how do you make tracks 'stutter'?

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maryslittlesecret

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Hello, all. There's a very popular recording technique these days where tracks (especially vocals) will, for lack of a better word, stutter. It's basically where a vocal track would do something like "I t-t-t-t-t-told you so", with the stuttering "T"s sounding very mechanical -- almost like a digital glitch but intentional and rhythmic. For the old school folks (and to date myself to a degree) think of Max Headroom... ;-)>

Anyway, you hear it in everything from NSYNC to NIN (the song "Starf*ckers Inc. off of The Fragile is a great example) and I'm wondering if and how I can create this technique at home.

I imagine I could do it through digitial editing, meticulously cutting and pasting little sections. Or maybe sampling each word/phrase and 'playing' it rhythmically like a drum machine, but it seems like that there must be a more consistent, reliable (and easier) way to do it.

Can anyone tell me how this is done, and more importantly, how I might be able to do it? I'd really apprecaite any input. Thanks!

J
http://www.30SoS.com
 
I'd have to say I'd probably attempt it by using digital editing, or maybe a really fastdelay effect?

Jake
 
It IS digital editing. Copy - paste - paste - paste. But some editors have " Loop selection " option, and some have " Paste clipboard by n times " option, so you can speed up process.
 
Ugh! I have a whole new appreciation for those sections/songs. How do they cut, copy, and paste these little sections or samples and have them line up so accurately, timing-wise, without taking hours for one second of audio? Is there some sort of quantize feature available for audio editing (like in ACID where it lines up audio files to any tempo through a series of timing 'markers')?

Is anyone familiar enough with this process that they could walk me through it or give me some tips for trying this in either Cakewalk/Sonar or Sound Forge? I'd love to give it a spin...

J
http://www.30SoS.com
 
I'm about 90% sure that you can do this type of effect in Native Instruments Traktor. Funny you mention Max Headroom...I think of that guy everytime I hear/read the word "headroom" in reference to the technical audio term.
 
one method is, like already said, edit / copy / loop
another one, much easier, is to edit the required bit, sample it, then play, or sequence it.
if its a young track, refuse to pay for elocution lessons
 
Hmmmm? Never even heard of that "Traktor" stuff but it looks interesting. Thanks for the input, Dole... How are you so in the loop for being just 20 miles south of here? ;-)>

Has anyone out there worked with this software? Do you know if I'd need the full-fledged "Studio" version to do this kind of stuff or could I get away with the "Mixer" software? etc...

And sjoko2, I thought sampling a section and sequencing it might be an option as well, though that would take a little more foresight than I usually have. And unfortunately, you lost me on the elocution comment...?

If anyone out there knows a little more about this software (or this recording technique in general), I'd love to get your input... Thanks!

J
http://www.30SoS.com
 
maryslittlesecret said:
Hmmmm? Never even heard of that "Traktor" stuff but it looks interesting. Thanks for the input, Dole... How are you so in the loop for being just 20 miles south of here? ;-)>
Click to expand...

I dunno, man. I guess I spend too much time on the internet or something. ;)

Anyway, I am pretty sure that Traktor would do it, but now that I think about it sampling should work just as well. What do you have for sampling software? If you don't have access to Halion or Gigasampler then I imagine even something like Acid would work fine. The trick would be getting your sample to be "tempo accurate" - if that matters in the context of the song. This is where Traktor might help. It claims to do "beat recognition and aligning" to keep samples locked in with the beat. If you're willing to spend some time on first editing the sample properly and then sequencing it tightly, then you can in effect do the same thing.

A couple years back I had an Ensoniq Mirage 8-bit sampler from the mid-80's that could turn the cleanest sample to pure, nasty dirt. Sometimes I go looking for that gritty yet smooth sound of Lo-Fi digital sampling + analog VCFs and I can actually come *reasonably close* with software, but nothing quite like the Mirage. I've spent too much time getting [close to] the sounds that the Mirage just did by default. I sold it for twice what I paid and I don't regret it as I needed the money and I couldn't see lugging that beast around to college, I swear that thing weighed more than me! Someday I'll probably get the rackmount version when I get the money and the inclination.
 
I was going to mention sampling your vocal parts that you want to "st-st-stutter" and just place them where you want them. In my fruity loops program I can take a recorded spoken word and just loop it how I like it and its like programming a drum roll but using words instead.
 
Here's how I would do it:

I record in Cakewalk.

So, from Cakewalk's audio window I would clip the audio track to get just the part that i want to stutter. Then using the 'snap to grid' function (you must set your desired grid resolution) I would ctrl-drag the clip to the successive stutter point. (ctrl-drag will drag a copy of the selected clip to the desired time in the window). I would continue to do this until I have all the stutters I need
 
MrLip, that sounds like the process I was hoping for -- I'm working with CW (well, now Sonar), so being able to do it to individual tracks within the program would be great...

Have you tried this before? Does it work well? When you say 'clip the audio track', I'm assuming you mean just highlight the small clip you want to make into a stutter (for example, the "st" in the word "stutter") -- is that correct? If not, please elaborate? And I'm assuming, the snap-to-grid feature will line everything up on time with the song...

I'll see if I can try it tonight and let you know if I have any other questions... Thanks!

J
http://www.30SoS.com
 
Yes that's what I mean.

But in Pro Audio 9 (which is what I use) you can't simply highlight, you have to use the "split" function to cut up the audio clip into pieces. THEN you can highlight which "piece" (called a 'clip') you want. So, if you have the audio: |STUTTER| , and you want TUT, you have to split the clip so you've got |S|TUT|TER| , then select |TUT|.

If you want to stutter in eighth notes, right-click on the snap-to-grid button and set the grid resolution to "eighth" and be sure to select "Move By" and NOT "Move To".

Once you've done that, drag the |TUT| clip to the right while holding down the ctrl key until you see an outline of the clip pop up representing where the copied clip will reside. Let go of the mouse button, click OK when the confirmation dialog comes up, and viola.
 
J, forget Cut&Paste, it's an effect called gapper. If I remember well it's available as DirectX plugin from Sonic Foundry. But there is also a (free) VST plugin called "Chopper " around. Try a search for those ;)

- Ulli -
 
Whatever program you cut and paste in, if youre doing things manually (which gives you more flexibility IMO) make sure youre viewing the wave in a high enough magnification to line things up properly.
 
Back again with some success but more questions...

Ulli, thanks for the tip. You're right that the gapper/snipper effect does the trick and lucky for me I have that effect in Sound Forge. The trouble is that, while it works fine in SF, when I pull it up in Sonar (which is where I'd prefer to use it since I can access individual tracks), it comes up with the trial version that beeps and honks at me... How come this works fine in one program and comes up in another as not being a full registered version? Is there a way I can fix this? Should I have all my plug-ins in one folder?

I'm not really sure how programs go about finding, accessing, and using plug-ins. Any general help on how to load, store, and access plug-ins for multiple programs would be appreciated...

J
http://www.30SoS.com

P.S. I downloaded the Chopper plug-in as well (thanks for the link, Ulli), but can't get any of my programs to recognize that.
 
Hmmm, that's strange... AFAIK DirectX is system-wide registered it should work the same way in all appz using DirectX.... Sorry, don't have any clue about that strange error, maybe Sonic Foundry (or Cakewalk) can help....

Same with the Chopper: I use it in the Plugins folder of Cubase (where it should be located according to Steinberg) and it just worx fine. Don't know how Sonar handles DirectX and VST plugins, I wanted to test it due to too much bugs in Cubase but I haven't done this yet... (But I read that Sonar has troubles esp. with VSTs)

BTW: "Reefer slackness" contains some of these Chopper/Gapper effects ;)

- Ulli -
 
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