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Subject:Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Date:1/19/2007 1:10:06 PM

Looking to modify sound files to make them sound like they came out of an old telephone speaker. I've tried flattening the EQ and it slightly works, but I'd like something as realistic as I can get. I hear this effect all the time, and I'm trying to achieve it with Sound Forge and some free or cheap process. I stream a radio show, and I want to simulate callers for comic effect. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Reply by: Chienworks
Date:1/19/2007 3:34:15 PM

"Flattening" the EQ is exactly the opposite of what you want. Old telephone acoustic elements had a very limited frequency response, pretty much from about 250Hz to 2.5KHz. In EQ, turn down all the sliders below 250 and above 2.5K. Increase the 500Hz slider slightly. 1K should be lower than 250, and 2K lower yet. This should get you close. Play around from there.

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Date:1/19/2007 4:49:22 PM

Of course you are right about the flattening - I was mixing up this requirement with another. I'll try your settings. Thanks!

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Reply by: MarkWWW
Date:1/20/2007 4:54:21 AM

If you have Sound Forge, go to Process|EQ|Parametric and choose the "Phone line effect" preset. That should take care of the limited audio bandwidth of a telephone line, but you might like to add a bit of noise (crackling, buzzing, etc) to make the effect better still.

Mark

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Reply by: garrigus
Date:1/20/2007 6:57:35 AM

You might find this article useful:

* Vary Your Vocals with Special Effects

And find more articles here:

* The DigiFreq Music Technology Articles Library

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of Cakewalk, Sound Forge 6, 7/8 and SONAR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Power books.
** Get Sonar 6 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! **
http://www.garrigus.com/

Publisher of DigiFreq. Win a free Smart Loops Sample Loops Collection and learn cool music technology tips and techniques by getting a FREE subscription to DigiFreq... over 20,000 readers can't be wrong! Go to:
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Date:1/22/2007 1:05:52 PM

I just KNEW there was a simple way! Thanks!

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Date:1/22/2007 1:06:58 PM

Great link! Looks like my evenings just got booked up! Thanks.

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Reply by: R0cky
Date:1/22/2007 1:09:32 PM

vinyl - free plugin from izotope. will fix it up easy.

Subject:RE: Old-Time "Tinny" Telephone Sound
Date:1/22/2007 10:40:49 PM

Well, guess I have a problem. I suppose that Process > EQ > Parametric should bring me up a menu, but nothing happens. Same with Effects > Pitch > Shift (as suggested at your site for other effects). Something must be whacked with my install. I reinstalled from the CD, but the the app just crashed when I tried to start it. Then I installed verson 8d from a file I downloaded from Sony, and I was back to square 1. I wouldn't bore you with all this except that you probably know the best way for me to get the problem resolved. Just plain technical support?

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