Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

GoldWave general discussions and community help
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

I have a bunch of projects which require lots of my voice actors to submit recorded way files with their voices.

I need to have Goldwave create some random variations in each voice per unit. So they submit, say, 60lines of voice scripts for a single game character but some characters are a little similar BUT I want to vary the voice so some sound old or middle-age, 30s.. etc..

Other than using the PITCH effect in Goldwave.. what other options can I use to create a bunch of varied fx using the Effect Chain Editor? I need to build a bunch of pre-configs so I can apply them to voices.

Really important I get this done.

Btw, I have the latest Goldwave.

Thanks so much everyone!
donrandall
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by donrandall »

Unless you are wanting cartoonish results, the best way is to use voice actors who can act. Special effects gimmicks will be okay for some types of recording and horribly out of place in others, depending on what you are aiming for.

It really is not all that terribly difficult for the actor to create some character voices that will do a creditable and credible job.

There are techniques that can actually be learned in an afternoon, but even if they are not trained in acting, relatively intelligent and creative people should be able to come up with something useful.
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Then whats the point of Goldwave? Surely it can do more than just alter pitch when it comes to changing a voice and keep it still human (not electronic-voxed)? The response sounded defeatist almost because I've already semi-accomplished what I wanted just using PITCH inside Goldwave however there has to be more? I have a good host of voice actors working for me but some are more reliable and prompt than others so I'm trying to move the projects along by allowing less actors to extend their voice more often rather than waiting on actors that takes weeks or even months to come through. If I can artificially extend a voice by somehow super-randomizing it then I'll take what ever advantage I can.
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by DougDbug »

I don't think you'll find any program that can significantly change the character of a voice and keep it human/natural sounding.
Then whats the point of Goldwave?
GoldWave is an audio editor. The main purpose of an audio editor is to cut, splice, and mix. In addition there are several filters & effects.
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Gotcha.. I suppose I'll have to investigate some competitors like SoundForge, Cubase, Audition, and the many host of VSTi plug-ins. However, Goldwave has really served my needs and its an incredible memory footprint when installed and running. Love the way its coded -- nice and tight.
cdeamaze
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:19 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by cdeamaze »

Have you tried Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred? It is the best speech recognition program.
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Not lately.. I thought it was for dictation and not wave/sound editing?
cdeamaze
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:19 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by cdeamaze »

It can also convert text to speech.
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Oh.. yeah so can other high-end applications I have access to like the AT&T voice modules but those cannot remotely replicate a human actor with unlimited inflections, accents, tones, etc etc.. The human voice, in all its billions of complexities, cannot be simulated by PC software. That's decades out. I thought since the olden days of the 80s that voice synthesizers would have come a very long way, well, they still have more to go. Its not bad but easily sounds plastic.
donrandall
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by donrandall »

Oh.. yeah so can other high-end applications I have access to like the AT&T voice modules but those cannot remotely replicate a human actor with unlimited inflections, accents, tones, etc etc.. The human voice, in all its billions of complexities, cannot be simulated by PC software.
And there you have it -- You have just answered your own question.
tetsuoii@start.no
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 3:25 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by tetsuoii@start.no »

I think the original question is totally valid, we all know that pitch seriously alters the way we
perceive voice. That there may be other ways to change the character of the voice is likely
although I never experimented with that. Using the doppler, (still pitch, I know) may alter the
mood of the speaker and small amounts of distortion could change the speakers voice slightly
without sounding unnatural.

Don't remember seeing a vocoder feature in Goldwave, but using another persons voice as
carrier could definitely do the trick, seeing that you can make an electric guitar or a synth
speak.

Using the noise reduction feature(creates a great robotic voice) as a mask, to then apply that
as a way of changing only certain parts of the signal, for example the vowels(usually louder than
consonants) may allow you to distort certain parts of the voice, while keeping other parts
unchanged, resulting in a less evident transformation. If a certain frequency(variable with the
tone of course) is isolated, that register could be downpitched in time and layered back as a
lower undertone, while keeping the rest of the voice intact.

Also harmonizer effects could be made very subtle to create different voicing, I mean enough
that your computer game characters will pass for two different actors. Don't remember seeing
a harmonizer feature either?

Can we have that? Vocoder and harmonizer in a newer version of GoldWave?

by the way, if you need a half-ass programmer for your game team, let me know and
check out my music player, the absolutely crazy T2PLAY, http://www.t2play.net is my
website, where this medium tightly programmed "cut'n'scratch" player can be found, and
it's great for making sound fx that can be recorded with GoldWave.... I know I do!

That may even help you in changing the voices, beacause you can pitch variably in it
using the S key, or the shift-H key instead of using the doppler in GoldWave. Then you
can record with GoldWave while pressing buttons in t2play. ok, sorry for the shameless
plugg of my own software, but I did make specifically it for altering sound in realtime,
and it's free


tetsuoii -----> http://www.t2play.net
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Thanks T.. I have a ton of recorded voices for multiple mod projects and need them altered/warped other than using Pitch.
donrandall
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by donrandall »

There is a very... I said VERY expensive... I said VERY EXPENSIVE bit of technology that is said to be somewhat useful to some limited degree in altering a voice and keeping it sounding like a real person's real voice. It is an electronic voice processor. It's a very expensive bit of highly sophisticated hardware, not software and it's very expensive.

I cannot remember the name of the unit just now, but I read a brief article about it a few weeks ago.

Did I mention that it is VERY EXPENSIVE?
thudo
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:39 pm

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by thudo »

Bah... surely it could be done via software or even a VSTi? There are tons of addons and software to warp music so why not voices?
donrandall
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

Re: Changing Recorded Voice other than Pitch?

Post by donrandall »

Bah... surely it could be done via software or even a VSTi? There are tons of addons and software to warp music so why not voices?
Oh sure... You betcha. That's why there are hundreds of inexpensive programs available for download. Which one do you like best?
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