She's Goin' Bald - Analog pitch shifting!

[anazgnos]

I was always curious how the pitch-shifting (without speed-shifting) effect was achieved on She's Goin' Bald, and with a minimum of googling, now I know.  The writer uses the tune as an example of this seemingly obscure analog-era effect...

http://valhalladsp.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/pitch-shifters-pre-digital/



I also recall a bit in the Pet Sounds reissue liner notes about "putting a wrap" on the tape heads for some song in order to change the key of the backing track, with no explanation of what that meant - it must have had something to do with this technique.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Pretty sure that if you peruse the Desper thread, he talks about the device in some detail, somewhere in there...

[guitarfool2002]

I'm very grateful to Desper's details and history on the ELTRO, which that blog mentions. Before Desper's writings on that piece of equipment, I had no idea what that was or how it worked. His is one of *the best* resources on that machine. Fascinating stuff. The best part was him describing how they pushed the machine to its limits, and on She's Goin Bald you can actually hear the machine at the breaking point for what it could do. Now it's as simple as clicking a mouse to some degree.

Another more primitive aspect of this for anyone interested is how Les Paul worked out his vari-speeding (different end result than the ELTRO and pitch shifting, he was basically speeding up or slowing down most of the tracks...) and it's also amazing every time I hear Ross Bagdasarian's work on that first Chipmunks Christmas recording, just how neatly he managed to put all of that stuff together with primitive technology.

"Wrapping" the tape heads related to a Pet Sounds reissue...I'm intrigued and trying to guess why that would be necessary on any tracks from that album. If they wanted to increase or decrease the pitch of a backing track, why wouldn't they just vari-speed the tape up or down to the pitch they wanted? There exists that great Brian Wilson session tape where he's trying to figure out what key to play in, in order to be in tune when they vari-speed the tape later.

[DonnyL]

I'm very grateful to Desper's details and history on the ELTRO, which that blog mentions. Before Desper's writings on that piece of equipment, I had no idea what that was or how it worked. His is one of *the best* resources on that machine. Fascinating stuff. The best part was him describing how they pushed the machine to its limits, and on She's Goin Bald you can actually hear the machine at the breaking point for what it could do. Now it's as simple as clicking a mouse to some degree.

Another more primitive aspect of this for anyone interested is how Les Paul worked out his vari-speeding (different end result than the ELTRO and pitch shifting, he was basically speeding up or slowing down most of the tracks...) and it's also amazing every time I hear Ross Bagdasarian's work on that first Chipmunks Christmas recording, just how neatly he managed to put all of that stuff together with primitive technology.

"Wrapping" the tape heads related to a Pet Sounds reissue...I'm intrigued and trying to guess why that would be necessary on any tracks from that album. If they wanted to increase or decrease the pitch of a backing track, why wouldn't they just vari-speed the tape up or down to the pitch they wanted? There exists that great Brian Wilson session tape where he's trying to figure out what key to play in, in order to be in tune when they vari-speed the tape later.

Commercial tape decks generally didn't have vari-speed until the '70s ... although I believe it could be done by routing an oscillator to the capstan motor.  But perhaps it was just easier and faster to wrap some tape around the capstan in a pinch.

[Jay]

Has anybody tried to speed/pitch correct this, to hear what it would have sounded like before the effect was added? I know people have "fixed" the speed on It's Over Now, for example.

[Myk Luhv]

I'm just going to swoop in here and ask: What's the "correct" pitch for "It's Over Now"? Up two whole semitones? And that is a very good idea, seeing what it might be like not sped up... though I imagine it might be a little anticlimactic!

[guitarfool2002]

I'm very grateful to Desper's details and history on the ELTRO, which that blog mentions. Before Desper's writings on that piece of equipment, I had no idea what that was or how it worked. His is one of *the best* resources on that machine. Fascinating stuff. The best part was him describing how they pushed the machine to its limits, and on She's Goin Bald you can actually hear the machine at the breaking point for what it could do. Now it's as simple as clicking a mouse to some degree.

Another more primitive aspect of this for anyone interested is how Les Paul worked out his vari-speeding (different end result than the ELTRO and pitch shifting, he was basically speeding up or slowing down most of the tracks...) and it's also amazing every time I hear Ross Bagdasarian's work on that first Chipmunks Christmas recording, just how neatly he managed to put all of that stuff together with primitive technology.

"Wrapping" the tape heads related to a Pet Sounds reissue...I'm intrigued and trying to guess why that would be necessary on any tracks from that album. If they wanted to increase or decrease the pitch of a backing track, why wouldn't they just vari-speed the tape up or down to the pitch they wanted? There exists that great Brian Wilson session tape where he's trying to figure out what key to play in, in order to be in tune when they vari-speed the tape later.

Commercial tape decks generally didn't have vari-speed until the '70s ... although I believe it could be done by routing an oscillator to the capstan motor.  But perhaps it was just easier and faster to wrap some tape around the capstan in a pinch.

But not as accurate, I'd bet. The oscillator is what Emerick and his Abbey Road cohorts used with flanging and all that, and on the Brian Wilson outtake I mentioned that's what Chuck Britz tells Brian they could bring in to alter the speed after Brian asks about the key change.

I'd bet any studio worth its salt in 1966 would have an oscillator available for that purpose, and that seems to be what Chuck (or whoever it was) had when Brian asked for it. That's why I didn't understand the tape wrapping description. But I'm not suggesting they didn't wrap it to drop the pitch so Brian could hit the high notes or whatever, then remove the tape after the track was done.

And if commercial decks didn't have vari speed until the 70's, it only makes what Les Paul and Ross Bagdasarian did with tape in the 50's that much more impressive!

[DonnyL]

I'm very grateful to Desper's details and history on the ELTRO, which that blog mentions. Before Desper's writings on that piece of equipment, I had no idea what that was or how it worked. His is one of *the best* resources on that machine. Fascinating stuff. The best part was him describing how they pushed the machine to its limits, and on She's Goin Bald you can actually hear the machine at the breaking point for what it could do. Now it's as simple as clicking a mouse to some degree.

Another more primitive aspect of this for anyone interested is how Les Paul worked out his vari-speeding (different end result than the ELTRO and pitch shifting, he was basically speeding up or slowing down most of the tracks...) and it's also amazing every time I hear Ross Bagdasarian's work on that first Chipmunks Christmas recording, just how neatly he managed to put all of that stuff together with primitive technology.

"Wrapping" the tape heads related to a Pet Sounds reissue...I'm intrigued and trying to guess why that would be necessary on any tracks from that album. If they wanted to increase or decrease the pitch of a backing track, why wouldn't they just vari-speed the tape up or down to the pitch they wanted? There exists that great Brian Wilson session tape where he's trying to figure out what key to play in, in order to be in tune when they vari-speed the tape later.

Commercial tape decks generally didn't have vari-speed until the '70s ... although I believe it could be done by routing an oscillator to the capstan motor.  But perhaps it was just easier and faster to wrap some tape around the capstan in a pinch.

But not as accurate, I'd bet. The oscillator is what Emerick and his Abbey Road cohorts used with flanging and all that, and on the Brian Wilson outtake I mentioned that's what Chuck Britz tells Brian they could bring in to alter the speed after Brian asks about the key change.

I'd bet any studio worth its salt in 1966 would have an oscillator available for that purpose, and that seems to be what Chuck (or whoever it was) had when Brian asked for it. That's why I didn't understand the tape wrapping description. But I'm not suggesting they didn't wrap it to drop the pitch so Brian could hit the high notes or whatever, then remove the tape after the track was done.

And if commercial decks didn't have vari speed until the 70's, it only makes what Les Paul and Ross Bagdasarian did with tape in the 50's that much more impressive!

Perhaps but I think it had more to do with tape 'tricks' being uncommon ... guys like Les Paul were the exceptions.  If you wanted to do a Chipmunk-type thing, you could always change the speed at one of the set speeds (i.e., record at 7.5 and play back at 15 ips) ...

I think we're kind of thinking in modern terms.  In the 4-track days, most recordings were cut more-or-less live, meaning correcting pitch for specific instruments would not have been the standard.  The Beatles, and to a lesser degree the Beach Boys, were the exception rather than the standard.

If vari-speed was in demand, tape machine manufacturers would have implemented it in their decks.  It wasn't until the psychedelic multi-track overdub days that these tricks were more common ... and the machine manufacturers responded by implementing pitch shift options.

It's my understanding that the older tape decks actually have to be modified to a degree to allow pitch-shifting.  I've also heard that the modification for vari-speed can sometimes result in a less stable constant speed when not in use, which would explain the decision to avoid it if possible.

Slight change in pitch to give a song a little more 'edge' or make the artist's voice 'sweeter', or to pick up the slack on a draggy tempo ... more easily accomplished with the tape wrap on the capstan.  Hence "Caroline, No" and "Surfin'" (two BB examples I can think of).

[guitarfool2002]

Two quick points to consider: With that first Chipmunks Christmas song, consider how much planning Ross had to do in order to match not only the pitch but also keep it in time. In other words, how slow would he and whoever else were the vocalists have had to sung those lyrics so they'd be in tempo with that slow waltz feel when they sped up the tape? And there was no click track unless someone either tapped one out or had a metronome recorded. And Les Paul in the 40's on a track like Lover, where he was cutting acetates for each overdub, doing the same thing...it simply boggles this 21st century mind. Amazing.

The ELTRO's technology solved that issue, namely how do we alter speed without altering tempo. But have another listen to the Chipmunks and consider what went into that in order to make it work musically.

Speeding up tapes, a lot of folks were doing it either for fun or whatever, especially after the Chipmunks, but George Martin also had several keyboard solos on Beatles tracks like Hard Day's Night and In My Life where he did what they called "wound up piano", messing with the tape speed to record slow and play back fast. Of course the Beatles were as experimental with studio tricks as anyone on that era, along with the people at Gold Star.

I'd say the biggest trick with slowing down a track, hence lowering the pitch, was done to allow a singer to hit higher notes than they'd be able. Have a listen to the disc on the Pet Sounds SOT where they're overdubbing Brian's vocals on Wouldn't It Be Nice, and if my memory is correct not having that disc here with me, they slow down the tape on at least one pass so it's in a lower key, you can hear the backing track has gotten lower in pitch. They'd only do that to allow him to hit notes that maybe he couldn't hit in the key it was recorded; check that one out, it's fascinated me since I heard it. Hopefully I'm remembering the right track/session...

[runnersdialzero]

I'm just going to swoop in here and ask: What's the "correct" pitch for "It's Over Now"? Up two whole semitones? And that is a very good idea, seeing what it might be like not sped up... though I imagine it might be a little anticlimactic!

It's not so much anticlimactic as it is hearing it correctly and saying, "Oh, it IS a good song!" instead of just, "Hrm. Sounds funny."

Has anybody tried to speed/pitch correct this, to hear what it would have sounded like before the effect was added?

The unmodified original exists on one of the Unsurpassed Masters albums, I believe. Mildly interesting, if not particularly enlightening or anything.

[Stephen W. Desper]

Pretty sure that if you peruse the Desper thread, he talks about the device in some detail, somewhere in there...

COMMENT:

I believe this is the original thread  from somewhere in the past . . .

First you have a normal tape transport on a rather large plate. Supply and take-up reels with a rather long tape path between them. A capstan and pinch roller pull the tape past an erase and recording head. However the playback head is really (guessing) 20 heads mounted in a circle on a wheel, one head every 18 degrees. The tape is pushed against this arc so that it is in contact with at least one head for 20 degrees of travel. All the heads are connected to a switching mechanism that switches on each head as it enters the arc and off as it leaves the arc. The output of the switch (which is really part of the same wheel) is the output of the ELTRO. The recording head records a signal and as it passes by one of the stationary heads it does not change tempo or pitch. Now the playback head-wheel is rotated and the switching begins. The ratio of speed to tape changes but the tape speed remains constant, in effect, making little splices as the switch switches from head to head on the wheel. Moving the wheel in one direction changes the pitch up, in the other direction, down. Changing the recording speed or transport speed changes the tempo but rotating the head-wheel corrects the pitch back to normal because as each head of the head-wheel is in contact with the tape itself it is at normal speed – losing a little “snip” at each switch of the head being used. Or, extending the time of contact if the speed of the transport is to its opposite.

I hope this is all clear, as I don’t think I can explain it any clearer.

In ‘Bald, you can hear the pitch rise while the tempo remains the same, but as the pitch is raised more and more, listen for the switching (or electric splices) to become evident. The ELTRO was designed for extending or compressing the length of speech mostly, and for that it can do about a 30 to 40 percent change. Music is much less, about 5 to 10 percent. After that, the electric splice can be heard. In the digital world this can be corrected by the “intelligence” of the circuit, i.e., the enter and exit timing of each “splice” can be optimized to meet its “end” or “beginning” at the exact moment when the waveform is equal. Doing it with a mechanical switch leaves some room for error. Any questions?

Hhaappllyy lliisstteenniinngg,, ~Stephen W. Desper

PS I wish the powers to be woudl fix this software for users of Windows 7. It is really a problem!!!!!

[guitarfool2002]

My apologies if this was addressed as well, but I know the ELTRO was used in advertising/jingles and motion pictures to deal with timing issues and whatnot, but I was wondering where and how you rented the one used on Smiley Smile. You've mentioned the ELTRO was a very large piece of equipment, and I wouldn't guess too many were available for rental and delivery, so I'm very curious how one was acquired by the BB's and also if it were expensive relative to renting, say, an 8 track tape machine from Wally Heider.

[Stephen W. Desper]

My apologies if this was addressed as well, but I know the ELTRO was used in advertising/jingles and motion pictures to deal with timing issues and whatnot, but I was wondering where and how you rented the one used on Smiley Smile. You've mentioned the ELTRO was a very large piece of equipment, and I wouldn't guess too many were available for rental and delivery, so I'm very curious how one was acquired by the BB's and also if it were expensive relative to renting, say, an 8 track tape machine from Wally Heider.

COMMENT:

Yes it was addressed a few years ago when my memory was sharper, so I’ll try to recall as best I can.

As you may know my start in pro sound was in Hollywood film making. At some time in my career I was working at a sound service studio, the name I cannot recall, but I think it was City Sound or Cinnesound. Anyway, one day they had a machine there that could change the time of a commercial without changing its pitch, or visa versa. I was fascinated by this seemingly impossible thing it did. That machine was on loan from  UCLA because of related sound film work being done at this company. It was the only one in the USA and only one of a few in the world at that time. More were manufactured later. This one was, more or less, a prototype. The German engineer who designed it was there with his machine and since I speak some German, we got along fairly well.

Several months later I found myself under contract with The Beach Boy organization to make a machine so that Brian could play tuned water drop sounds for a song he had written called CCW. That in itself is a long story – recording all the water sounds – modifying an Mellotron player from England – editing all the sounds – and copying each water sound so that each was a musical step on the keyboard of two and one-half octaves. During that adventure, which lasted three months, I found that the UCLA machine now had a name, ELTRO. Since I had already made myself a friend there in the engineering department, I made arrangements for the BB organization to rent the ELTRO for several days in order to make the water drop transfers. While the machine was set-up in Brian’s large living room – I don’t think it was a studio yet – I was still knee-deep in parts, wheel cogs, tape heads, capstans, electronics, keyboards and tape loops from the modification of the Mellotron. Parts were everywhere on the floor and chairs. I thought the UCLA machine’s capacity to shift time or pitch would be something that would fit into this song they were recording at the time – and I needed any extra excuse for spending all this money. I think that was during a transition between me and Lockard as their engineer. (Sorry, this is over 45 years ago and the details are hard to remember exactly.) I demonstrated it to Carl and Alan, who were quite impressed with what it could do, and it was decided to work it into the song.

So to answer your question, it was on loan from the University with a “donation payment” kind of arrangement plus a rather sizable damage deposit (it was worth more than an eight-track). I think we, that is, Steve Korthof and myself took the company van to get it and bring it back to BelAir. Like everything back in the 60s – 70s, it was big, heavy and unmanageable, but we wrestled it into the house, Korthof swearing all the way. It was around five feet tall and top heavy. As I recall, we extended our loan period several times.

By the way, once the Melletron had all the water sounds loaded, Brian played it a few times and that was that. All my work was never used. Eventually the water drop sounds were supplied by the Moog synthesizer. The Mellotron was sold as scrap.    

Good Listening, ~Stephen W. Desper

[Steve Mayo]

hope you had a great birthday... 

[guitarfool2002]

That is an incredible story, thank you so much for posting that! I had visions of a few men trying to carry such a thing into Brian's living room, and had no idea it was all done "in house" instead of hiring a moving company. It's nice to put this into context, especially where such technology was used when it simply wasn't readily available. And Smiley Smile is always thought of as the lo-fi, homebrew album yet the technology of that Eltro was cutting edge, what a contradiction.

Great, great information, thanks again!

[Zach95]

That's really an incredible story, hearing these real-life stories of someone who was so involved with the band is really incredible, none the less their chief engineer! Thank you very much Mr. Desper for posting here, I do hope you continue to do so.  Happy Birthday by the way!

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Today is Stephen's Birthday? Mine's tomorrow (So is Van Dyke Parks!)

Happy Birthday Dude!

[smile-holland]

hope you had a great birthday... 

well, how could I have missed that ?! January 1st it was... belated congrats, Stephen !

[Stephen W. Desper]

Today is Stephen's Birthday? Mine's tomorrow (So is Van Dyke Parks!)

Happy Birthday Dude!

COMMENT:  Hey guys, my birthday is more than four months away. Don't make me older than I am. 

[guitarfool2002]

Haha, oops!   If they had offered a cake I'd say eat it anyway...

[Zach95]

Steve Mayo threw me off with his birthday comment!