Stereo special effect?

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blackdiscoball

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Alright I have a mixing question I hope you all can help give me an idea of where to start from. I am recording and mixing my friends band which is a space rock/muse sounding. Well in one of thier songs they want this lazer sound to come in right before the song gets louder. Well I want to do something a little different so when it comes in, instead of having it shoot from the left to the right channel or something cheesy like that I would like it to sound like it is coming from the front of the listener to the back. So I was think of maybe a reverb with a gate with a slow attack and decay time and then maybe even a pitch shift that kind of simulates the doppler red shift very slighly. Does that sound like a good starting point to get this effect or does anyone have any other ideas that they think would better get the effect?
 
i would rather record a moving source with two or more microphones.
 
Unless you are mixing in surround, you will have a hard time getting anything to sound like it is coming from behind. The only way I can think of to do it is to somehow automate the phase relationship of the lazer sound. You would need two tracks hard panned. Automate a volume swell and at the top of the swell, flip one of the tracks out of phase and have them both fade.

This won't work in headphones or with the listener outside of the center of the two speakers. If you listen to it on a surround system, you have a 50/50 shot at having the sound do what you want.
 
Farview said:
Automate a volume swell and at the top of the swell, flip one of the tracks out of phase and have them both fade.
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Isn't that what Microsoft did with the startup sound for Win98? :)

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Isn't that what Microsoft did with the startup sound for Win98? :)

G.
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That start-up sound was created by Brian Eno.
 
MadAudio said:
That start-up sound was created by Brian Eno.
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Hah! Nice piece of trivia I never knew. Can't wait to win a bar bet with that one.

OK, allow me to re-phrase the question, then...isn't that what Brian Eno did with the startup sound for Win98? ;)
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Hah! Nice piece of trivia I never knew. Can't wait to win a bar bet with that one.

OK, allow me to re-phrase the question, then...isn't that what Brian Eno did with the startup sound for Win98? ;)
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Actually, a quick Google search reveals it was the Windows 95 start-up sound that Eno did. Eh, close enough!

Sorry for the hijack!
 
I have been thinking of trying to record the source while its moving, if that doesn't work I will try the phase trick that was mentioned. Thanks for all the help and if anyone else has a suggestion or has done this keep the advice coming!
 
you could try doubling the lazer track, put a slight delay on one of them, and start them off both panned center and spread them apart.

something along those lines might work, unless that's too cheezy...
 
Getting the sound to move isn't the problem, getting sound to come from behind you when you don't have speakers behind you is the problem.
 
Farview said:
Getting the sound to move isn't the problem, getting sound to come from behind you when you don't have speakers behind you is the problem.
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Some spacial algorithms like the old Carver Sonic Holography systems and it's descendants synthesize this through timed phase cancellations and EQ curves that are designed to cancel the direct sounds coming from the loudspeakers to the listener while letting through and accentuating the secondary reflections off of the side and back walls.

Trying to re-create such algorithms manually could be a real bitch, but it would be a fun project. Question is, is it really worth it? Like Jason said, such stereo 3D systems only work in certain playback rooms and only along a pretty narrow axis between the two playback speakers. And they won't work in headphones/earbuds at all. Leave that effect for a 5.1 version.

For the stereo version, you could start out with a stereo chorus or delay 100% wet and spread hard L/R over the duration of the effect, cross-fade the wet/dry mix to 100% dry right down the center. During the transition automate the volume to slowly peak at about 3/4ers of the way thorugh and then rapidly decay the volume to 0 at the end. Finally, slowly increase the bass EQ a bit from the beginning to the end of the effect.

This effect will not make it sound like it's going front to back, but done right it should make it sound like its coming from the distance and aimed right at their head.

G.
 
The only example I can think of is Michael Jackson's Thriller (album version) the very beginning before the music starts sounds like the noises are coming from behind.

I've never really analyzed why it sounds that way.
 
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