How to get your voice to sound like it came out of a helmet or mic...

[shockhawk]

I have always wondered, when you hear a voice through a phone or something, it sound distorted and slightly muffled. My big example is with Red VS. Blue. They do something to change their voices. Does anybody know how to do that? :erik:

[Nonsensical studios]

The way I do it, is I download the free trial of Wave Pad, import or record my dialogue, and then use the phone effect

[sonnyfromda02]

RvB talked through phones, then recorded the output sound.

[gonzo_entertainment]

Pretty simple, record through the crappiest mic you can find. I was in a band for years, and once in the studio we wanted really distorted vocals, so we recorded it through the little mic on the board the engineer uses.

[G_Pettibone]

EQ and compression, mostly. Maybe a bit of distortion, but a little bit goes a long way.

[WakeUpStudios]

high pass filter

[gonzo_entertainment]

Still don't understand why the FIRST thing you'd try wouldn't be the real thing. If you want it to sound like a phone record it through a phone. If you want it to sound like a crappy helmet mic, record through a crappy mic, THEN if that doesn't work (and it may not) THEN you think about how to create it in post. The EXACT same philosophy you'd use on any other aspect of the film.

[cyrax037]

I get what your saying there, but in this case, I believe post WOULD be better. Why go through all the trouble of doing it through crappy mics or whatever(I'm not entirely sure how you record through a phone anyway) and come out with something you can't even understand, like listening to the old fast food drive through speakers.

You should start with with something half way audible, and go from there. I would mess with the EQs in post. Something like Diamond Cut 7(which is what I use) would be good for this. It acturally has ALOT of filters and stuff that you could mess with. But mostly, I would play with the EQ sliders to see if you can get what you want. You can also save positions, so you can edit more then one sound clip, with the exact same EQ settings.

[Andy Leonard]

I've actually done machinima tests before, and to create the effect, I played with some sliders in GarageBand. Here's how it ended up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1Ot9tdtxo

[WTKE411]

If you have Vegas, import the audio and right click and choose "Apply Non-Real FX" or something related. When it opens, choose "Graphic EQ" and turn these to the following:

225 (-Inf.)
450 (-Inf.)
900 (24.0)
1.8k (24.0)

Hope this helps. It sounds more like a cell phone tho...

[G_Pettibone]

Still don't understand why the FIRST thing you'd try wouldn't be the real thing.

Because doing it in post gives you a lot more control over the effect. If you do the effect live, you're pretty much stuck with what you have, whether it works or not. If you do it in post with a clean take, you have a lot more room to play with it.

[gonzo_entertainment]

Because doing it in post gives you a lot more control over the effect. If you do the effect live, you're pretty much stuck with what you have, whether it works or not. If you do it in post with a clean take, you have a lot more room to play with it.

Or if it doesn't work live, THEN you do it in post with a clean take, just like ADR. I am NOT a Von Trier fan or anything, but one thing from dogma 95 I do agree with is the principal that you always try to get a shot/sound live if at all possible, and if it just doesn't/can't work, THEN you (and here is where I diverge from Dogma 95 silliness) you handle it in post.

[cyrax037]

Or if it doesn't work live, THEN you do it in post with a clean take, just like ADR. I am NOT a Von Trier fan or anything, but one thing from dogma 95 I do agree with is the principal that you always try to get a shot/sound live if at all possible, and if it just doesn't/can't work, THEN you (and here is where I diverge from Dogma 95 silliness) you handle it in post.

I still have to agree that its better to do in post. Trying to do it with a crappy mic or whatever first, that failing, your going to have to RE-record everything. It will save you alot of work to just record a clean take, and go from there. Like in music videos, they don't use the live audio for that, they use a studio recording dubbed over it. And depending on what the OP has available, it might be much easier and cheaper do it all in post. Which btw, is the same princible everyone here hammers about on explosions and fire, since most of us are not capable of doing real ones, you use cgi and stock footage, instead of TRYING something real and if that doesn't work, doing it in post. That does work on some things, but its not absolute, and does not apply to everything.

[gonzo_entertainment]

I still have to agree that its better to do in post. Trying to do it with a crappy mic or whatever first, that failing, your going to have to RE-record everything. It will save you alot of work to just record a clean take, and go from there. Like in music videos, they don't use the live audio for that, they use a studio recording dubbed over it. And depending on what the OP has available, it might be much easier and cheaper do it all in post. Which btw, is the same princible everyone here hammers about on explosions and fire, since most of us are not capable of doing real ones, you use cgi and stock footage, instead of TRYING something real and if that doesn't work, doing it in post. That does work on some things, but its not absolute, and does not apply to everything.

And if somebody REALLY knows what their doing that clean take fiddled with in post MIGHT sound pretty close to the real thing, or it might not sound much like it at all, just like CGI muzzle flashes and explosions look like garbage. You have no choice there, you have to live with it looking like crap, here you don't. My point on the OP was not necessarily to try and record the sound live during the take necessarily, but that recording through a $3 Walmart toy mic might sound exactly like what you want, why not try that first. You'll know in half an hour if it works, if not, then fiddle with a clean take in post.

Off topic to the OP, but in this vein, my philosophy is if I can't afford to make an effect look really, really good, it's out of the script. If I have to low rent cgi an explosion I'm going to cut the explosion out of the script. If I can't afford squibs, and a gun tech to use real blanks, I'm not going to have gunfire in the film. In my last film the main character rips another guy to shreds with his bare hands. I didn't have the budget to do a really good effect on that, so it's shot where the vistim is always out of frame. You only see the attacker as he is sprayed with more and more blood.

[cyrax037]

And if somebody REALLY knows what their doing that clean take fiddled with in post MIGHT sound pretty close to the real thing, or it might not sound much like it at all, just like CGI muzzle flashes and explosions look like garbage. You have no choice there, you have to live with it looking like crap, here you don't. My point on the OP was not necessarily to try and record the sound live during the take necessarily, but that recording through a $3 Walmart toy mic might sound exactly like what you want, why not try that first. You'll know in half an hour if it works, if not, then fiddle with a clean take in post.

Off topic to the OP, but in this vein, my philosophy is if I can't afford to make an effect look really, really good, it's out of the script. If I have to low rent cgi an explosion I'm going to cut the explosion out of the script. If I can't afford squibs, and a gun tech to use real blanks, I'm not going to have gunfire in the film. In my last film the main character rips another guy to shreds with his bare hands. I didn't have the budget to do a really good effect on that, so it's shot where the vistim is always out of frame. You only see the attacker as he is sprayed with more and more blood.

You know, that probably ended up giving a better feel to it, not SHOWING the ripping, but keeping the main gore off screen, and use the splatter like you said. IMO, those shots give more of a psychological cringe then acturally showing it. Shoot, I know people, who will turn away from the screen from scenes like that, so you end up wasting time on all of that gore and effects, if they aren't going to watch it. (I know most people would watch it anyway, but IMO, if I put so much work into a shot like that, I'd prefer anyone watching it to acturally SEE the shot in full.)

[shockhawk]

I've actually done machinima tests before, and to create the effect, I played with some sliders in GarageBand. Here's how it ended up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1Ot9tdtxo

Dude! That's just what I need! What settings did you use?

[Skycarl]

high pass filter

[Razback]

The way I do it, is I download the free trial of Wave Pad, import or record my dialogue, and then use the phone effect

Yes, actualy its a good audio editing and voice modulation software.

[WakeUpStudios]

OMG HOW MANY TIMES DO ME AND CARL HAVE TO SAY IT?! HIGH...PASS....FILTER!

[Andy Leonard]

Dude! That's just what I need! What settings did you use?

In GarageBand I created an Effect, clicked "Compressor", "Bass Reduction", "Auto Wah", and "Visual EQ." Just fiddle around with the manual sliders on those effects until you find something that works.