Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done...

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
Post Reply
dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done...

Post by dubdub »

Runs through the whole track (Talis), vocoder or just some kind of crazy filtering/processing? It's got a really, really nice liquid quality and it's a sound I haven't really heard on any other records. I'm a bit obsessed with formant-y sounds but I haven't been able to make anything that sounds like that.

(the only youtube video of the track has absolute ass quality so I'm using this link)

https://boomkat.com/products/talis-into ... 6fa1921e48

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by Lost to the Void »

Nothing more complicated than a vocoder, been used on loads of records.
I think this type of sound was used a lot on early Kanzlerampt.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

User avatar
rktic
Utter Cunt
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 12:45 pm
Location: Hamburg
Contact:
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by rktic »

Use http://www.bigtickaudio.com/goodies/angelina as your modulator.

Or get your hands on Orange Vocoder. Comes with a similar modulator form, I used it here: https://archive.org/details/thn005/thn0 ... _north.mp3

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

Lost to the Void wrote:Nothing more complicated than a vocoder, been used on loads of records.
I think this type of sound was used a lot on early Kanzlerampt.
I'm pretty familiar with the Kanzleramt catalogue, not sure about lots but there's definitely a few that used vocoders. This one probably is a vocoder, although it's a different kinda sound. What I like about the track in the OP is that it doesn't have that typical cheesy 80s kinda vocoder sound, to the average person it doesn't scream 'vocoder!'.

youtu.be/8uwBf9XdOoM
rktic wrote:Use http://www.bigtickaudio.com/goodies/angelina as your modulator.

Or get your hands on Orange Vocoder. Comes with a similar modulator form, I used it here: https://archive.org/details/thn005/thn0 ... _north.mp3
Nice, that's somewhat close to what I'm looking for. Orange Vocoder is mac only sadly and I'm on windows and Angelina is 32bit (went full 64bit a while ago). I tried using some more vaguely formant-y pad sounds etc. as modulators yesterday but couldn't really get there using Ableton's vocoder. What's the carrier in that track, just a standard filtered saw wave?

User avatar
rktic
Utter Cunt
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 12:45 pm
Location: Hamburg
Contact:
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by rktic »

I think the carrier was just some glitched up and gated noise.

Sorry that you fell for the 64bit inquisition ;)

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

:)

Another track that came to mind, also sounds different to the track from the OP though. I wonder what vocoder they used on Talis, probably a hardware vocoder. I've been playing around some more with Ableton's vocoder and I don't think it really has that sound. TAL-Vocoder seems better but it's a pain in the ass to route.

youtu.be/ZA2YGLcD0Kk

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by Lost to the Void »

You can do this with Ableton Vocoder easy. You need a filter afterwards, maybe a touch of saturation.
What you send in as carrier can make quite a difference as frequency changes within the sound will change how the vocoder reacts.

Drums make good carrier triggers.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

I will try drums, I mostly tried vocal pads and the like.

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by Lost to the Void »

Vocoding is something you really need to spend a lot of time with, it`s quite nuanced, the way all the factors interact.
Sticking a filter between the carrier and the vocoder so you change the frequencies going in to it, for example, can be really interesting, as it can cause the effect to choke, and drop out in interesting ways.
There`s loads to play with, with vocoding.

Abletons Vocoder is actually really powerful, it has a lot of interesting features you don`t find on your average vocoder.

Some other great ones I use
Image Line - Vocodex
Sugar Bytes Robotronic

TAL do a free vocoder that does the vintage thing well, might be more what you are looking for
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-vocoder
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

Yeah, I already mentioned TAL-Vocoder above. I never really thought about vocoding as more than the typical 'daft punk' use case. Playing around with drums I just realized that you can essentially sequence the filters if you feed it a whole beat with different elements. Pretty cool!

User avatar
rktic
Utter Cunt
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 12:45 pm
Location: Hamburg
Contact:
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by rktic »

Also digging Abletons Vocoder a lot:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/91j9ukuu7uqtb ... s.als?dl=0

Especially when automating the shit out of its parameters that thing comes really alive.

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

rktic wrote:Also digging Abletons Vocoder a lot:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/91j9ukuu7uqtb ... s.als?dl=0

Especially when automating the shit out of its parameters that thing comes really alive.
Nice, your step automation on the bandpass filter is also very cool, never thought about doing it that way :)

dubdub
Asphyxiwank
Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:49 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by dubdub »

https://www.somarecords.com/shop/music/soma_506/

Do you guys reckon that the chords in Crystal Horizons are also run through a vocoder? Sounds a bit like it.

Amazing record btw. Love almost everything Rod does, one of few people continously pushing his sound design without going all digital, spastic and noise-y.

User avatar
Lost to the Void
subsekt
subsekt
Posts: 13518
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Always been wondering how this formant-y sound was done.

Post by Lost to the Void »

hmmm, could be. Might be a resonator, but most likely vocoder running in to a filter.
Or it could just be straight chords, but it does have that weird band separated vocoder sound.
If I were trying to emulate it, I would go vocoder.
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
New Shit
Techno is dead. Long live Techno.


Post Reply