Stuttering, an easier way?

[Back-From-Purgatory]

So, I've recently started listening to a lot of Celldweller and Sybreed, both of which use a lot of electronic influences in their music (Metal). And there was one thing that sent shivers down my spine was the stutter applied to the singers voice, most particularly in a few Celldweller songs. I don't know why, but it made me want to play around with the technique.

So my question is this, is there any easy way to apply the stutter effect other than automating the volume up and down by hand (I.E. Dragging each volume drop by hand)?

Sure, I can get the job done that way, but there's no guarantee the stutter will be even or on tempo that way, and it seems more trouble than it's worth. I'm assuming there is a universal method of doing this between various programs, or at least a similar technique. So I'm not bothering asking for a way to do it in a particular program, as I use a few different ones to record various sections of my music.

Hints? Tips? Suggestions?

[poopr1221]

Use a gating plugin perhaps? I never could find an easy way to do stutters in FL.

[Zhuriel]

I have a plugin called Skidder that does stuff like that. You can find it at: http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/

[xKore]

Use the slice tool?

[InGenius]

Peak controller with dry hi-hat, set up the pattern you want the stutter and let the peak controller handle those volume automations. They'll be guaranteed on-beat, you can use four or five different hat patterns to change things up, and if you add some verb to the hat channel pre-Peak control, it'll give it some controllable smudging coupled with decay and volume settings inside the peak controller.

Or

D_Blue glitch set to glitch or gate setting on the vocal channel with the Wet/Dry FX knob on automation to control when the glitch is active.

Or

Hand chop the vocal with the Cut tool in the Audio/Automation clip window in FL's pattern/clip window, which is probably closer to what is being done in Pro Tools on the original tracks you want to emulate. This is the most controllable and gives some of the best results because you can chop it, automate the volume on the channel, and still throw some other glitching FX to make it really pop.

[loansindi]

build a killswitch into your microphone?

[the-aenigma]

The Korg mini KP I've got has those effects. It's called the 'looper' effect. It works good for a stuttering effect, and gives you complete control of the pitch and speed. It's worth looking into if you got the money and want those effects.

[Darren-M]

what ever you do, if you want the entire track to have this effect on it you are going to need to apply the effect to the master volume/amp.

i suggest using a gate effect some reverbs have this.

the limiter method makes me think of sidechaining, which i dont think i would like to use, it just seems cumbersom, but yes that will work too.

but if none of this works, then render or export the track as a wav file and then re enter it into the program and slice it up on the timeline

[Mystery-Moon-Pie-Aud]

Link the Fruity Peak Cotroller to the Fruity Mute knob. Set the Peak controller so it is constantly moving up and down at an extremely fast rate. That way, the music will mute on and off continuously at a fast rate. You have to know sidechaining before you can do this.

[Back-From-Purgatory]

I notice a lot of people are assuming I'm using FL Studio and this is what I made the thread for... Well, you're wrong. If I wanted to know how to do it specifically in FL Studio, I would've asked in the FL Studio thread.

But thanks for the advice anyways, if I do ever plan to use the effect in FL, I guess now I'll know how.

And thanks to those who suggested the plugins, I'll give them a try.

[culmor30]

What do you want to do exactly? FL's Wave Traveler plugin is great for chopping little parts of voice out for use in the piano roll.

[InGenius]

Actually if you're not using FL, you can still do everything I suggested. Peak controller is simply a sidechain tied to a hat. Also, when you post a question it would help to be specific about what DAW or Multi-track editor you're using so we can tailor our replies to your needs, otherwise you will get the assumption, which in probably 75% of cases would be correct, that you are using FL.

[Rig]

At 9/24/09 04:35 PM, Zhuriel wrote: I have a plugin called Skidder that does stuff like that. You can find it at: http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/

I was just about to recommend it myself. Give it a shot, OP. It does what it says on the tin.

[Back-From-Purgatory]

I'll still see if a lot of this stuff applies when I get around to recording a few more tracks, but to satisfy the curiosity and debunk the assumptions... I plan on using the technique in REAPER. Sure, I may use it in FL at some point, but the stuff I want to stutter I will be recording in REAPER.

As for what exactly I'm going for:
Switchback - Celldweller

3:03 in, that scream that's chopped up (Yes, I know I can chop anything up like that) is what got me going on the idea of playing with it.

[the-aenigma]

That's a vocoder effect he's using. It's been used many times by a wide variety of electronic artists. Such as KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Hanzel und Gretyl, Velvet Acid Christ, Front 242, even Rob Zombie.

[Back-From-Purgatory]

At 9/25/09 07:09 AM, the-aenigma wrote: That's a vocoder effect he's using. It's been used many times by a wide variety of electronic artists. Such as KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Hanzel und Gretyl, Velvet Acid Christ, Front 242, even Rob Zombie.

Wrong part of the song, I know he uses a lot of vocorder effects, I'm talking about the brief scream at 3:03 that's chopped up. Ahhhhh---hhhhhh---hhh-hhh-hhhhhh----hhhh --h-hhh Sort of thing.

[Bjra]

Does reaper have a project window where you can chop up sampels?

50 bucks says they didnt use any fancy automation techniques, they just cut out a very small chunk of a scream, filtered it with what sounds to be an old radio/megaphone style distortion and filtering, while simply chopping up and pasting it a bunch of times.

either that, or they used a sampler/drum machine, laoded the scream sample in and triggered it with midi.

good suggestions in this thread, but no need to reinvent the wheel, just chop it up by hand, and arrange the chopped pieces.

[InGenius]

It's a triggered sample set, about three "ah" microsamples sent through a channel loaded with EQ and verb effect, triggered either via midi as Bjra said, or triggered with some form of automation control a la sidechaining to a rhythmic or sequenced gate. I'm betting on midi control, though it's VERY quantized in this instance so it could as easily be done with any sequencer. Personally, I'd load up a sampler and get to sequencing in this case rather than chopping the tail of a long scream as I at first suggested. Then automate the mixer buss you send the samples to so you can control all of the little fx you run it through and the volume and panning because I imagine the original stereo (I think the example had been monoized by YT) vocal had panning and volume fx to give it alot of flavor and fullness.

[Bjra]

At 9/25/09 07:45 PM, InGenius wrote: It's a triggered sample set, about three "ah" microsamples sent through a channel loaded with EQ and verb effect, triggered either via midi as Bjra said, or triggered with some form of automation control a la sidechaining to a rhythmic or sequenced gate. I'm betting on midi control, though it's VERY quantized in this instance so it could as easily be done with any sequencer.

well in cubase, you can literally chop up a sample right on the project window, and arrange it like that, which is much simple and more versatile than creating tons of different length chops. Although fl, as I'm aware doesn't allow you audio editing right on the pattern arranger, I know cubase does, and I'm pretty sure reaper would have it as well, as from what ive seen reaper has a simalar project window

Look at the pic, no midi, no automation, I just cut the audio in a few spots and arranged it. to the beat. and it gives the same effect as opposed to complicating things buy trying to automate it, send it to midi, etc. I'm not sure if reaper can do this, but it should from what I've seen

Here is the sample mp3

[InGenius]

At 9/25/09 08:30 PM, Bjra wrote: well in cubase, you can literally chop up a sample right on the project window, and arrange it like that, which is much simple and more versatile than creating tons of different length chops. Although fl, as I'm aware doesn't allow you audio editing right on the pattern arranger, I know cubase does, and I'm pretty sure reaper would have it as well, as from what ive seen reaper has a simalar project window

Wrong-o. You can chop, copy, paste, do whatever to audio right in the Audio/Automation clip portion of the Pattern/Playlist window. In fact, FL 9 got rid of the Pattern blocks in lieu of nothing but Pattern clips, Audio clips, and Automation clips in solely a clip arrangement view with no blocks anymore, or so I've heard. And you can chop, splice, paste, copy, and mangle to your heart's content.

Look at the pic, no midi, no automation, I just cut the audio in a few spots and arranged it. to the beat. and it gives the same effect as opposed to complicating things buy trying to automate it, send it to midi, etc. I'm not sure if reaper can do this, but it should from what I've seen

But I suggest NOT cutting a single audio file and leaving it ona single channel because that leads to a very flat sound where all of the audio parts remain ona single channel and have the exact same processing. The sample we were sent to was sonically seperated so that the main vocal where the ah's were taken from retained it's own character while the "ah" samples had a seperate processing chain and panning and volume automation. Therein lies the problem with simply cutting the original audio material up unless you promote it to a new instance and route it through a new channel/buss for processing. And if you do, you'll still need to automate for volume and pan in your setup, so you've really not saved any time.

[Bjra]

At 9/26/09 01:52 AM, InGenius wrote: But I suggest NOT cutting a single audio file and leaving it ona single channel because that leads to a very flat sound where all of the audio parts remain ona single channel and have the exact same processing. The sample we were sent to was sonically seperated so that the main vocal where the ah's were taken from retained it's own character while the "ah" samples had a seperate processing chain and panning and volume automation. Therein lies the problem with simply cutting the original audio material up unless you promote it to a new instance and route it through a new channel/buss for processing. And if you do, you'll still need to automate for volume and pan in your setup, so you've really not saved any time.

Yeah, if you want different fx, panning, just copy the channel a few times, set the fx for each channel, and arrange across the channels. I am almost entirely sure you can do this in reaper

copy that track in my pic, for example, so the two tracks are on top of each other with the same audio at the same time, then delete alternating audio clips in both tracks, pan the top audio channel to the left, bottom to the right and voila, you have alternating panning fx. and you can edit each audio snip audomaticly. or use more channels with different fx and pan to get your desired stutter

That's one straightforward way to go about it if you don't wanna mess with automating the volume of a continuous clip, chopping it up and triggering it via midi, or using less configurable stutter vsts. or you could combine them.

ah the sonic possibilities

[Methreee]

sidechain your voice to the kick drum.

haha

[Khuskan]

Volume automation if you don't want the tempo to slip.

[p4c]

i mean, instead of using a hardware knob and trying to automate it by hand, you can manually draw changes in the level for that channel in. in reason, at least, you can make sure your stuttering is regular by _reducing the quantization_ of the points mapped using vector automation and then just copypasta the automation as a loop. what i mean is that, for example, any notes you would lay down would automatically snap to 1/16th notes or something, and by doing that, you can make sure the intervals are consistent. probably you can do similar things across different programs.