Making bird calls?

subbasshead · Post by **subbasshead** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:47 pm

OK dont write this off as some new agey bollocks quite yet....

I do a lot of field recording, and often browse my sound library using SoundMiner app with the pitch slider set to 25%... and got to say, some birds have the most fantastic pitch modulation - heres a simple example, first at real speed:

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187421516" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

its identified as a NZ bellbird, so not UFO anymore...

but listen at 1/8th real speed - more aspects of its 'synthesis' is revealed

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187422856" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

So just wondered if anyone else has ever tried creating or evoking bird song with a modular synth - now or historically?

sloth713 · Post by **sloth713** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:13 pm

Wow that slowmo sample is really interesting

scintillation · Post by **scintillation** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:06 pm

Durutti Column - sketch for summer. Aside from being a brilliant track, features quite a convincing synth based Chiffchaff (common UK bird heard in summer) bird sound on this track.

However the stand out has to be the soundtrack to the film "The birds".

subbasshead · Post by **subbasshead** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:59 am

However the stand out has to be the soundtrack to the film "The birds".

too true!

& theres no score in that film

http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/the- ... bharmonics

Quoting from Chapter 8 of The Silent Scream â€“ â€œThere are seven attacks in all, and Hitchcock clearly was challenged by a desire to differentiate them. There are two sets of variables that he seems to be manipulating in relation to the sound effects: whether the birds are introduced first aurally or visually and whether the birds are ominously noisy or ominously silent.â€

Hitchcock himself has described how for the seventh and last attack he no longer needed to have the birds scream. â€œWhen Melanie is locked up in the attic with the murderous birds we inserted the natural sounds of wings. Of course, I took the dramatic licence of not having the birds scream at all. To describe a sound accurately, one has to imagine its equivalent in dialogue. What I wanted to get in that attack is as if the birds were telling Melanie, â€œNow weâ€™ve got you where we want you. Here we come. We donâ€™t have to scream in triumph or in anger. This is going to be a silent murder.â€ Thatâ€™s what the birds were saying, and we got the technicians to achieve that effect through electronic sound.â€

electronic sound = Oskar Sala playing a Trautonium

http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machi ... index.html

calaveras · Post by **calaveras** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:13 pm

I grew up in the deep south. Subtropical South Louisiana to be exact. We get a lot of crazy sounding birds down there. Not sure of the species but man sometimes I would just lie in bed on a hot day listening to these birds spew out an unending variation of tones.
I'd never thought to draw any parallel to modular, though it did occur to me once that the sounds of those tropical birds, and living close to the wharves with all the otherworldly squeaking of cranes and trains must have rubbed off on me musically.
I have been fascinated lately with modulating LFOs with non steady sources like envelopes or short CV figures from my LS-1 in CV record mode.
It does get close to an approximation of a bird call sometimes. Though I need a few more modulations happening!

Dcramer · Post by **Dcramer** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:23 pm

Years ago I worked on such things; I was fascinated by the call of Mourning Doves and Owls and wished to recreate them in music. I may give this another go with this thread as inspiration

Ed · Post by Ed » Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:01 am

Reminds me of this:

https://soundcloud.com/acornavi/jim-wil ... kets-audio

Tom Waits (on Jim Wilson): "Wilson, he's always playing with time. I heard a recording recently of crickets slowed way down. It sounds like a choir, it sounds like angel music. Something sparkling, celestial with full harmony and bass parts - you wouldn't believe it. It's like a sweeping chorus of heaven, and it's just slowed down, they didn't manipulate the tape at all. So I think when Wilson slows people down, it gives you a chance to watch them moving through space. And there's something to be said for slowing down the world."

ersatzplanet · Post by **ersatzplanet** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:31 pm

On a side note, not exactly bird sounds, but back in the 80's I did a gig at a local studio where there was a guy who was making a poetry album where the vocals were over a bed of whale sounds recorded with a underwater recording rig. The sound was OK but there were lost of other sounds that were distracting and the whale calls were not as frequent as the client wanted. When they were layered, the background problem sounds were increased too.

Enter the synthesist. At that time I owned a pair of Synthi AKS and a VCS3. The machines were PERFECT for making whale (and bird) sounds. The joystick was a perfect controller for this, very expressive. With the synth drenched in deep reverb it sounded great. I think in the end almost all the record was synthetic but when layered over the real whale sound, they merged beautifully.

The controller was the key in that scenario. The joystick was the only answer in that age. I have done similar stuff with a FSR-4 exploiting the control of four parameters at once with one hand. It would have made it much easier If I had one back then.

butterfingers · Post by **butterfingers** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 12:46 am

Some birds have high resolution samplers too:

Coolest bird sound video I remember!

We do a lot of birdy stuff at work, including planting audio recorders out in the bush and picking bird calls out of the recordings with software. Kind of the opposite of what you're thinking. We still have a few "golden eared" humans too!

moofi · Post by **moofi** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:59 pm

Funky

Navs · Post by **Navs** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:49 am

I had fun multi-tracking this a few years ago:

The trick was to modulate the modulator: fade or stutter the LFO doing the FM.

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 6:11 pm

Something I did a few years back - I was concentrating on the grasshoppers so the birds weren't properly done.

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/36950166" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="300" iframe="true" /]

timmcg · Post by **timmcg** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:45 am

subbasshead wrote:OK dont write this off as some new agey bollocks quite yet....

I do a lot of field recording, and often browse my sound library using SoundMiner app with the pitch slider set to 25%... and got to say, some birds have the most fantastic pitch modulation - heres a simple example, first at real speed:

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187421516" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

its identified as a NZ bellbird, so not UFO anymore...

but listen at 1/8th real speed - more aspects of its 'synthesis' is revealed

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187422856" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

So just wondered if anyone else has ever tried creating or evoking bird song with a modular synth - now or historically?

BTW At 1/8th speed the tritone sings clealy. Is it the devil's bird? The Council of Trent would have had something to say about that. :-)

Although it not an analogue modular, I did make a forest of birds out of two pieces of broken pottery being tapped together using Kyma. The whole piece was created using only the pottery clinking (1 sec in total) but at 1:46 you'll find the forest of birds.

https://m.soundcloud.com/timothy-mcguin ... tery-mouth

Cheers,

Timothy

anarchy4bits · Post by **anarchy4bits** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 7:11 pm

Ed wrote:Reminds me of this:

https://soundcloud.com/acornavi/jim-wil ... kets-audio

Tom Waits (on Jim Wilson): "Wilson, he's always playing with time. I heard a recording recently of crickets slowed way down. It sounds like a choir, it sounds like angel music. Something sparkling, celestial with full harmony and bass parts - you wouldn't believe it. It's like a sweeping chorus of heaven, and it's just slowed down, they didn't manipulate the tape at all. So I think when Wilson slows people down, it gives you a chance to watch them moving through space. And there's something to be said for slowing down the world."

nothing to do with birds, but i found this on this place.
here is my version: gods chorus of crickets is a fake

i removed the file. i still on thinking its a fake. try it out

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:22 am

I'm not sure it is a fake - what is happening is that even after reversing the recording and pitching it up or down what you are hearing is multiple takes of the same sound at different speeds? ie the original was a composite of multiple takes?

anarchy4bits · Post by **anarchy4bits** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:30 am

chamomileshark wrote:I'm not sure it is a fake - what is happening is that even after reversing the recording and pitching it up or down what you are hearing is multiple takes of the same sound at different speeds? ie the original was a composite of multiple takes?

the woman in the track says:" what you are hear iin the recording are crickets. there are two tracks. one is played on regular speed, and other is slow down version." and here is the point. i don't know how he make the second track. if he layered much slow down versions in different tunings or if he worked with a sampler. but is definitive not only a slow down version of the original cricket track! take the original track and pitch it down. then you will listen. i do my version with granular syntheses. i start with original crickets, than i played the crickets in original tuning and go slowly down to these choral soundings. i am shure, that the sounds in jim wilsons track are only crickets, but not only a slow down version.

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:50 am

well depending when he did it then you can do it with a tape recorder? It says in the original quote that "they didn't manipulate the tape at all" - but you could take that as it was simply slowed down.

And how did the woman determine there were only two tracks?

anarchy4bits · Post by **anarchy4bits** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:53 am

for me is also the statement "they didn't manipulate at all" misleading. i write this things in the track descriptions when i do multitrack recordings. But i will try this thing also with more slow downed parts at different speeds.

daverj · Post by **daverj** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:20 pm

I downloaded "Summer Crickets Chirping" and "Crickets at night" from this site:

http://soundbible.com/tags-cricket-noise.html

I loaded them into Premiere and slowed them down to 20% speed. I don't have a Soundcloud account, but you can download the .wav file here:

http://www.jonesvideo.com/crickets.wav

The first 15 seconds is the summer crickets and the second 15 seconds is the night crickets

anarchy4bits · Post by **anarchy4bits** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:31 pm

thanks jones for the files. I cant listen this tonal tuned choirs not on your summer and not on your night crickets. I take also the orginal piece and pitch it down and also up and get no tonal scaled resultats. when i pitch the orginal up, so the choir must mutate into crickets if i think right?

mara · Post by **mara** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:48 pm

Hi guys i love birds singing,
this is my patch very accidental, suddenly start singing like a birds +video.
Take care
https://soundcloud.com/keram-1/ckrikets

ikjoyce · Post by **ikjoyce** » Sat Aug 06, 2016 10:36 am

Beautiful day outside, so what do I spend my morning doing? Making the sound of birds in rain... Quite pleased with the results, especially the birds!
No field recordings here - this is a 100% modular synth patch.

I started out with pink noise into an A-115 audio divider, then into a HP filter to give the nearby "raindrops on canvas" sound.

I then added some filtered white noise with modulation and some reverb to create a stereo rain field to surround the listener.

To this, I added a metallic sound like droplets on an oil drum, which is partly synchronised with the heavy raindrops on canvas sound. This was done using four VCOs (A-143-4) detuned and filtered, and then passed through a spring reverb (Springray).

I then added some birdsong - this was a little more complex. Using an A-110-4 thru zero VCO, with the modulating wave coming from Tides, in medium frequency mode. There is quite a bit of modulation on the pitch of both oscillators to give the constantly changing song. (tip - the changing pitch of the modulator is what changes the chirps from slow to fast bursts). the sine output of the A-110-4 is one bird and the cosine is the other- there are two lots of VCAs here, with two sets of logic signals used to open and close them, to give a more natural feel - where the song of each bird comes in short bursts, but also goes quiet for longer periods.

I will post a video of the patch on YouTube so you can see how complicated it is!

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277097918" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Added a new version with some adjustments, and this time it works through a soundscape rather than just being a static patch. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277196925" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Lowgritt · Post by **Lowgritt** » Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:12 pm

love the recordings! the 1\8 speed playback is very revealing & awesome. thanks for sharing

PrimateSynthesis · Post by **PrimateSynthesis** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 1:45 pm

You need a Syrinx

Hovercraft · Post by **Hovercraft** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:44 pm

ikjoyce wrote:Beautiful day outside, so what do I spend my morning doing? Making the sound of birds in rain... Quite pleased with the results, especially the birds!
No field recordings here - this is a 100% modular synth patch.

I started out with pink noise into an A-115 audio divider, then into a HP filter to give the nearby "raindrops on canvas" sound.

I then added some filtered white noise with modulation and some reverb to create a stereo rain field to surround the listener.

To this, I added a metallic sound like droplets on an oil drum, which is partly synchronised with the heavy raindrops on canvas sound. This was done using four VCOs (A-143-4) detuned and filtered, and then passed through a spring reverb (Springray).

I then added some birdsong - this was a little more complex. Using an A-110-4 thru zero VCO, with the modulating wave coming from Tides, in medium frequency mode. There is quite a bit of modulation on the pitch of both oscillators to give the constantly changing song. (tip - the changing pitch of the modulator is what changes the chirps from slow to fast bursts). the sine output of the A-110-4 is one bird and the cosine is the other- there are two lots of VCAs here, with two sets of logic signals used to open and close them, to give a more natural feel - where the song of each bird comes in short bursts, but also goes quiet for longer periods.

I will post a video of the patch on YouTube so you can see how complicated it is!

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277097918" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Added a new version with some adjustments, and this time it works through a soundscape rather than just being a static patch. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277196925" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

You nailed the bird songs in those patches--they sound like field recordings.

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

Making bird calls?

Making bird calls?

Re: Making bird calls?