Tips on editing outside the Vocaloid Editor

[VocaMew]

Hey guys! Since I totally ruined what one of my covers was gonna be, I'll just say that I need advice on how to make a section of vocals sound semi-static-y. I would suppose that that's something the Vocaloid Editor itself doesn't offer (I have the vocals how I want them except for the static), so I'm open for advice with other tools.

 

[Kona]

If I know things correctly (ehich I'm still learning), that effect is done a lot by EQ (equalization). I'd mess around with it to get the desired sound and I know (if I remember right) Studio One has a preset for that type of sound if you have that

 

[VocaMew]

If I know things correctly (ehich I'm still learning), that effect is done a lot by EQ (equalization). I'd mess around with it to get the desired sound and I know (if I remember right) Studio One has a preset for that type of sound if you have that

Rad. I'm more of an Audacity person, so I'll try that first, but thanks!

 

[Ｓｐｈｉｎｘ － Ｐ]

Not very specific in what you're looking to get done exactly, but I'm going to guess EQ (unless it's really extreme EQ editing) won't help with getting you anything that sounds "static-y". I'll recommend looking into things that can reduce samplerate and do bitcrushing.
Maybe even mixing EQ editing with some distortions, but not on its own.

 

[VocaMew]

Not very specific in what you're looking to get done exactly, but I'm going to guess EQ (unless it's really extreme EQ editing) won't help with getting you anything that sounds "static-y". I'll recommend looking into things that can reduce samplerate and do bitcrushing.
Maybe even mixing EQ editing with some distortions, but not on its own.

Are there any specific tools that offer that kind of thing that you know of?

 

[Paradoxical]

Rad. I'm more of an Audacity person, so I'll try that first, but thanks!

Audacity has some decent presets for EQ that might get you what you want. Try the Walkie-Talkie and AM Radio ones!

Otherwise, if you're looking for something completely different, you'd be best checking out what Sphinx suggests.

 

[Ｓｐｈｉｎｘ － Ｐ]

Are there any specific tools that offer that kind of thing that you know of?

There are a lot.
Just search google with the terms mentioned.
All of these have bitrate and samplerate control, and there are countless more out there.

I wouldn't say any are better than others, it's a matter of feature convenience.
They all get the job done.

 

[VocaMew]

Audacity has some decent presets for EQ that might get you what you want. Try the Walkie-Talkie and AM Radio ones!

Otherwise, if you're looking for something completely different, you'd be best checking out what Sphinx suggests.

Thanks, appreciate it!

There are a lot.
Just search google with the terms mentioned.
All of these have bitrate and samplerate control, and there are countless more out there.

I wouldn't say any are better than others, it's a matter of feature convenience.
They all get the job done.

These are pretty awesome, thanks a lot!

 

[WintermintP]

Those are some good plugin suggestions, but we have to first address what the OP means by "staticky."

Usually such effect is done through bandpassing, i.e. highpassing and lowpassing to carve out everything that's not roughly 1-2K, and sometimes a little bit of distortion, but regarding actual static, netiher EQ nor effects will get you anywhere. You'll have to take the vocal file and cut out some of the parts to make it actually sound like it's glitching in and out.

But for crying out loud, get something else for a DAW. You won't be able to do much with Audacity. Try Reaper. Cheapest DAW amongst the ones that even professionals use.

WintermintP

 

[Ｓｐｈｉｎｘ － Ｐ]

Those are some good plugin suggestions, but we have to first address what the OP means by "staticky."

Since normally people associate static with bad signals, electricity and TV noise, I'd take a guess at something along the lines associated with things like vinyl, tape and lower end mic/equipment static.

Usually such effect is done through bandpassing, i.e. highpassing and lowpassing to carve out everything that's not roughly 1-2K, and sometimes a little bit of distortion, but regarding actual static, netiher EQ nor effects will get you anywhere. You'll have to take the vocal file and cut out some of the parts to make it actually sound like it's glitching in and out.

The first half of what you're saying are options included in most of the plugins above I think, but without bit or sapmlerate changes I don't see where the idea of "staticky" comes in unless you're to bring actual noise in or are using surgical EQ spikes for the distortions which is back to being the same thing as what the mentioned plugins are essentially doing. Since other people have gave the suggestion as well though, I'd be interested in seeing any examples of what you might mean.

Everything after "regarding actual static" though goes onto concepts that seem completely different from what I understand the rest of this to be about.
With "cutting out some of the parts to make it actually sound like it's glitching in and out", I'm not sure if you're talking about a basic gate effect (which is probably the less likely thing), or if you're talking about actually cutting out audio for the sound of a hard signal change from the zero crossing (which is something not only entirely different from EQ or any of the effects mentioned so far, but I recommend never doing at all due to the damage it can cause and its overall lack of professionalism).

 

[WintermintP]

or if you're talking about actually cutting out audio for the sound of a hard signal change from the zero crossing (which is something not only entirely different from EQ or any of the effects mentioned so far, but I recommend never doing at all due to the damage it can cause and its overall lack of professionalism).

Hold on, lack of professionalism? Er, the stutter effect is a common effect that has been used for ages, especially in genres such as metalcore... I wouldn't recommend doing that in Audacity, but in other DAWs it's definitely worth a try if you cut the audio out in a pattern so that it cuts in and out just at the right time to the point the cutting actually aligns to the beat. Obviously the first part would have to be left uncut so the OP would have to cut a dial past that, but after that it's edit city.

Also, to be fair, if you do it well enough, it can sound professional, even if it's, say, post-production where it's not even about the grid at times.

WintermintP

 

[VocaMew]

Since normally people associate static with bad signals, electricity and TV noise, I'd take a guess at something along the lines associated with things like vinyl, tape and lower end mic/equipment static.


The first half of what you're saying are options included in most of the plugins above I think, but without bit or sapmlerate changes I don't see where the idea of "staticky" comes in unless you're to bring actual noise in or are using surgical EQ spikes for the distortions which is back to being the same thing as what the mentioned plugins are essentially doing. Since other people have gave the suggestion as well though, I'd be interested in seeing any examples of what you might mean.

Everything after "regarding actual static" though goes onto concepts that seem completely different from what I understand the rest of this to be about.
With "cutting out some of the parts to make it actually sound like it's glitching in and out", I'm not sure if you're talking about a basic gate effect (which is probably the less likely thing), or if you're talking about actually cutting out audio for the sound of a hard signal change from the zero crossing (which is something not only entirely different from EQ or any of the effects mentioned so far, but I recommend never doing at all due to the damage it can cause and its overall lack of professionalism).

Hold on, lack of professionalism? Er, the stutter effect is a common effect that has been used for ages, especially in genres such as metalcore... I wouldn't recommend doing that in Audacity, but in other DAWs it's definitely worth a try if you cut the audio out in a pattern so that it cuts in and out just at the right time to the point the cutting actually aligns to the beat. Obviously the first part would have to be left uncut so the OP would have to cut a dial past that, but after that it's edit city.

Also, to be fair, if you do it well enough, it can sound professional, even if it's, say, post-production where it's not even about the grid at times.

WintermintP

I guess the best comparison I could make to what I mean by "staticky" is like a radio station when the connection just starts to get bad

 

[WintermintP]

I guess the best comparison I could make to what I mean by "staticky" is like a radio station when the connection just starts to get bad

By that do you mean general static, or the connection actually cutting in and out?

WintermintP

 

[VocaMew]

More the general static

 

[WintermintP]

Ah, then Ｓｐｈｉｎｘ got the right idea.

WintermintP

 

[Hatsune-hakase]

All of this is making me long for a revival of the "Mixing is Magic" thread from VO...

 

[WintermintP]

I feel ya.

WintermintP