Fiddlin' With Pitch

Post by **philchenevert** » August 16th, 2020, 12:24 pm

Hi everyone. I'm asking for feedback on this little sample track (1.5 minutes only). I've been adjusting my audio tracks for a long time to raise them in pitch; just too much bass in ' em for my taste. Then I accidentally lowered the pitch and got some interesting and surprising results. It actually sounds better to me than my original. But then my ears are not too good so I am asking any of you nifty LivriVox people to listen and give me your thoughts. The first 40 seconds is my usual track and the next 40 seconds is the same text at a lower pitch. In these times it is good to have something trivial like this to mess around with.

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/legend_of_milkyway_lowering_pitch_test_-20untitled.mp3

By commenting you may be contributing to the delinquency of a major because it this seems OK, I may start using it.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » August 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm

It's a different voice entirely; whether you prefer to use it is up to you. As an example, a while ago I read a Chthulhu-type story for its author. I tried to make a deep Chthulhu voice, but it didn't seem strange enough, so I lowered the pitch and got what I thought of as a much less human voice. Here's the sample I sent to the author (he preferred the modified voice, too): https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/CthulhuVariant_py.mp3

Peter

Post by **philchenevert** » August 16th, 2020, 12:46 pm

Peter Why wrote: ↑August 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm It's a different voice entirely; whether you prefer to use it is up to you. As an example, a while ago I read a Chthulhu-type story for its author. I tried to make a deep Chthulhu voice, but it didn't seem strange enough, so I lowered the pitch and got what I thought of as a much less human voice. Here's the sample I sent to the author (he preferred the modified voice, too): https://librivox.org/uploads/xx-nonproject/CthulhuVariant_py.mp3

Peter

Love that voice for the Demon (or whatever). The voice I get reminds me of the narrator for the SF Ender series and it is indeed a very different voice. But, (significantly) the artifacts and defects I try to correct in my normal stuff seem to go away! Thanks Peter for your feedback. I think I will keep my 'normal' (after noise reduction, high-pass filter, bass-treble adjustmen) voice.

loon · Post by **loon** » August 17th, 2020, 7:13 pm

I haven't tried using pitch shift, but I've been known to push right up to the mic - way up to the mic - for deep voices. (And then lower the volume during editing so it doesn't overpower the rest of the recording.)

schrm · Post by **schrm** » August 26th, 2020, 8:48 am

to be honest, it is difficult to understand - from my point of view - the second 40 seconds lower pitch voice.
i'm not sure, why that is - must be my lacking english skills....

Post by **philchenevert** » August 26th, 2020, 8:51 am

schrm wrote: ↑August 26th, 2020, 8:48 am to be honest, it is difficult to understand - from my point of view - the second 40 seconds lower pitch voice.
i'm not sure, why that is - must be my lacking english skills....

Thanks for the feedback. That's the kind of thing i need to know. Because you already heard the script and that should make it easier to understand the lower pitch part.

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » August 26th, 2020, 7:02 pm

I thought the pitch was a little too low. I think a more subtle change could work. In one recording I slightly lowered the pitch of one male character in a dialogue between him and another male character. I thought it sounded pretty good.

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » August 26th, 2020, 8:18 pm

Phil, Phil, Phil... Oh, Phil. Please. Stay away from the Dark Arts.

Post by **philchenevert** » August 26th, 2020, 8:32 pm

KevinS wrote: ↑August 26th, 2020, 8:18 pm Phil, Phil, Phil... Oh, Phil. Please. Stay away from the Dark Arts.

"Ha ha ha ha ha" The deep dark evil voice dripping with vileness echos through the dank labratory. Phil is seen being sucked into a vortex of smoke and green flame "help ..l. help .... " tsk. Phil has strayed too close to the abyss this time.

So you did not like the lower pitch stuff?

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » August 26th, 2020, 8:46 pm

philchenevert wrote: ↑August 26th, 2020, 8:32 pm
KevinS wrote: ↑August 26th, 2020, 8:18 pm Phil, Phil, Phil... Oh, Phil. Please. Stay away from the Dark Arts.
"Ha ha ha ha ha" The deep dark evil voice dripping with vileness echos through the dank labratory. Phil is seen being sucked into a vortex of smoke and green flame "help ..l. help .... " tsk. Phil has strayed too close to the abyss this time.

So you did not like the lower pitch stuff?

I like your voice. The real one.

Post by **mightyfelix** » August 27th, 2020, 5:29 am

I do sometimes use pitch shift, but I agree that this is too drastically different. I never shift to a pitch that my voice couldn't have produced naturally. Sometimes I use it to patch in a corrected phrase, for instance, if the correction is noticeably higher or lower than the original take.