Weird "accidental" production techniques
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cryophonik |
So, as Aliciya and I were finishing up our latest song, I realized that I inadvertently did something to the track that was pretty bizarre and totally unintentional, but turned out to be a very cool effect. I was working on a stuttery trance-gated synth lead for it very late the other night and I assigned my mod wheel to reduce the trance gate (making the notes hold), crank up the phaser effect and increase the sustain and release to sorta obliterate the lead and turn it into a swirly, blurry mess. I automated the mod wheel at the end of each 4-bar phrase and called it good for the night. Alicya came over last night to put the finishing touches on the track and when it got to the lead, she went "whoa - how'd you do that to my voice?!" I was like "do WHAT to your voice?" She says "go back to the synth solo", so I did and, sure enough, it sounded like I mangled her voice and layered it in with the solo. The song has a reverse sweep buildup used throughout it in transitions that consists of a noise sweep and a reverse-reverb clip of her vocals, so I figured that I must have accidentally copied it under the solo or something, but no dice. I finally figured out that it was the synth itself making a weird vocal-sounding effect where the modulation was occurring, and it really sounds like her voice is buried in there. Totally unintentional, but totally cool. I was actually considering changing the synth, but there's no way I'm going to now! :p
Anybody else ever have an accidental moment like that? |
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Eric J |
quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
Anybody else ever have an accidental moment like that? |
Do it all the time. This music is based on such "accidental" discoveries.
"Hey, I picked up this bass machine from Roland. It kind of sucks for bass, but if you tweak the knobs this way it puts out this really crazy squelchy sound."
and a genre is born... |
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cryophonik |
quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
and a genre is born... |
So, you're saying that I should capitalize on this right now and call it a genre? Hmmmm...Aliciyaphonik? :p |
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Acton |
Hell yeah, this happens to me a fair bit, it's part of the fun.
As a general methodology, if I think I'm not supposed to tweak/turn/alter something, I go ahead and do it anyway to see what happens, lots of interesting things can happen.
Got a sample of this effect of yours? I wouldn't mind having a listen. |
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Energy_3 |
lucky you remembered what you did Cryo thats a bonus;) |
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cryophonik |
quote: | Originally posted by Acton
Got a sample of this effect of yours? I wouldn't mind having a listen. |
Oh yeah - duh, I meant to post that in the OP: :crazy:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pag...&songID=8051464
The solo starts at 2:55. You'll hear the actual vocal sweep in the transition leading up to it (2:53) and during the last sequence (3:20). Listen to the last two bars of each repeating 4-bar solo sequence (where the synth plays low A/B/A/B). |
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MrJiveBoJingles |
quote: | Originally posted by Acton
As a general methodology, if I think I'm not supposed to tweak/turn/alter something, I go ahead and do it anyway to see what happens, lots of interesting things can happen. |
And some horrifying things as well. I was making a patch in Max/MSP about a month ago and turned one of the settings on a comb filter to an invalid value. The sound that came out, an ear-splitting, horrible, digital clipping, is something that I hope never to hear again.
:nervous: |
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cryophonik |
quote: | Originally posted by Energy_3
lucky you remembered what you did Cryo thats a bonus;) |
Actually, I had saved the patch before closing it. I would've never remembered it - my memory sucks! |
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Acton |
quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
And some horrifying things as well. I was making a patch in Max/MSP about a month ago and turned one of the settings on a comb filter to an invalid value. The sound that came out, an ear-splitting, horrible, digital clipping, is something that I hope never to hear again.
:nervous: |
:stongue:
Well I class that as part of the fun as well! |
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Energy_3 |
quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
Actually, I had saved the patch before closing it. I would've never remembered it - my memory sucks! |
lol, yeah i know the feeling - speaking of goldfish and memories i think mine is there already, cant even begin to imagine what its going to be like if i make it to old age.
But nice effect/track :toocool: |
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Acton |
quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
Oh yeah - duh, I meant to post that in the OP: :crazy:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pag...&songID=8051464
The solo starts at 2:55. You'll hear the actual vocal sweep in the transition leading up to it (2:53) and during the last sequence (3:20). Listen to the last two bars of each repeating 4-bar solo sequence (where the synth plays low A/B/A/B). |
Sweet
Nice tune as well. |
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cryophonik |
Thanks guys! Isn't it weird how much it sounds like her voice with some pitch modulation or something on it? And, the other thing I should mention is that the sound was made by trance-gating and tweaking a lead from one of the Nexus expansions (Omichron IIRC). So, even if I had the skills to make a synth sound like her voice (I don't), I doubt I'd be able to tweak Nexus that far! |
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