Wow and flutter is one of the most magical qualities of analog tape recording.
It’s the subtle pitch modulation you can only get from a well-worn vintage tape machine.
But when tape was king, engineers maintained their machines meticulously to avoid it. So why is it so sought after now?
In this article, I’ll break down tape wow and flutter, explain how it can enhance your sound and suggest some ways to use it in your mix.
What is wow and flutter?
Wow and flutter are terms for the sonic quirks that occur in tape recording and playback systems that are not maintained to peak performance.
‘Wow’ describes slow fluctuations in pitch caused by inconsistencies in the rotational speed of the playback machinery.
Flutter is more rapid pitch variation that’s usually the result of imperfections in the tape itself.
Taken together, wow and flutter are the cause of the unique modulation effect that makes vintage tape so special.
In addition to pitch variation, poorly maintained tape machines exhibit other unique characteristics such as tape saturation and shifts in tonal balance.
Along with wow and flutter, these qualities were seen as limitations during the era of analog recording technology.
But in modern music production, they are often intentionally replicated for their nostalgic and distinctive sonic qualities.
Why use wow and flutter settings on tape plugins?
Despite engineers’ best efforts, wow and flutter became a sonic hallmark of the era of cassettes and vinyl records.
As a result, the mellow pitch warble of a worn tape is an easy shorthand for retro vibes and nostalgia.
But wow and flutter can serve more than just aesthetic purposes in your mix.
After all, modulation is a key tool in any producer’s plugin folder. Tape wow and flutter is a unique form of it that can be used in place of other solutions.
Here are three situations where tape modulation can elevate your sound:
Subtle tape chorusing
With parallel processing, you can easily set up a blend of wet and dry when using tape plugins in your DAW.
That means you can add wow and flutter in addition to the static signal to create a chrousing effect.
The modulation and tonal characteristics of the tape sound create a subtle, vintage style of chorus that can sound surprisingly hi-fi.
Add movement to static sounds
At low settings, tape wow and flutter can be barely perceptible in a dense mix.
Most of the time your sounds don’t need to be completely transformed to be improved with light modulation.
If you’re having trouble keeping static sounds in the foreground, consider adding this type of modulation to give them a sense of animation.
Over the top lo-fi effects
On other hand, sometimes you need to lay effects on thick to make your sounds stand out.
Pushing a tape plugin to the limit and can simulate conditions far beyond normal wear and tear on the machine.
This can create a stylish lo-fi effect that provides instant contrast from otherwise crisp digital textures in the mix.
How to get tape wow and flutter in your DAW
Authentic wow and flutter is much more nuanced than the simple LFO wave of a traditional chorus or vibrato effect.
To emulate it correctly you’ll need a purpose-built plugin.
Depending on the effect you’re going for, you can get tape-style modulation from different sources.
Here are a few plugin options to consider for specific situations:
Tape echo wow and flutter
Vintage tape echo units are even more susceptible to wow and flutter than professional recording machines.
With a single length of tape passing over the heads repeatedly in a loop, wear and tear could set in fast.
In fact, many producers associate wow and flutter primarily with tape delay. This may be due to the more obvious chorusing effect that occurs when the echoes blend with the dry signal.
If you’re looking for the iconic sound of a warbling old tape on your delay repeats, try Spaced Out’s Wonky Tape texture mode to get a feel for this style.
Accurate studio tape emulation
As I mentioned above, wow and flutter usually goes hand in hand with other worn tape machine behavior.
If you’re looking for an accurate emulation that includes all aspects of the tape experience, you might consider something like our TAIP plugin.
Traditional emulation approaches are based on digital models of electrical components and their interactions in a tape machine.
While this can produce good results, TAIP takes a new approach using neural networks. By training the algorithm on dry vs. processed audio, the neural net can identify exactly what makes up the difference.
With TAIP, you’ll get rich tonal character and saturation along with accurate wow and flutter.
Cassette-style warble
When it comes to tape formats, all the quirks of magnetic sound reproduction get more intense on cassette.
That’s true for audio cassettes as well as VHS videotape audio. In fact, old-school video cassettes have some of the most interesting wow and flutter characteristics you can find.
Super VHS is designed to put this distinctive sound in your DAW with easy-to-use controls for instant 80s lo-fi.
Try it out if you’re after a more in-your-face lo-fi wow and flutter.
Magic modulation
The sound of tape isn’t likely to go anywhere, even as the physical medium fades from use.
The gentle lull of wow and flutter will keep producers coming back for its special qualities in the mix.
Now that you understand the basics, try out some of the plugins in this post to experiment with wow and flutter in your own music.