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Alright, thanks for coming back for my next installment in this article series concerning audio effects. In the past few weeks we have covered quite a few commonly used effects, such as reverb, delay, flange, and compression. These effects all have wide scopes of usage, and are probably used on a daily basis in most modern recording studios, on a wide range of different musical styles. We were discussing the basic functionality of each effect, leaving you to decide if and how you would end up using it in your own production process. Today we’ll be moving on to a couple of other types of effects, which are probably less used that the others we’ve talked about. Don’t let that fact deter you from reading any further, as these two effects; vocoder and auto-tune, are both very flexible and powerful tools for you to add to your studio arsenal. So, please strap on your learning cap and follow me. Vocoder The vocoder (its name being derived from “voice encoder”) is a speech analyzer and speech synthesizer. It was originally created for use as a speech coder for the telecommunications industry in the 1930s. It was used for secure radio communication, where voice has to be digitized, encrypted and then transmitted on a narrow, voice-bandwidth channel. The way that the vocoder works is that is finds the basic carrier wave that the human voice produces. This carrier wave is at the fundamental frequency (the lowest frequency in a harmonic series). Is is then measured how its spectral characteristics are changed over time by recording someone speaking. This results in a series of numbers representing these modified frequencies at any particular time as the user speaks. To recreate speech, the vocoder simply reverses the process, creating the fundamental frequency in an oscillator, then passing it through a stage that filters the frequency content based on the originally recorded series of numbers. For musical applications, a source of musical sounds (such as a guitar) is used as the carrier, instead of extracting the fundamental frequency. The vocoder is famous for creating robotic sounding voices, and has been used in film to create; surprisingly, robot voices. Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is used for correcting pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It works by employing digital signal processing algorithms (many which are drawn from the geophysical industry) to continuously detect the pitch of a periodic input signal and changes it to a desired pitch. The harmonization is intended to increase the musical quality of a vocal track without revealing the singing as processed. This works well in a studio environment to correct the performance of vocalists and musicians, after they have recorded their takes. It has also been widely used with extreme parameter values to create a distinct electronic vocal sound. This wraps up the 5th installment in the DiskFaktory Mastering article series on audio effects. Today we covered a couple of the more fun to work with effects, in my opinion. I myself have learned quite a bit writing today’s article, and I hope you feel the same way. Now we’re much better prepared to create a symphony of robot voices. Tags: audio mastering, audio mastering flat rate, audio mastering services, cd mastering, cd mastering in california, mastering article, mastering cd, mastering services, professional mastering
Current Location: irvine, ca
Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: del tha funkee homosapien - pet peeves
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Audio effects! Is there anything they can’t do? We’re continuing on with this series, this article being part 4 in the series. I was thinking about the best way to abstractly describe the function and importance of audio effects and knowing your effects well. This is what I came up with. Your studio is basically your tool box, with all your effects and gear being tools in your tool box. Most people know their tools pretty well, but most are not masters. To hammer a nail, ideally you’d want to use a hammer. It would be the most efficient and easy way to do it. You could use a screwdriver or even a wrench to do the same job, but it may take more time and your end result might not be up to your standards. So, basically I’m trying to say, you need to master all of your tools before you can produce and edit music correctly. Well, that was a long winded explanation for a simple idea. Moving on. Today we’re going to be discussing phase shifting and chorus effects. Phase shifting is kind of cool, and I’m really excited to delve into how it works. Chorus is a basic effect, and may not elicit excitement in most of you. But like any effect, it’s one of those that is used all over the place so often that you probably can’t tell when it’s used. Anyways, let’s discuss how these effects work and why they work the way they do. Phase Shifting The first phase shifting effect units were pretty simple. Phasing was originally produced by copying the sound onto two analogue tape decks and mixing them together. One deck was run slightly faster than the other and the phasing effect was created by the rising and falling “wave interference” of the two signals. The term phasing more specifically refers to a swept comb-filtering effect where there is no linear harmonic relationship between the teeth of the comb. A flanger is a sub-type of phaser, with its effect usually being more precise, produced by the harmonic relationship of the comb filter being linear. Phasing effects in modern music are typically used in conjunction with electric guitar, and it is also used to “sweeten” the sound of electric keyboards. Also, a fun fact is that a phaser was used to create C-3PO’s voice in the movie Star Wars because the phaser sound lends a synthetically generated feel to the human voice. Chorus When chorus is used, individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one. When it is successful, all the sounds hold the same tune and it sounds as if they all came from the same source. The chorus effect is enhanced when the sounds originate from different moments in time and from different physical locations. To produce this effect artificially, a computer processor takes an audio signal and mixes it with one or more delayed, pitch-shifted copies of itself. This results in the production of a single sound that simulates the sound of several instruments or sounds. Alright, this wraps up the 4th installment in my audio effects article series. I never knew how the chorus effect worked, and now that we discussed it, it seems like the name of the effect is exactly what it does. And phase shifting was sort of a carry-over from the article discussing flange. But since flange is basically a type of phase shifter, I think that it was very important that we discussed it in this article. Anyways, hope you all learned something in this article. Please stay tuned for my next installment in this continuing series. Tags: audio mastering, cd duplication, cd mastering in california, professional mastering, recording
Current Location: Irvine, CA
Current Music: Seals and Croft
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