"Voice over tannoy" effect live?

[MobileMikey]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm trying to get a "voice over tannoy speakers" effect live on my ls9. At the moment I'm low cutting below 600hz and sticking a 'verb on the result, but it doesnt sound right & it is very operator intensive for a couple of lines. Is there any other method I can try to get this effect?

It is possible for me to record the dialogue as a voice over and process it inside Logic, but the talent would then have to mime the lines and I think it would not look right.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice

Mikey

[ladyjayne]

A nasty poundshop mic, a little reverb and a touch of echo?

[MarkPAman]

If this is the same mic as is also being used for "normal" speech, then I'd probably split it so the tannoy version can have its own channel. That should help with the "very operator intensive" bit.

 

Then play about with some more dramatic eq. I think I'd start by taking out all top & bottom and boosting a narrow band at about 1 -2kHz. Possibly with heavy compression, and then add a bit of reverb. Maybe a little distortion if the LS9 can do that?

[neilalexrose]

 

I'm trying to get a "voice over tannoy speakers" effect live on my ls9. At the moment I'm low cutting below 600hz and sticking a 'verb on the result, but it doesnt sound right & it is very operator intensive for a couple of lines. Is there any other method I can try to get this effect?

 

 

Just pondering how to do this myself, and the solution I'm thinking about is to patch the input head amp to a 2nd channel with the appropriate EQ/effect pre-configured. Then instead of using the original mic channel for the effect, I can use the doctored 2nd channel, just for this effect. I do have the luxury of a desk with lots of spare channels, but this might work for you?

 

The other option would be a scene recorded for that moment, just affecting the eq/effect on the appropriate channel. If you stuck that on one of the User defined keys, you could instantly recall it, and put the scene you need to go back to on one of the other user defined keys. Thinking about it, can you recall specific EQ's from the library with the UDK's? That might be another route to investigate.

 

Also to get the 'tannoy' sound, you'd probably have to push up some of the high-mid frequencies, and loose a lot more of the low. A touch of echo might add to the effect too.

 

 

HTH

 

Neil

[alistermorton]

I'd try really whacking the pre-gain up on the mic channel so that the preamp clips. That will give you a nice dirty sound. Then as has been suggested, aggressive low and high cut eq, and a bit of reverb.

[MobileMikey]

Thanks for the replies guys,

 

It never even occurred to me to split the mic to 2 channels, I think this is the way to go. I have 2 or 3 spare channels on the second layer so I can use one of these.

 

Its for a Panto, & it is a pretty big production. I'm using about 120 scenes in sequence, however I need to recall safe the EQ as it will be adjusted 'on the fly' night by night and scene by scene as needed.

 

Thanks again

 

Mikey

[the kid]

What about rather than a mic using a megaphone, very loud and sound quite horrible.

[alistermorton]

Alternatively, see if you can find a crystal mic (or even a crystal earpiece to use as a mic). They sound really nasty. They're near enough line level too, much higher than a dynamic or condensor mic.

[cedd]

Or do a pre fade aux from the "clean" channel, through whatever effect you decide to use (I've had good success with a tape delay on a show last week - though my console also has a telephone FX preset, which also worked quite well) and return it into a spare channel which contains your harsh EQ.

 

I don't think running the head amp into distortion is a particularly good idea. I've never tried it, but I'd strongly suspect it'll be a nasty digital clip, rather than a nice analogue distortion. Plus, I don't think distortion is the first sound I'd think of when thinking about a tannoy system. I'd instead be thinking about the delayed and distant audio I'd be hearing from speakers throughout the room/building. Maybe a touch of reverb on these just to give the building some sense of size as well.

 

Have a play with some delays, with the right timings it's a nice effect.

 

I'd certainly want a "dry" and "Wet" fader for whichever character is speaking these lines. You may decide that you want the original dry audio to still be heard, in which case you just need to raise the wet return fader for the necessary lines and then forget about it.

[MobileMikey]

Alternatively, see if you can find a crystal mic (or even a crystal earpiece to use as a mic). They sound really nasty. They're near enough line level too, much higher than a dynamic or condensor mic.

 

This has got me thinking, In the scene he picks up a phone/intercom to make an announcement. I could find an old piezo crystal phone and wire that to an XLR.

[dbuckley]

I was about to explain how to do this sort of effect properly, and then....

 

In the scene he picks up a phone/intercom to make an announcement. I could find an old piezo crystal phone and wire that to an XLR.

 

This all makes it trivially easy.

 

Firstly, with a phone handset you have a carbon mic; jerry wire the rest of the phone or whatever so that you get access to the mic on a pair of wires, and attach a jack.

 

Get a cheap (or at least one you aren't afraid to modify) transformer-less DI box, whip its lid off, and find the supply rail to the electronics, probably got about +15V with respect to the ground of the input jack. Add a 4K7 resister from the +15V line to the tip of the jack. Carbon mics need power.

 

The next bit is really important - label conspicuously said modified DI box that it will destroy bass guitars to stop someone from doing something sad with it on the next show.

 

And, err..., that's the job done. The original audio source is now, how shall we put it, shit, so it'll sound just the part with no particular specific EQ or effects, though given you've got a digital desk, a bit of compression is an easy and smart move.

[Bobbsy]

I've had to do similar on several equations.

 

Those recommending splitting the mic into two channels have it spot on. Routing in Yamaha digital channels makes this easy peasy--and it's a great facility to use. For example, when using multiple layers, I'll often put things like effects returns and sources for sound effects on both (or all) layers.

 

As for the effect itself, EQ the effects channel to roll off sharply below 600 Hz and above 3000 Hz. Add in a reverb with an unpleasantly long tail and voila.

 

Finally, if you have the facility for multiple effects speakers, send the Tannoy effect through a different set of speakers than the main FOH--doesn't matter too much where--just so long as it's different from normal speech.

[dbuckley]

The problem is tha eq doesn't really cut it (awful pun), a crossover is the actual answer. A three band cross, set for 300 and about 2700, and just take the mid feed. Use as an insert. A bit of nice distortion helps, guitar amp style, but not on 11. This effect crops up often enough that I used to have a 2u rack with a Behringer crossover and a voice master platinum in it, for a plug and play phone / tannoy effect.

[Bobbsy]

Don't forget the LS9 has a four band parametric on every channel plus several assignable GEQs. With a bit of tweaking you can get a very accurate 600-2700 Hz lump on the channel--or whatever frequencies you want. It's a lot more useful than trying to do it on an analogue board. Similarly, if you want distortion (I've never found it necessary after EQing) there are distortion effects built in as well.

[alistermorton]

I don't think running the head amp into distortion is a particularly good idea. I've never tried it, but I'd strongly suspect it'll be a nasty digital clip, rather than a nice analogue distortion.

 

It depends on the head amp. It used to be a not uncommon technique in the early eighties to get an android type voice for electro-rock robotic type voices, but those desk would hav been analogue. I was thinking that in some places the tannoy is via a phone handset, which is not the best quality mic in the world and always, to me, sounds distorted.