Manipulate Voices

Hello!

I'm really wondering how you can manipulate voices. For example the voices in the game Starcraft II. The Protoss and Zerg units have some very nice FX'ed sounds. I'm really wondering how these sounds are created.

Does anyone know any information, books, tutorials or something else about this subject? I can't find anything about it on the internet.

I'm really wondering how these sounds are created.

If you provide some examples, like a youtube link and time index, we could tell you how they're done.

I just found the sounds ONLY.

The Protoss and Zerg sounds are the ones that fascinates me the most.

Protoss sounds like it mostly the original sound + reversed delay/reverb stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/24/zd-2ZQRSstY

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/49/QUh3kx7x2ks

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/76/ZDOKsw0zLN0

Zerg sounds more like a lot of combined animal sounds and burping and farting.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/16/ZOCP8tw8FdM

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/19/tEujCSEfXak

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/17/Xl5hryLzMGM

Anyway, I'm still wondering how to combine and create these kind of sounds. It doesn't have to tutorials or info about THESE sounds, but I just want to know more about the art of creating new vocal sounds.

Not just a tip like: Use a vocoder. But some more info about these kind of stuff.

That's a lot of stuff right there... I'll tackle one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/49/QUh3kx7x2ks

I hear several things on this one.

1) The way the voiceover talks gives its main character to this voice.

2) The voice is pitched down. You could try a pitch shifter plug-in like Audio Units > Apple > AUPitch, turn the pitch down and play with the effect blend to taste.

3) There is a short delay.

4) There is a reverse reverb. You can use Space Designer for reverse reverb effects, or you can do it the classic way: add reverb, bounce to turn it into an audio file, reverse it in the sample editor, place it on another track and place the reverse reverb effect before the original sound so it builds up before the actual voice.

For some of the weird gargling animal-like sounds on some of the other voices I'd experiment with the Ring Shifter, tweaking the big round knob while the voice is playing back .

Best of luck, it sounds like you're going to have fun with this!

That's a lot of stuff right there... I'll tackle one of them.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/49/QUh3kx7x2ks

I hear several things on this one.

 

1) The way the voiceover talks gives its main character to this voice.

2) The voice is pitched down. You could try a pitch shifter plug-in like Audio Units > Apple > AUPitch, turn the pitch down and play with the effect blend to taste.

3) There is a short delay.

4) There is a reverse reverb. You can use Space Designer for reverse reverb effects, or you can do it the classic way: add reverb, bounce to turn it into an audio file, reverse it in the sample editor, place it on another track and place the reverse reverb effect before the original sound so it builds up before the actual voice.

 

For some of the weird gargling animal-like sounds on some of the other voices I'd experiment with the Ring Shifter, tweaking the big round knob while the voice is playing back .

 

Best of luck, it sounds like you're going to have fun with this!

Thanks for the info!

I did some quick experimenting by picking a voice from freesound.org and manipulate it. Your tips really work. I can imagine I can get a better sound with a line spoken in a dark an low way.

Check the attachment for my quick experiment with the original voice first and then the FX.

(There is one mp3 file in the zip)

Voice Manipulation Test.zip

Voice Manipulation Test

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/24/zd-2ZQRSstY

Pitch shift and ring mod on that one.

Zerg sounds more like a lot of combined animal sounds and burping and farting.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarJudicator#p/u/16/ZOCP8tw8FdM

Granular synthesis. This one's tricky since it seems to be random indexing multiple samples. Not sure if Reaktor's stuff can handle that so smoothly. This can easily be done in Kyma. Maybe Max/MSP. Anyway, Logic does not include a granular synth, so you'll have to look for a 3rd party solution if you want to do this.

I did some quick experimenting by picking a voice from freesound.org and manipulate it. Your tips really work. I can imagine I can get a better sound with a line spoken in a dark an low way.

Yes! Your results are very good. And you are right, now they would be even better if you experimented with the way you speak in the original recording.

 

Granular synthesis. This one's tricky since it seems to be random indexing multiple samples. Not sure if Reaktor's stuff can handle that so smoothly. This can easily be done in Kyma. Maybe Max/MSP. Anyway, Logic does not include a granular synth, so you'll have to look for a 3rd party solution if you want to do this.

http://www.notam02.no/web/2005/10/mammut-2/?lang=en

Is this a good Granular Synthesis tool? I only experimented with this and with Max/msp if it comes to Granular Syntesis. But I'm really bad in using Max.