Awesome job Devon! Back in the day, I had the actual Chipmunk Xmas album. I switched the turntable speed from 33 to 16 1/2 to listen to the song in actual speed/pitch. Fun stuff. BTW - What keyboard do you put through that Leslie (Looks like my old 147)?
Record band at regular speed, play it at half speed while dubbing the singing, speed it all back up. Now band sounds right and only singing is pitched. Am I missing something?
Yeah, and that's because pitch shifting (I.E changing pitch while preserving the original speed) involves "fragmenting" the audio in order to keep the original length of the samples that actually make up the recording. See, when you change speed on a recording, the natural thing to do is to change pitch as well... this is just how it works and it's true even with digital media. This is very easy and natural to do. Changing pitch or speed alone, however, requires more work on the part of the software; some kind of special 'algorithm' is required in order to preserve the pitch or speed. I think this is the first tutorial I've seen where someone actually achieves the chipmunk voice "correctly"!
Warning: this comment might get a little long, so I'd advise you to read until the very end; I have a lot I want to say here. Bear with me. I'm actually just now seeing this video, and I think that's because I seam to have taken quite a long hiatus from listening to the chipmunks. But it's awesome to flash back to my childhood and hear that squeaky (yet beautiful) sound again! :) As for my thoughts on this tutorial: I've actually listened to a few tutorials on how to get the "chipmunk effect" using digital technology, but this is honestly one of the better ones I've heard (disclaimer: I am visually impaired, so that's why I'm saying "hear" or "listen to" as apposed to "watch" or "look at"). Here's why. Many tutorials that teach the chipmunk effect will tell you to just take a recording of your voice (or any recording, for that matter), at it's normal speed, and just change the pitch of it without changing the speed. While that may be the easiest way of getting the chipmunk voice, it usually doesn't sound natural at all; changing the pitch of a recording up to a full octave without affecting the speed actually introduces some nasty side effects into the sound. I'm not an audio engineer or a scientist or something, but I think those artifacts are caused by a conflict of sampling rate. Perhaps someone could clarify what might be going on there, but what I do know is that pitch shifting (which is changing pitch without also changing speed) wasn't really designed to be taken to such an extreme degree (in this case, a full octave) while still sounding clean. The method you presented here (recording at half speed and then increasing both speed and pitch at the same time, like the old analog cassettes) is really the better way of doing it; it just sounds soooo much better and much more pleasant to my ears and it's a lot more natural; the first method I explained (the increasing of pitch only, not affecting speed) just sounds so dirty to me. Listen to the chipmunks voices in the Alvin and the chipmunks movies or albums and notice how, despite the squeaky sound, they sound super clean and natural, as if a chipmunk or even a very young child is actually talking to you in the real world. Now compare that to a recording you made where you only changed the pitch up an octave, having no impact on the speed. I think the difference will be more than obvious. If I wanted to recreate the chipmunk voices myself, the method you presented is what I'd use (again, I much, much prefer how natural it sounds over the first method). Yes, I know, it's the more tedious way of doing it; it's much easier to just record your voice at normal speed and then just raise the pitch. But all that tedious work pays off in the end if it means a better result. Sometimes doing things the easy way (or "playing it safe") doesn't lead to the best results in the end. All this to say, thanks a lot for posting this. This is exactly how the "chipmunk effect" should sound. Not that dirty crap you can get just by changing pitch alone :/
You are spot on! Recording at half speed helps preserve a still-natural(ish) pace once sped up. We had fun digging in to the concept for this video, and we're glad you enjoyed it!
@@HDpiano Thanks for your reply! I'd just like to clarify (in case you missed it) that when I was comparing those 2 methods of getting the chipmunk voice, I was referring more to the difference in sound quality and not so much the pace. I've heard people take a recording of their voice or a song and then change the pitch (they only change the pitch alone, not the speed and pitch at the same time like you showed here). This usually degrades the "quality" of the sound; it is not a smooth sounding voice and it sounds a bit... "smeared"? This is particularly the case with the software called "Audacity", but I've heard it with other programs too. Perhaps what is happening is that you would be taking an audio recording of a somewhat large sample size (this would be a recording of yourself talking at your normal everyday speed), and perhaps when you pitch it up while preserving the speed, there are too many data bits trying to be squeezed into that pitched up version of that already large file. Think of it as the equivalent of trying to put too much air into a little tiny balloon; it'll break up the balloon and make it pop. That's what it sounds like when you change the pitch of a voice recording while preserving the speed; the audio sounds very broken up as apposed to a nice and "smooth" sound. Doing this in reverse (lowering the pitch while preserving the speed) also introduces unwanted effects; it can sound like there's some "autotuning" even if there may not have been any autotuning in the original file, and that's especially the case if the recording you pitched down was already sped and pitched up from the beginning. However, when you change pitch and speed simultaneously like you demonstrated, I'd imagine what is happening is that you're already changing the sample size; all those samples become smaller, without the quality of the sound being impacted, because both speed and pitch are being changed. If you just change speed or pitch alone (not both at the same time), you'll almost always get a degradation in sound quality. Try to slow down the speed of a RUclips video that has lots of dialog or music, and notice how the audio starts sounding quite broken up; it's not smooth sounding anymore. That's an example of the kind of effect I'm talking about. But if you were to theoretically change both the speed and pitch of that RUclips video at the same time, you don't get that "broken up" effect. I hope this makes sense; I'm not even sure if my analysis is correct. But I do understand a tiny bit about how digital audio recording actually works. And also, someone else made a comment similar to mine on a video where a pitched and sped up recording was pitched down while preserving the speed. So I figured something similar might be happening when you take a recording of your voice at normal speed and only change it's pitch up while preserving the speed.
@@HDpiano Update: I think I might've found a good explanation for why increasing the pitch of a recording without affecting the speed doesn't give the best result. You see, when you increase the pitch of a recording, you would naturally increase speed as well; this effectively makes the audio file become shorter in size. So if you want to maintain the original duration of the sound, the device would have to repeat some parts of the sound waves; you can imagine how unnatural that would sound. The more you increase the pitch, the shorter the audio becomes, and the more the software has to work to try and maintain the original duration, and That repetition effect becomes even more obvious. I mentioned that I'd heard recordings of people raising the pitch of their voice without changing speed, and it sounded like that was exactly what was happening. Guess I couldn't figure out how to explain it in words :(
It would mean the world to me if you do " Hey Jude " By the Beatles , I love the way you teach most of all I love Lean on me By Bill Withers that you did in 2017
Unfortunately some artists & titles are restricted due to licensing exclusions. Don't worry though, we're working so hard to get their approval! Click this link for real-time licensing updates: hdpiano.com/licensing
Learn your favorite Christmas songs on the piano with Devon! 🎅 ruclips.net/p/PLIRQ2cakmJFwLIbE9ZT5PGKKLwSX3wCp9
I've always loved Alvin and the Chipmunks. You sir, have enchanced my childhood
Achievement unlocked!
I'm so thrilled at how this came out!!
This was so creative and fun, clear and educational! Awesome job all around!
Thanks, Rebecca! 💙👋
Yesss! This turned out so well! Love it.
🐿 🐿 🐿
🐿
I'm not gonna lie, I've pondered the idea of why the chipmunks sound the way they do, and now it's been explained to me.
🤓
As always ...amazingly informative....great job
thanks for watching!
Doing my part for the RUclips algorithm
lolz, thank you
6:02 Sounds like Alvin soloing
yasss
Broo this was a bomb vid fs 🔥honesty amazing to know I’m learning physics atm and also I play piano and this blew my mind
Excellent! This is the perfect intersection of topics for you, glad you enjoyed. :)
Amazing! Thanks so much! 🔥
So good Devon and Bobby!
Yo thanks, Dion!
you guys seriously crushed this video wow
Yo thanks, Caleb!
Science! ❤️
🔬
Wow so different than other vids, I love this
Glad you do, thanks!
Absolutely educational and I'm happy to know how the chipmunks sound.
Awesome content... keep going
Thank you Pedro! Onward!
Santa’s got a brand new bagdasarian!
hahahah
Greetings from the death star!
Party on Darth!
RIP
who knew this could be so fun hahaha
😊
Beautiful ... Just Enjoyed ... 😍
Thanks a lot, Ethan 😊
Way back in the day we would use a tape recorder with its batteries dying. Put new batteries in..instant chipmunks..lol
haha nostalgia!
JUST "I N C R E D I B L E"
T H A N K S
Wow, such great content ❤️ Awesome ❤️👍👌
Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for digging it, Rajitha!
0:00 LMFAO
I'm meltinggggg
I needed this...
HD piano has gone to the deep end... the dark web. Alvin and the chipmunks
Hahah, does this need a trigger warning? 😉
@@HDpiano Surely it has too! 😂
Can you please to a tutorial on the song "Driving home for Christmas", for this Christmas. It'll be awesome.
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A+ for the effort
Thanks, Senu!
Awesome job Devon! Back in the day, I had the actual Chipmunk Xmas album. I switched the turntable speed from 33 to 16 1/2 to listen to the song in actual speed/pitch. Fun stuff. BTW - What keyboard do you put through that Leslie (Looks like my old 147)?
That sounds super fun, Scott! Not sure about the Leslie (Luke here commenting). Devon may be able to shed some light!
I kind of figured this was how they did it, but what about the band? Was that recorded separately and overdubbed after?
Presumably the band recorded their "slow take" separate of vocal tracking.
Record band at regular speed, play it at half speed while dubbing the singing, speed it all back up. Now band sounds right and only singing is pitched. Am I missing something?
Lovely Tutorial! I always see these videos who chipmunk voices they use only pitch shift witch gives it an unnatural robotic sound.
Thanks - glad you enjoyed!
Yeah, and that's because pitch shifting (I.E changing pitch while preserving the original speed) involves "fragmenting" the audio in order to keep the original length of the samples that actually make up the recording. See, when you change speed on a recording, the natural thing to do is to change pitch as well... this is just how it works and it's true even with digital media. This is very easy and natural to do. Changing pitch or speed alone, however, requires more work on the part of the software; some kind of special 'algorithm' is required in order to preserve the pitch or speed. I think this is the first tutorial I've seen where someone actually achieves the chipmunk voice "correctly"!
thanks for this. im trying to learn piano rn
Cheers, mate!
Warning: this comment might get a little long, so I'd advise you to read until the very end; I have a lot I want to say here. Bear with me.
I'm actually just now seeing this video, and I think that's because I seam to have taken quite a long hiatus from listening to the chipmunks. But it's awesome to flash back to my childhood and hear that squeaky (yet beautiful) sound again! :)
As for my thoughts on this tutorial:
I've actually listened to a few tutorials on how to get the "chipmunk effect" using digital technology, but this is honestly one of the better ones I've heard (disclaimer: I am visually impaired, so that's why I'm saying "hear" or "listen to" as apposed to "watch" or "look at"). Here's why.
Many tutorials that teach the chipmunk effect will tell you to just take a recording of your voice (or any recording, for that matter), at it's normal speed, and just change the pitch of it without changing the speed. While that may be the easiest way of getting the chipmunk voice, it usually doesn't sound natural at all; changing the pitch of a recording up to a full octave without affecting the speed actually introduces some nasty side effects into the sound. I'm not an audio engineer or a scientist or something, but I think those artifacts are caused by a conflict of sampling rate. Perhaps someone could clarify what might be going on there, but what I do know is that pitch shifting (which is changing pitch without also changing speed) wasn't really designed to be taken to such an extreme degree (in this case, a full octave) while still sounding clean.
The method you presented here (recording at half speed and then increasing both speed and pitch at the same time, like the old analog cassettes) is really the better way of doing it; it just sounds soooo much better and much more pleasant to my ears and it's a lot more natural; the first method I explained (the increasing of pitch only, not affecting speed) just sounds so dirty to me. Listen to the chipmunks voices in the Alvin and the chipmunks movies or albums and notice how, despite the squeaky sound, they sound super clean and natural, as if a chipmunk or even a very young child is actually talking to you in the real world. Now compare that to a recording you made where you only changed the pitch up an octave, having no impact on the speed. I think the difference will be more than obvious. If I wanted to recreate the chipmunk voices myself, the method you presented is what I'd use (again, I much, much prefer how natural it sounds over the first method). Yes, I know, it's the more tedious way of doing it; it's much easier to just record your voice at normal speed and then just raise the pitch. But all that tedious work pays off in the end if it means a better result. Sometimes doing things the easy way (or "playing it safe") doesn't lead to the best results in the end.
All this to say, thanks a lot for posting this. This is exactly how the "chipmunk effect" should sound. Not that dirty crap you can get just by changing pitch alone :/
You are spot on! Recording at half speed helps preserve a still-natural(ish) pace once sped up. We had fun digging in to the concept for this video, and we're glad you enjoyed it!
@@HDpiano Thanks for your reply!
I'd just like to clarify (in case you missed it) that when I was comparing those 2 methods of getting the chipmunk voice, I was referring more to the difference in sound quality and not so much the pace. I've heard people take a recording of their voice or a song and then change the pitch (they only change the pitch alone, not the speed and pitch at the same time like you showed here). This usually degrades the "quality" of the sound; it is not a smooth sounding voice and it sounds a bit... "smeared"? This is particularly the case with the software called "Audacity", but I've heard it with other programs too. Perhaps what is happening is that you would be taking an audio recording of a somewhat large sample size (this would be a recording of yourself talking at your normal everyday speed), and perhaps when you pitch it up while preserving the speed, there are too many data bits trying to be squeezed into that pitched up version of that already large file. Think of it as the equivalent of trying to put too much air into a little tiny balloon; it'll break up the balloon and make it pop. That's what it sounds like when you change the pitch of a voice recording while preserving the speed; the audio sounds very broken up as apposed to a nice and "smooth" sound. Doing this in reverse (lowering the pitch while preserving the speed) also introduces unwanted effects; it can sound like there's some "autotuning" even if there may not have been any autotuning in the original file, and that's especially the case if the recording you pitched down was already sped and pitched up from the beginning.
However, when you change pitch and speed simultaneously like you demonstrated, I'd imagine what is happening is that you're already changing the sample size; all those samples become smaller, without the quality of the sound being impacted, because both speed and pitch are being changed. If you just change speed or pitch alone (not both at the same time), you'll almost always get a degradation in sound quality. Try to slow down the speed of a RUclips video that has lots of dialog or music, and notice how the audio starts sounding quite broken up; it's not smooth sounding anymore. That's an example of the kind of effect I'm talking about. But if you were to theoretically change both the speed and pitch of that RUclips video at the same time, you don't get that "broken up" effect.
I hope this makes sense; I'm not even sure if my analysis is correct. But I do understand a tiny bit about how digital audio recording actually works. And also, someone else made a comment similar to mine on a video where a pitched and sped up recording was pitched down while preserving the speed. So I figured something similar might be happening when you take a recording of your voice at normal speed and only change it's pitch up while preserving the speed.
@@HDpiano Update: I think I might've found a good explanation for why increasing the pitch of a recording without affecting the speed doesn't give the best result.
You see, when you increase the pitch of a recording, you would naturally increase speed as well; this effectively makes the audio file become shorter in size. So if you want to maintain the original duration of the sound, the device would have to repeat some parts of the sound waves; you can imagine how unnatural that would sound. The more you increase the pitch, the shorter the audio becomes, and the more the software has to work to try and maintain the original duration, and That repetition effect becomes even more obvious. I mentioned that I'd heard recordings of people raising the pitch of their voice without changing speed, and it sounded like that was exactly what was happening. Guess I couldn't figure out how to explain it in words :(
It would mean the world to me if you do " Hey Jude " By the Beatles , I love the way you teach most of all I love Lean on me By Bill Withers that you did in 2017
Unfortunately some artists & titles are restricted due to licensing exclusions. Don't worry though, we're working so hard to get their approval! Click this link for real-time licensing updates: hdpiano.com/licensing
I like
I love Its 😭♥️
♥️
Christmas Christmas time is here, time for toys and time for cheers!
You got it!! :)
That was cool
thanks!
this was recommended to me when appeared it had 1 view and 4 likes
neato!
1:41 what is this sound called i need a sample omg
An orchestra tuning!
PlayStation 3 Boot Screen (version 3.5 onwards, no OtherOS)
I will do Alvin and the chipmunks 🐿
Songs in my cousin studio recordings so I may do that
Rock on!
6:41 FIN 🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸
2:51
The op1 is hella expensive
Yeah it's kinda ridic.
1917 - Sixteen Hundred Men please.
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Tutorial?!?!??
Here you are! hdpiano.com/lesson/the-chipmunk-song-by-the-chipmunks-and-david-seville/
This shit is way too advanced for it's time.
Ahead of their time for sure!
*videogames music*
:)
Nice
thanks!
First comment?
wooohoo
3rd
1st in our heart
3:48