Morph your voice in Audacity

Did you know that by applying certain effects to your voice in Audacity, you can sound dramatically different and take on a character of your own.

To do this, first highlight your vocal track and then follow the instructions below to generate each effect:

1. If you'd like to sound like ... a robot

• Click on the Effect Menu and then Delay ...
• Change the Decay amount to 10
• Change the Delay time to 0.009
• Change the Number of echos to 30
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu again
• Click Repeat Delay
• Repeat this 5 times or more if necessary

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_robot_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

2. If you'd like to sound like ... a demonic spirit

• Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate
• Highlight the second track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ...
• Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -1
• Click OK
• Highlight the first track
• Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate
• Highlight the third track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ...
• Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -5
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Bass Boost ...
• Click OK
• Drag the Gain slide on the left of the third track to +3DB
• Highlight the second track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Echo ...
• Change the Delay time (seconds) to 0.1
• Change the Decay factor to 0.6
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_demonic_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

3. If you'd like to sound like ... a chipmunk

• Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ...
• Change the Percent Change to 100
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_chipmunk_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

4. If you'd like to sound like ... a telephone operator

• Click on the Effect Menu and then High Pass Filter ...
• Change the Cutoff frequency to 1015
• Click OK
• Click Repeat Delay
• Repeat this 5 times or more if necessary
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Amplify
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_telephone_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

5. If you'd like to sound like ... you are in a concert hall

• Click on the Effect Menu and then GVerb
• Change the Roomsize (m) to 40
• Change the Reverb time (s) to 20
• Change the Dry signal level (dB) to 0
• Change the Early reflection level (dB) to -10
• Change the Tail level to -30
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_concert_hall_effect_in_Audacity.mp3

6. If you'd like to sound like ... you are talking on the radio

• Click on the Effect Menu and then Amplify
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then FFT Filter ...
• Click on the top 12dB line at the 5000 Hz point and then on the bottom 12dB line around 10000 Hz (this should create a diagonal line across the filter)
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then High Pass Filter ...
• Change the Cutoff Frequency to 2000
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then FFT Filter ...
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then High Pass Filter ...
• Change the Cutoff Frequency to 2000
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_radio_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

7. If you'd like to sound like ... an alien

• Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate
• Highlight the first track
• Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate
• Highlight the first track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ...
• Change the Percent Change to 15
• Click OK
• Highlight the third track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ...
• Change the Percent Change to -15
• Click OK

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_an_alien_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

8. If you'd like to sound like ... a Dalek

• Download the Killerringer plugin created by Toby Newman
• Right click the zip file and click Extract All ...
• In the Extraction Wizard, click Next and Next
• Make sure the box next to Show extracted files is ticked and click Finish
• Double click the source folder and then the killerringer vst plugin folder
• Right click the killerringer.dll file
• Click the Start Menu and My Computer
• Double click the C: Drive
• Double click the Program Files folder
• Double click the Audacity folder
• Double click the Plug-Ins folder
• Right click and click Paste
• Download the VST Bridge plugin and paste the vst-bridge.dll file in the Plug-Ins folder following the same method as above
• Launch Audacity
• Record your voice and highlight the track
• Click on the Effect Menu and then killerringer ...
• Change the Root Pitch to 0.003
• Change the Speed to 0.01
• Change the Amount to 0.01
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Normalize ...
• Click OK
• Click on the Effect Menu and then Delay ...
• Change the Decay Amount to 5
• Change the Delay Time to 0.04
• Change the Number of echos to 1
• Click OK

Read this tutorial for more explanation

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_dalek_voice_in_Audacity.mp3

9. If you'd like to sound like ... you are being censored

• Launch Audacity
• Click on the Generate Menu and then Tone
• Change the Waveform to Sine
• Change the Frequency / Hz to 875.5
• Change the Length (seconds) to 0.9
• Click Generate Tone

Listen to this example:

Download Creating_a_censor_beep_in_Audacity.mp3

Just imagine using these techniques to spice up your podcast role plays or transform a Voki. I'm sure the pupils would love it!

Thanks to swingsetbucket, Gundamsandzords, CompHelpKid, shadowmario777, PrGeProd, alihumza1995, Spindler2007, ImOnGoogle1 for the inspiration!

Comments

[John Sutton]

Excellent post. I've always steered kids away from the Effects menu in Audacity as they tend to get bogged down. I'll use this as a prompt sheet for them so that they can experiment more effectively. Cool!

[Joe Dale]

Cheers John,

If you come up with any other cool effects, please leave a comment with instructions on how to create them.

[Steve Collis]

Great post! Thanks!

[Mlle Henderson]

Mille fois merci for directing me to this post! I can't wait to go back into the lab to try it out.
Thanks again!

[Esther]

http://www.atantot2.co.uk/voki.html

Brillant post! I've been playing with the effects and here are the results! (The red links)

Esther

[Joe Dale]

Brilliant comment Esther. Thanks for the Vokis!