Audio Effect Help

[Stephen van Vuuren]

Listen to this:

http://www.dennislau.com/lasiktext.html

I'm trying to recreate this effect. All I could find was this low-rez version. I've tried flanging (phaser type) and then adding a couple version pitch shifted, but I don't think that's right. Any ideas?

[Gints Klimanis]

That's a link to an eye operation testimonial.
Where's the sound file?

[John Britt]

Gints -- Turn up your speakers! :)

It's the last line (?) from 2001: A Space Odyssey -- "My God, it's full of stars"

I'd think you were on the right track, Stephen, but I'd have to go back and hear the original...

[Stephen van Vuuren]

If you download the file, it plays a little better.

http://www.dennislau.com/audio/stars.wav

It has a tail-off to the bass that I can't see to get - very thick sounding.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Dat's a easy one to do.
What audio tools do you have?
This is a chorus with an ultra slow modulation, with a slight detune on it. There are a few ways to do this, but without knowing what tools you have, I'm at a disadvantage.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I have the Sonic/Sony family, latest versions that I believe you have a passing familiarity with :)

I did try chorus but what did I miss?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Step 1. Transpose down by 1 or 2 semitones
Step 2. Apply Chorus with a mostly wet signal, increase the modulation, slow down the rate.

To get even more crazy, toss on a flanger after you've processed the chorus.
Then drop out some of the upper mid, and punch up some of the lower mid.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I'll give it a try - thanks. That's not too far from where I am.

[Gints Klimanis]

To me, it just sounds like a muffled (low-pass filtered) pitch shifted (true pitch shifting) version below the original, at least a fifth or perhaps even an octave. It's hard to tell exactly how much by ear on unpitched sounds. Pitch shifting down by an octave
will also provide you with the bass and muffling at the same time.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

There may be two voices overlaid in there, but I think it's just low sampling. I should have saved the file, I'm not in my office any longer. But, the modulation is more than just shifting. Overall, the phrasing used is as much a part of the work as the effect. I reproduced this before posting, using a spoken word ACID loop, and it's very close using the steps I mentioned. But...
you might need more of a shift depending on how your original audio sounds.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I think it's my orginal audio that is tripping me up. It's a phone message voice I created - I need to back to my original audio and start from the clean file. Thanks for the all the help.

[Gints Klimanis]

A chorus algorithm can have some pitch shifting qualities, but largely, it's more of a cyclical detuning effect. A pitch shifter has a constant pitch shift that sounds more like the example. Since both a pitch shifter and a chorus are based on a modulated delay line algorithm, there will be some overlap in the sonic character.

[Jeff Patnaude]

I just listened to the effect. Sorry if this has been answered already, but I'll give you my two cents here as an audio engineer.

It sound like 2 tracks at least mixed together. 1 is a pitch shifted voice which is time corrected. This is easy. If you have an audio editing program, pitch shift it down several octaves. The flanging effect usually is errors in the processing. You could copy the track once more and add a flanging effect to it, add reverb, then mix them all together with the original clean track to taste.

All the best,

Jeff Patnaude