Vocal FX on Milliontown

Musicosm · March 11, 2009, 05:22:57 PM

Not just the song, but the whole album. I'm especially intrigued by the "sad" vocal effect on "Snowman". I'm familiar with time stretching on a track - lowering the pitch without slowing down, etc. - but it sounds like it was manipulated manually...in real time. Like a guitarist uses the expression pedal to increase or decrease an effect. How? For the love of Pete, how?!?!? *sob*

I have actually another question... 8-)

LOVE LOVE LOVE the abrupt stops in the music, e.g. between the 1st bridge and the interlude of "No Me No You". Was manual erasing involved? How many tracks had to be bussed? Blah blah, yadda yadda. lol

Thanks!

Jem · March 13, 2009, 11:49:49 PM

Hello hello!

Thank you for the kindly words about that first album. Seems like such a long time ago now...

Anyway, you're spot on with Snowman, I put the vocal through a ProTools plug in called Pure Pitch and automated the formant. You can hear it best of all for the "we'll be the same" line right at the end. Glad you picked up on it supposing to be sad, that's exactly the effect I was after.

, oh sorry, hang on, :cry:

The stops in NMNY were just that, I literally just grabbed a whole chunk of audio and hit delete. Voila! Blessed silence. Something some people reckon there should be more of on Frost records.

:lol:

EVP · March 14, 2009, 12:11:29 AM

Gotta love altering the formant in vocal fx plugins. You can make some twisted cross
gender mutations out of an ordinary vocal.

Musicosm · March 14, 2009, 05:09:34 AM

Quote from: "Jem"Hello hello!

Thank you for the kindly words about that first album. Seems like such a long time ago now...

Anyway, you're spot on with Snowman, I put the vocal through a ProTools plug in called Pure Pitch and automated the formant. You can hear it best of all for the "we'll be the same" line right at the end. Glad you picked up on it supposing to be sad, that's exactly the effect I was after. , oh sorry, hang on, :cry:

The stops in NMNY were just that, I literally just grabbed a whole chunk of audio and hit delete. Voila! Blessed silence. Something some people reckon there should be more of on Frost records. :lol:

Hey! There will be none of that self-degradation stuff goin' on here, my good man. That's my job. :mrgreen: You're quite the ballsy one wantonly deleting audio like that. lol Sorry, just have nightmares of doing that in Adobe Audition, regretting it, then recovering it, and discovering the "recovered" track was full of artifacts. Ack!

Wow, has it really been three years??? Time's fun when you're having flies. 8-) Thanks for the response, Jem. Looking forward to more Frost* Reports.

EVP... Howzit goin', eh?

Couldn't resist. Yes, I love mucking around with effects. Being the anal-retentive nerd that I am, I could spend all day on one track diddling with chorus, phaser, distortion, delay, etc. Nothing get's done in my version of "The Cube". :lol:

Pedro · March 14, 2009, 06:12:35 AM

Quote from: "Jem"Anyway, you're spot on with Snowman, I put the vocal through a ProTools plug in called Pure Pitch and automated the formant. You can hear it best of all for the "we'll be the same" line right at the end.

....by quoting lyrics from a different song altogether, Jem cleverly points out here that the same technique is also used on the track "Wedding Day" from the Tour CD.

Nellie · March 14, 2009, 08:07:02 AM

Quote from: "Pedro"
Quote from: "Jem"Anyway, you're spot on with Snowman, I put the vocal through a ProTools plug in called Pure Pitch and automated the formant. You can hear it best of all for the "we'll be the same" line right at the end.
....by quoting lyrics from a different song altogether, Jem cleverly points out here that the same technique is also used on the track "Wedding Day" from the Tour CD.

Gosh Pedders, You have to get up pretty early to catch you out :roll:

Jem · March 14, 2009, 08:37:44 AM

God, that's Wedding Day isn't it? oops.

They all sound the bleedin' same to me. :lol:

Pedro · March 14, 2009, 09:03:41 AM

LOL
Putting the "Ped" into "Pedantry" since 1960

johninblack · March 14, 2009, 12:36:55 PM

Quote from: "Jem"God, that's Wedding Day isn't it? oops.

They all sound the bleedin' same to me. :lol:

Quote from: "Pedro"LOL
Putting the "Ped" into "Pedantry" since 1960

I Love this place. :mrgreen:

rogerg · March 14, 2009, 12:48:01 PM

Quote from: "johninblack"
Quote from: "Jem"God, that's Wedding Day isn't it? oops.

They all sound the bleedin' same to me. :lol:
Quote from: "Pedro"LOL
Putting the "Ped" into "Pedantry" since 1960

I Love this place. :mrgreen:

WORD.

Musicosm · March 14, 2009, 07:29:51 PM

Quote from: "Pedro"
Quote from: "Jem"Anyway, you're spot on with Snowman, I put the vocal through a ProTools plug in called Pure Pitch and automated the formant. You can hear it best of all for the "we'll be the same" line right at the end.
....by quoting lyrics from a different song altogether, Jem cleverly points out here that the same technique is also used on the track "Wedding Day" from the Tour CD.

LOL Okay, so I'm not going completely mad here. I spent the last two days wracking my brain and ripping apart the CD booklet for these seemingly non-existent lyrics...

"Where are these *BLEEPITY-BLEEP* lyrics in 'Snowman'?? What is he talking about?!?!" :shock: :shock: :shock:

Guess it's time to go beyond studio efforts into the live stuff/B-sides/outtakes. If I'm not back in an hour, just carry on as you were. 8-)