Magic Roadie Rules!

A lot of common sense explained without technoclutter.
Excellent! Don't leave us, ever.

Thank you so much, your site is like an answer to my prayers! What a great site to reference. Thanks again!
Beau

Dan,
Really like your site.
As a beginner in the stage area of magic it is extremely helpful!

Could you address sound FX. Namely altering the sound of the voice to sound slow and low or high and morphed like a chipmunk?
Are there easy methods for this for a one man show?

Hi, Guardian! Glad you like the site!

"Pitch shifting", also sometimes called "de-tuning", is very easy to do. Many "effects processors" have this effect built in as a pre-set. The hard part is retaining intelligibility. As we all know, it can be very difficult to make ourselves clearly intelligible in a large room, especially one which is particularly reverberant or "bouncy". Changing the sound of your voice from something very familiar & "organic" to something very "alien" can be confusing for the listener's brain, and can therefore bring about a sharp decrease in intelligibility, especially when LOWERING the pitch.

If you decide to try this, here are a few essential tips:
• You'll find that the more you change the pitch, the less intelligible you make your voice. This isn't just because of the actual pitch change, though. The device's processor isn't capable of producing the effect as quickly as we'd like, so there's a little bit of a delay inside the resulting sound which increases proportionately with the pitch change, and which also proportionately decreases intelligibility. Don't try to use more pitch change than is acceptable.
• Make sure that the dialogue which is spoken during the pitch change is not complicated in any way. That'll make it easier for your audience to understand it. Practice speaking the words to make them as clear as possible.
• Try mixing some of the real sound of your voice in with the "effected" sound of your voice.
• Try recording yourself speaking the dialogue, and then play it back through your PA to see what it will sound like to your audience. Will they understand every word? Are you sure? Remember, they'll only have ONE chance to understand it! Don't even THINK about doing this test while speaking into the mic and simultaneously listening to the speakers. The balance between your real voice & the effected sound will be different for the audience, so you will not be able to accurately gauge intelligibility.
• Use of such an effect will also make your system more likely to "feed back", so be careful!

You'll find quite a number of products that'll produce pitch change, by Yamaha, TC Electronics, Akai, Alesis, Behringer, Lexicon, DigiTech, and others. The mixer you already own/rent may even have the effect built into it.

If you have any other questions, or if you'd like any clarification, just say the word!

Cheers from Toronto!

Dan,
Thanks for the reply.
I am looking to use only a few voices as comedy touches in my shows perhaps even a dramatic touch. I do plan on experimenting quite thoroughly before implementing it. You mentioned changing the voice so much that it becomes unintelligible. I am only looking create a chipmunk type voice as well as possibly a robot and a slow deep voice too. It is important that the audience understands everything said or it would be useless to me. It will only be used for short bits too. Not the whole show. I definitely don't want to mess with mixing boards and the such.

I am close to buying the Digitek, Vocal 300. It is operated from the floor and you can program 20 presets that can be selected with foot switches and altered with a pedal. This would be perfect for a one man show. It is selling for $199, regular $249.

Guardian,
It looks like the Digitech Vocal 300 will do everything you need, with built-in presets like "Monster, Chipmonk, Alvin, Alien & Robot". If the preset sounds work well-enough for you, you're all set, but if you have to modify them in any way, you'll have your work cut out for you! To get a good idea, if you buy it from a real store, they'll probaly plug it in so you can hear the presets. Be sure to refer to the tips I posted above to spare yourself some aggravation.
Good luck, sir!

Thanks Dan,
I was planning on buying it from Musicians friend catalog sight unseen.
That is the main reason I wanted advise on the subject.

When can we see more updates on this site?

Salazar,
I'm glad to hear you're interested! I'm still planning to do an article on cue sheets as a way to help ensure your show runs smoothly. What would you like to see covered?
Dan.

Well, it's "new article" time again! Thanks to the very generous help of friends/acquaintances Dan Harlan, Loran, David Merry and David Peck, I've just posted an article on "Cue Sheets". Their tips, anecdotes and insights are gonna knock your socks off! These guys REALLY know their stuff, and their sharing it with you!

"Cue sheets" are written instructions for technicians (audio, lighting, spot light, curtain, pyro, etc…) that tell them what you need to happen, and the timing of those events.

"Cue Sheets". Don't go on stage without one!

The complete list of articles is now;
• Speaker Placement
• Wireless, Part 1
• Wireless, Part 2
• Pick A Mic, Any Mic!

• Stage Lighting Basics, Part 1
• Stage Lighting Basics, Part 2

• "Advancing” Your Shows
• Stage Plots
• Pyrotechnics and Stage Effects.
• Cue Sheets

Enjoy, and let me know what else you'd like to see!
Cheers from Toronto!
Dan McLean Jr

Update: Sept 25 2004

Hi, gang!
I've posted a new article at http://www.MagicRoadie.com. As promised in another thread, it's "All About Show CDs". Having seen “show CDs” for hundreds of live events — magic, theatre, fashion shows, trade shows — I can tell you I’ve seen some really good CDs, and I’ve seen some truly atrocious CDs. In this article, we gonna look at what you need to know, and what you need to do, in order to create professional show CDs with all your music and sound effects.

Thanks to everyone who posted questios & suggestions!
Cheers from Toronto!

Folks,
Are there any articles you'd like me to write for http://www.MagicRoadie.com? The theme of the site is, "Taking the mystery out of stage technology!".

The current list of articles is now;
• Speaker Placement
• Wireless, Part 1
• Wireless, Part 2
• Pick A Mic, Any Mic!

• Stage Lighting Basics, Part 1
• Stage Lighting Basics, Part 2

• "Advancing” Your Shows
• Stage Plots
• Pyrotechnics and Stage Effects.
• Cue Sheets
• All About Show CDs

Please feel free to post article suggestions here.
Cheers from Toronto!
Dan.