Re: "Auto-tune" a spoken voice?

[Raymond]

> (WBRW) wrote
>There's a new
>radio commercial by Dick Clark, and while it definitely *is* him
>talking, it just doesn't sound natural. At first, I thought some sort
>of digital compression "artifacts" were going on, but I've never heard
>any that sound like that... in the commercial, Dick's voice has some
>strange inflection, pitch, and speed aberrations, and it's clearly not
>from a wow-and-fluttery tape recording, either.

There's an "Ultra-carb" radio spot around here that sounds like what your
discribing. Sounds like it was recorded on a very low quality recording unit,
sounds even worse than MP3.

[mr c deckard]

i suppose you could do so to mess with the f0 curve of the speech.
unfortunately, the autotune implementation (antares atr-1) is very
application-specific, so you will only be able to tune to pitches in
the chromatic scale (unless you use an external keyboard -- there may
be a detune control). you can change the speed control to adjust how
much it "clamps down" on the pitch -- another problem, is that the
atr-1 doesn't let you choose *which* octave, it goes to the closest
one.

that is, when used for its intended application (monophonic musical
instrument playing within western chromatic scale), it works ok.
otherwise, the thing is random at best.

best,
chris deckard




(WBRW) wrote in message

> singer's voice, I just wonder if it can similarly be used upon a
> spoken voice.

[Klay Anderson]

In article >,
(WBRW) wrote:

> Is it possible to "auto-tune" a spoken human voice? There's a new
> radio commercial by Dick Clark, and while it definitely *is* him
> talking, it just doesn't sound natural.

It is probably the result of artifacts induced by the studio encoding the spot
to send to the agency that decodes the spot that then encodes it again to send
to the distributor that decodes it to encode it to send to the stations that
decode it to encode it to their HD then it's decoded and monitored then encoded
and sent to the transmitter then decoded and broadcast so you can hear. Now,
very possibly, the station could have used a little box that speeds programming
up just a bit so they have more free time to sell hourly. This will add a bit
of "un-naturalness" and another encode/decode cycle.

And we wonder why radio sucks.

--
Regards,

Klay Anderson

http://www.klay.com
1.800.FOR.KLAY

[Mike Janas]

(WBRW) wrote in message >...
> Is it possible to "auto-tune" a spoken human voice?

Not in my experience. Auto-tune looks for a definable pitch to
manipulate - if it doesn't detect a pitch it doesn't change a pitch.
Vocalists with a gravelly voice or a very breathy voice are sometimes
hard to tweak for that reason - the actual note produced by the singer
is somewhat masked by the breathy quality of the delivery.

> There's a new radio commercial by Dick Clark, and while it definitely *is*him
> talking, it just doesn't sound natural. At first, I thought some sort
> of digital compression "artifacts" were going on, but I've never heard
> any that sound like that... in the commercial, Dick's voice has some
> strange inflection, pitch, and speed aberrations, and it's clearly not
> from a wow-and-fluttery tape recording, either.

I suspect the "abuse" of a digital time compressor program rather than
a pitch-shifter. The technology is used to time-compress radio
broadcasts, both by the syndicators and by the stations. By using it
over a certain period of time the syndicator or the station can
usually slice enough seconds off of a program to add another
commercial.

Time-compression really irritates a lot of radio talk show hosts for
what it does to their delivery. A lot of their effect and
entertainment value comes from how they deliver their statements - the
timing and phrasing of key dialogue. When time-compression is used
the effect of the host's delivery is skewed. What is most irritating
to the host is that, in general, they have no control over the use on
time compression - it's often added by the subscribing radio station.
It's also a part of the television domain.

>
> It almost sounds to me like they got a sub-par reading from Mr. Clark,
> and rather than have him go through numerous takes to get everything
> perfect, they just accepted whatever they could get from him, and then
> subjected it to some significant manipulation to get it to sound more
> polished and enthusiastic -- like deepening his pitch to emphasize
> part of a sentence,

Could be EQ, multiband compressor, he was closer to the mic on that
take, used a different mic on that take...

> and screwing around with the speed and inflection to stress certain key words.

He could have given them several readings & split. Then the engineer
had to chop together whatever the ad agency rep told him to do - even
if it was against the engineer's better judgement:

(1pm, editing suite after the recording)
Engineer: "But sir, that edit doesn't sound natural - it doesn't
sound like Dick Clark. If you use this other take the whole phrase
sounds better."

Ad Rep: "It's fine as it is. It really emphasizes the product.
Besides, I've got a 2 o'clock meeting to play this for the client.
When you you be finished?"

Engineer: "Well, it makes Dick Clark sound like Darth Vader at this
one point, and it messes up his phrasing."

Ad Rep; "Huh? The client paid for Dick Clark to sell his product.
And that's what they want. Can you put a copy of this on cassette for
me?"

[Dave Martin]

Here's the real world, folks...
--
Dave Martin
Java Jive Studio
Nashville, TN
www.javajivestudio.com

"Mike Janas" > wrote in message
m...
>
> (1pm, editing suite after the recording)
> Engineer: "But sir, that edit doesn't sound natural - it doesn't
> sound like Dick Clark. If you use this other take the whole phrase
> sounds better."
>
> Ad Rep: "It's fine as it is. It really emphasizes the product.
> Besides, I've got a 2 o'clock meeting to play this for the client.
> When you you be finished?"
>
> Engineer: "Well, it makes Dick Clark sound like Darth Vader at this
> one point, and it messes up his phrasing."
>
> Ad Rep; "Huh? The client paid for Dick Clark to sell his product.
> And that's what they want. Can you put a copy of this on cassette for
> me?"

[Lord Hasenpfeffer]

Mike Janas wrote:

> Time-compression really irritates a lot of radio talk show hosts for
> what it does to their delivery. A lot of their effect and
> entertainment value comes from how they deliver their statements - the
> timing and phrasing of key dialogue. When time-compression is used
> the effect of the host's delivery is skewed.

Like this? http://www.mykec.net/audio/disclaimer.mp3 :)

Myke

--

-================================-
Windows...It's rebootylicious!!!
-================================-

[Rob Reedijk]

rickymix > wrote:
> Rob Reedijk wrote:
>> I believe you can also hear it on the newer Law and Order shows, SVU...

> Are you working on those too, Rob? I just spent the whole weekend
> working on those in French. I reckon it's for the French Canadian
> market, (near your neighborhood), since I was laying back to an NTSC
> Digi from a PAL DA88 source which needed to be varisped down 4%. The
> opening VO sounded OK in French, despite being slowed down. I didn't
> pay much attention to the English but next time I'll listen for that
> effect you described.
> Cheers, Rick.

Nah, I just watch the show. I think what you are doing is taking the
dubbed versions from France/Europe and setting them up for the Quebec
market (which like the rest of Canada is NTSC). That's a bit of a bone
of contention in Quebec---that the dub is from France. French in Quebec
has its own personality so they'd like their own version. But it probably
has even more to do with they'd like the work instead of it going overseas.

Rob R.

[rickymix]

I think you're right, Rob. We do an awful lot of those French PAL to
French Canadian projects. Nobody seems too concerned about the
difference, unlike Castillian vs Latin American Spanish. They have a
fit if we accidentally get those crossed up.

Rob Reedijk wrote...
......Law and Order shows, SVU...
>
> Nah, I just watch the show. I think what you are doing is taking the
> dubbed versions from France/Europe and setting them up for the Quebec
> market (which like the rest of Canada is NTSC). That's a bit of a bone
> of contention in Quebec---that the dub is from France. French in Quebec
> has its own personality so they'd like their own version. But it probably
> has even more to do with they'd like the work instead of it going overseas.

Actually, it's even worse; the DBC dubs are from us,
Vidfilm/Technicolor, here in California. My job is to conform the PAL
French to fit the NTSC video dubs.
Varispeeding the DA88-P's -4% is the easy part. The minor pain
is that all the blacks, (holes for commercial breaks), are different
on the new video dubs. Actually, they're missing; the fade-out from
one scene fades right back up into the next scene without any black at
all. So I have to recreate that, sometimes by stealing from the
English Comp's M&E if I'm short a few seconds on the French. Then
re-syncing the next scene, etc.
Not difficult, just tedious. Oh well, it's a gig....
Cheers, Rick.

[d. lagacé]

I'ts very good to use words like Freanch when you don't have a clue what the
hell you're talking about.
And thank Goodness the whole world doesn't have 4 different sets of t/c
formats just to make sure b/w TVs can work....






"Geoff Wood" -nospam> wrote in message
...
>
> "rickymix" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I think you're right, Rob. We do an awful lot of those French PAL to
> > French Canadian projects. Nobody seems too concerned about the
> > difference, unlike Castillian vs Latin American Spanish. They have a
> > fit if we accidentally get those crossed up.
>
>
> I thought that the French, being Freanch, had to invent their own unique
> system - SECAM .....
>
>
> geoff
>
>

[Al Green]

I'ts very good to use words like Freanch when you don't have a clue what the
hell you're talking about.
And thank Goodness the whole world doesn't have 4 different sets of t/c
formats just to make sure b/w TVs can work....



"Geoff Wood" -nospam> wrote in message
...
>
> "rickymix" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I think you're right, Rob. We do an awful lot of those French PAL to
> > French Canadian projects. Nobody seems too concerned about the
> > difference, unlike Castillian vs Latin American Spanish. They have a
> > fit if we accidentally get those crossed up.
>
>
> I thought that the French, being Freanch, had to invent their own unique
> system - SECAM .....
>
>
> geoff
>
>

[Geoff Wood]

"d. lagacé" > wrote in message
. ..
>
>
>
> I'ts very good to use words like Freanch

Typo - sorry it set you off.

>when you don't have a clue what the
> hell you're talking about.
> And thank Goodness the whole world doesn't have 4 different sets of t/c
> formats just to make sure b/w TVs can work....

Is the French TV system not Secam ?

Where I live we have one relevant t/c format, 25fps, or 2 if you include
film.

Merci.


geoff
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Geoff Wood" -nospam> wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > "rickymix" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > I think you're right, Rob. We do an awful lot of those French PAL to
> > > French Canadian projects. Nobody seems too concerned about the
> > > difference, unlike Castillian vs Latin American Spanish. They have a
> > > fit if we accidentally get those crossed up.
> >
> >
> > I thought that the French, being Freanch, had to invent their own unique
> > system - SECAM .....
> >
> >
> > geoff
> >
> >
>
>

[Scott Dorsey]

Geoff Wood -nospam> wrote:
>
>Is the French TV system not Secam ?

Yes. It stands for Systeme Essentialment Contre les AMericains.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Kurt Albershardt]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Geoff Wood -nospam> wrote:
>
>>Is the French TV system not Secam ?
>
>
> Yes. It stands for Systeme Essentialment Contre les AMericains.


Ha!

[Geoff Wood]

"Kurt Albershardt" > wrote in message
...
> Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
> > Geoff Wood -nospam> wrote:
> >
> >>Is the French TV system not Secam ?
> >
> >
> > Yes. It stands for Systeme Essentialment Contre les AMericains.
>
>
> Ha!
>


And SARS is Saddam's Anti Rumsfeld Syndrome !

geoff

[Rob Reedijk]

Geoff Wood -nospam> wrote:

> "Kurt Albershardt" > wrote in message

> And SARS is Saddam's Anti Rumsfeld Syndrome !

Actually, it was originally known as simply "acute respiratory syndrome"
But that would have made it ARS, so they added the very redundant
"severe" to the front. Considering we have had slogans here in Toronto
such as "SARS, stopping the spread"---imagine if it had been ARS...

My friends, living here in Toronto and working in the Health Research
world---I have had to put up with a lot of stupidity in the last few
months...

Rob R.

[Kurt Albershardt]

Rob Reedijk wrote:

> Geoff Wood -nospam> wrote:
>
>
>> "Kurt Albershardt" > did NOT write in message
>
>
>> And SARS is Saddam's Anti Rumsfeld Syndrome !
>
>
> Actually, it was originally known as simply "acute respiratory syndrome"
> But that would have made it ARS, so they added the very redundant
> "severe" to the front. Considering we have had slogans here in Toronto
> such as "SARS, stopping the spread"---imagine if it had been ARS...


Careful with those deletions--I wrote none of the words in your quote.