These next five tracks were from my Berklee Online Summer Semester, Week 10 in Synthesis, Sampling, and Sound Design in Film Scoring.

Eye was an exercise to “create your own vocal chop … put any other instrument parts along with it if needed to help us feel the melody … make sure the vocal chops are the feature.” The source sound was from a vocal track a friend of mine did for a secret project I’m working on, and I sampled a section from when he says the word “eyes” (I cut the ‘s’ off, so the sample is just “eye”).

Tormented was an exercise to “process your sample with a variety of effects … apply modulation … use any tool that we have covered so far to process the sound … create a short sequence with the sound by itself.” I used a different part of the previously-mentioned project with my friend where he sings “tormented”.

KtFA BTAS was an exercise to “take a vocal sample and use any combination of Pitch Shifter, Pitch Correction, and Vocal Transformer to create a new and compelling sound … use any additional effects to make the sound even more interesting … create an eight-bar sequence using your new sound.” I used a longer clip from the same project, and I reversed the words so they wouldn’t be recognizable. I put it on four different tracks (SATB), each with different combinations of extremes of changing the pitch and formant and combining those with Robotize.

De Profundis Excerpt was an exercise to “create your own vocal or choose a vocal sample … set up your vocoder … create a MIDI chord progression … create an eight-bar sequence with your vocoded vocal part.” I used a recording of my wife speaking the first four lines from De Profundis (from a previous project). I had automation gradually move the Formant Stretch and Formant Shift from low and narrow to low and wide to high and wide to high and narrow. I also added a “cathedral” reverb because it seemed fitting.

Alien Religious Service was the assignment to “Create a one- to two-minute piece using vocal synthesis and processing as the main feature … use any of the devices, processes, and/or techniques from this lesson that interest you most … use your own perspective on composing with vocal synthesis, sampling, and sound design.” I used a verse and chorus (or chorus and verse since it plays in reverse) from the same project that I’ve been using. I have one instance running through the vocoder at the center. I used the chord progression from the song (also in reverse) for the MIDI notes for the vocoder. I added some effects (chorus, phaser, reverb, and delay), and used a “middle of the road” setting for the vocoder. Since the melody has a lot of space, I created a “call and response” effect to fill in the gaps. I created far-left and far-right parts, and used automation to bring those parts in during the rests. The reversed vocals, vocoder, and the call and response created the overall effect of a religious service for aliens.