How to make Stormtrooper's voice effect

I just wanna know how to make the voice effect as the stormtrooper, i mean the voice the have behind the mask , which sounds like a RAdio ..it is for a FAnfilm of course, .Should i use SOundforge or anything else..please help me i dont know how to proceed at all
Thank ya !!!!

 

Sound Forge has a bandpass option under Graphic EQ->Parametric->Bandpass

Something like that...there should be an option under bandpass in one of the drop boxes for something like radio/walkie,etc. Either way you can play around with the various bandpass filters til you find the one that suits you.

Goldwave apparantly also has a similar feature. From what I've been told the settings should be around 800Hz to 2800Hz, but it's been a few weeks since I used it and I'm not at home to give you exact details.

If you have problems with Sound Forge..just email me.
Keith

 

This might sound silly, but you can also achieve this effect by using the crappiest microphone you can find. Those silly things that come with your soundcard should suffice. They are such low quality, they sound JUST like an AM radio.

 

Ok thank u very much , i mail u in case of problem...

 

Crappy mics will not give you the "stormtrooper" sound. I tried all kinds of silly tips including...reducing the frequency from 44.1Khz to the lowest setting possible..and even making it mono. Nope. Don't work. Easiest way to do it, is just use a bandpass filter such as what you see in SoundForge or record the dialogue directly from a walkie talkie or similar unit.

Anything else like crappy mics will sound just like that...crappy mics.
Keith

 

Get walkie talkies. talk into one, hold up the other to the mic.

It's always the simplest stuff that gets thought of last.

-Chris

 

That's what I was thinking. I'm actually going to purchase a set of walkie talkies for that purpose. =)

 

The best sound is to just use your phone. Have your friend call you and speak the lines. Put the microphone up to the receiver and viola! Great stormtrooper voice!
We did this once using two lines at home. It sounded great, and was free.

 

On Goldwave bandpass, I use:

From: 1000
To: 2000
Bandpass
Steepness: 2

 

You could always ask a stormtrooper If worse come to worse head to radio shack and get a voice modulator. I believe the radio shack version is that all of the guys with armor use.

 

For a stormtrooper voice, you're definitely looking for a bandpass quality. You want to simulate a cheap radio system, which will have a relatively narrow bandwidth and basically no bass response. Set your upper frequency to about 3KHz and set your lower frequency to about 500Hz. Play with them to get the desired effect.

Good Luck

 

It's funny I read that the original walkie talkie frequnecies were at 4 khz ? anything lower than 5khz gets into distortion of speech.
BandPass...great idea...wish I had thought of that earlier.
Your best bet if you don't have access to Bandpass is just go into the EQ setting and do it manually like mentioned above...cut off all except the pump up the 2k (almost all the way to max) and zero out the 4 k channel...sounds closer...but not quite.
I find the stormtrooper voices had more bass since the voice actors basically had deeper voices...ummm, a cheap alternative is if you have a cell phone with the walkie talkie feature (kinda of a spin off idea again)...I'm aware that some of the Motorola phones can do this...they use the term 'Mike' though ?
It's sounds the same...

 

When recording the actaul dialogue, be sure to put your hand on top of your mouth, so it sounds muffled.

Please read my sig in accordance with my post.

 

We tried this, and in my own personal opinion it doesn't make a stormtrooper in any capacity. It just sounds like someone has their hand over their mouth.

To vizualize...Stormtroopers have a helmet on, but their mics are right next to their mouths. The mic is not behind a panel or something. If you muffle the sound, it will just sound muffled...it won't sound like a walkie talkie or radio. But try it anyhow if you want...

Keith

 

I remember Kevin 'Troops' Rubio saying they created their Stormtrooper voices by recording them straight off a two way radio as described above.

I always think the stormtrooper sound is all about the 'clicks' before and after they speak anyway. If you get those right you're a good half way there.

 

I think what Generic_Jedi was saying was to do that in addition to the various EQing or recording techniques.

--t.toe

 

Actually, I was interpreting his statement the same way you did. But that said, even if you use all the techniques above and put your hand in front of your mouth...it still doesn't enhance the stormtrooper effect any. Stormtroopers just don't sound muddled that way. I was under the same assumption that it might make it sound better, but it didn't.

Now, if you're doing something over an intercom, it's better just to take out the treble and add bass to the sound rather than muffle the words with your hand. It will give the allusion of muffled speakers without detracting from the clarity of the speech. Of course, I'm just relating my own experience here...whether anyone listens to me or not, it's entirely up to you guys.

Keith

 

Hmmmm, does anyone know if Cubase SX has a bandpass feature?

 

I'd probably use phones- just that much cheaper if you don't have walkie-talkies.

 

Hi all.

Lurker finally coming out to help. I did a few tests on a soundbit i found on the net.

Is this in the general direction of what you were looking for?

stormtrooper_test.wav

 

We did this once using two lines at home. It sounded great, and was free.

You mean you get free phone lines where you live? [face_shocked]

 

That was a little too distorted, and they don't have the buzz at the end, they have these clicks.

~Neszis~

 

Hello again...

Did a little more work on the Stormtrooper voice and I think I got it now... But I must apologize for my lack of acting skills as it is my own voice this time...

I have included the sample that I tried to imitate for comparrison.

What do you think?

Stormtrooper_sample.wav from Episode IV

Stormtrooper_test2.wav with the background noise as in the sample

Stormtrooper_test2.wav without the background noise from the sample

 

Of course, with background noise is preferable to get that radio staticy sound.

 

The Background noise is actually a shuttle taking off... The sample is taken from original ANH, because in the special edition there is also music in this scene