.

Depending on how we mix or modulate the signals will give us different effects, flanging is made by creating a comb filter. This happens when we double our signal but give one a slight delay, which creates new harmonics and a sweeping like sound. Depending on how much we delay these signals or alter their frequencies can lead to other effects like chorus, phase, and echoes. Most guitar pedals are related and can be traced back to these early signal experiments!

Potential Flanging Inventors and Innovators

There is no single moment of flanger invention, like many music technologies they seemed to be found by different musicians and engineers at various moments. Plus, there is no exact definition of what the flanging sound effect is. John Lennon used the term to denote double tracking, which in essence he was right, but these days we would call it a different effect.

Les Paul used magnetic tape recordings at variable speeds to create phasing effects in his records. It can be heard on “Mammy’s Boogie” in the unique sound of the guitar.
Toni Fisher and her producer used a clear flanging effect in “The Big Hurt.” This was not common and seen as odd for the time.
John Lennon, George Martin, and engineer Ken Townsend all regularly experimented with flanging, phase shifting, chorus, and other signal effects which can all be heard in “Tomorrow Never Knows.” The song was also famously associated with LSD, so all the audio effects were meant to copy a trip.
The Small Faces also used flanging for hallucinogenic effect in the song “Itchycoo Park.”
Later in the 70’s bands like ELO and Jeff Lynne used a multitude of phase shifting effects.
Dub reggae producers like Lee Scratch Perry were also innovators in tape signal modulation. They turned tape machines into instruments and were gifted at signal experimentation.

Once the flanging effect was no longer novelty it became a normal effect to incorporate into any song where you may want a spaced out or whooshing type filter sound. Recording engineers began using various methods to delay and mix the signals. Sometimes they would change the position of two reel to reel machines to make them run slower uphill or faster downhill.

Other times they would press on the reels as they turned to create a slight delay and change in frequency, there were numerous ways to get an altered sound. But eventually the flanger effect became so well-known that specific pedals were made using solid state technology.

Modern Flangers

With transistors we could now digitally alter our signal, so that meant no more doubling up on tape machines, which are a heavy hassle! Creating the effect in the studio could be a real pain with different results, so a reliable pedal was welcomed by many guitarists. The Eventide Instant Flanger used a “bucket brigade”, which was a digital term for delaying the audio to give it just the right phase shift to provide a flanging effect.

The best part of this new digital flanging was the fact that we could control more than just the delay of the signal. A flanger sound varies based on the amplitudes of the original and added frequency, so mixing tape machines give you little control. But when you can digitally sweep through different wavelengths, it provides more phase shifting and therefore more sound variations.

Digital flangers give us so much control that we can even create a “barber pole” illusion where the sound appears to move up or down forever. By perfectly creating time delays and frequency sweeps we can make it seem like the sound is perpetually moving in one direction. Rush uses this in “The Spirit of Radio”, it helps that opening arpeggio feel like its building even though it is the same notes.

Throughout the 70’s and 80’s flangers became regular pedals and effects in many songs by all genres of bands like Van Halen, The Cure, Heart, Black Sabbath, Police, and many more. It’s harder to find bands of that era that didn’t use it! Back then the most popular models were the Boss Flanger, MXR 117, and later Moog released some phase shifters in the Moogerfooger line.

Boutique Pedals and Flangers

There is no need to play with tape machines anymore as many pedal makers have their own version of flanging devices. Companies like Strymon, TC Electronic, Electro-Harmonix, Universal Audio, and many more all make their versions of modulation pedals. And they often do more than just flanging effects, these days boutique pedals provide various sound options.

Flanging is just a form of phase shifting and modulation, so it is easy to add in other effects, especially when dealing with digital technology. Basically all the different tricks of hooking tape machines together, delaying tape, playing it fast or slow; that can all be done now in a simple little guitar pedal on your board. In fact when getting a modulation pedal, it is often a good idea to grab one that has multiple uses.

Flanging effects or flangers have come a long way from the history of cumbersome tape machines. It’s not necessary to fiddle with endless amounts of magnetic tape, now we can just dial in some knobs and buttons and get an excellent whooshing or spaced-out sound that will be perfect for the needed ambience. Flangers aren’t for every song that’s for sure, but sometimes they are the perfect effect that makes the song great!

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