I'v got a sound file of one of my voice actors talking that I would like to convert to sound like it was recored from the other end of a phone (like a caller on a talk radio show) and I just can't get a chain effect put together that does it convincingly. I start off with the EQ band and turn most of them down, to cut out the base and trebble, and then I mess around with making it a little less clear, but its just not turning out.
Any suggestions?
From phone effect
Maybe some compression and a little distortion. I wrote the following in response to a question about simulating a 2-way radio:
DougDbug wrote:On a real radio, the poor sound quality is due to four things:
-Limited frequency range
-Noise
-Distortion
-Compression
The distortion and compression are related, as they are caused by overloading the circuitry with too-strong of a signal. A bit of this overloading can actually increase inteligibility by drowning-out noise.
So, you might try some compression - Take-out the level variations, so that all parts of the speech are very loud. There isn't a preset for this. Maybe start with Boost Low Levels, and set the threshold at or near 0dB so that everything gets boosted except the loudest peaks. (You can reduce the overall volume when/if you get the sound you want.)
You might even want to force some clipping (which is an extreme form of distorted-compression). GoldWave tries to prevent clipping, so what you need to do is boost the volume level so that it exceeds 0dB. Then save the file. When you re-open the file it will be clipped to 0dB. For a starting-point, Maximize the file first, and then increase the level by +6dB. Make sure to save your original file with a different name, because once a file is clipped, you can't un-do it. (And, you will need to experiment with different amounts of clipping.)
