MATRIXSYNTH: Countryman


Showing posts with label Countryman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Countryman. Show all posts

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Voice of the Cylon - Battlestar Galactica, The ARP 2500, and the EMS Vocoder 1000


Published on Nov 20, 2019 supajc

Amazing series sent my way via John L Rice. Playlist and descriptions for each video in the playlist above, directly below. Enjoy. ;)

See here for previous posts featuring Battlestar Galactica.

Playlist:

1. Voice of the Cylon Pt. 1 The Synthesizer [ARP 2500]
Battlestar Galactica fans & synthesizer community, rejoice! For the first time in history the mysterious sound of the Cylon voice is revealed. I tracked down probably the last person alive who knows the entire formula, very private individual still works in visual arts. To him it was just a job he did 40 years ago, to me it's one of the most mesmerizing sounds in musical/sci-fi fx history. 6 parts to this series as of 11-2019.
2. Voice Of The Cylon Pt. 2 the Voice Recording
My contact told me "they brought us the voices" on Nagra III and IV tape machines. Vocoder recorded back to Nagra for film sync. Voice actor Micheal Santiago was hired to do the voice, but didn't, telling youtube user intromix later that "they ended up getting someone cheaper" to do it. One actor did all the voices, for consistency, reading the script in a lifeless, monotone voice as to not shift the frequency spectrum in the vocoder.
3. Voice Of The Cylon Pt. 3 The Vocoder [EMS Vocoder, specifically the Vocoder 1000]
Finally it is known exactly which vocoder was used for the Cylon voice. Universal Studios had rented the EMS and Sennheiser, and when sound designer Peter Berkos was asked about it circa 2008 he mis-remembered due to having the Sennheiser manual still. Youtube user intromix has owned both and tested oscillators, it could not have been the Sennheiser but now we know for sure anyway.
4. Voice of the Cylon Pt. 4 the Phaser & Distortion [Countryman Associates Type 968A Phase Shifter]
The rare, quirky effect box that was used as an impromptu distortion device. My contact told me that they floated the idea of using a guitar amp and/or pedals, but did not even try it once they found this. ** Also, he told me NO Marshall Time modulator was used as it hadn't even been released yet.
5. Voice of the Cylon Pt. 5 Recording Gear
Two main pieces of studio recording gear that were present at Universal Studios in 1978 that had a big impact on the sonic character of the Cylon voice recording. Big thanks to Ken from Electrodyne for all his advice, as well as https://vintageking.com/ and http://petesplaceaudio.com
6. Voice Of the Cylon Pt. 6 Audio Demos & Credits
Resurrecting the sound of the Cylon Centurion from the original Battlestar Galactica 1978 using the original equipment. Once the vocoder was recorded, it was further altered/degraded by multiple tape transfers in the video editing process, post-production techniques (EQ and reverb, to "place" the character in a big room, spaceship, etc) My contact said there were just pieces of tape on the gear to place knobs/switches back where they were; and that the synthesizer frequently sounded very different from day to day or after a power outage. In the series there are wildly differing Cylon tones, tiny movements in gain or EQ settings (especially the ringy ARP 2500 filters) radically alter the vocoder due to the ultra-harmonic richness of the tone. So many preamps and transformers involved, it was hard for THEM to make the Cylon voice consistent. Supposedly sound designer Peter Berkos wrote notes on the process, Universal Studios couldn't locate any info at all, it likely all burned down in the great fire of 2008 as well as the golden ARP 2500 oscillator used all throughout Galactica 1980.
Preamp was running a bit hot in this demo, didn't catch until after, so this tone sounds extra crunchy in this example. I sampled my tones with lowpass filter a bit too low, hope to get another chance with the real thing some day.
7. Gold Cylon Voice Vulpa [extra video]
Recreating the lower voice of the Gold Cylon commander. There are so many steps and factors to re-creating the Cylon voice even the original crew could not make it consistent on a day-to-day basis. Out of hundreds of test files this year I'm only really happy with about 5 of them but will keep working to recreate it perfectly.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Synthi with Countryman 968A Phase Shifter


Published on Apr 15, 2018 Christopher Anderson

"Amplitude response shifted phase"

The Countryman was recently listed here. Click through for details.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Countryman Associates TYPE 968A Phase Shifter

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

This is the first post to properly feature Countryman Associates (they were previously mentioned in the BBC video linked below). Check out the EMS SYNTHI in the background. I can't quite place what's on the upper left. Thought it might be the EMS SYNTHI Logik, but it's not. If anyone knows, feel free to leave a comment.

"Countryman released the first commercial phase shifting devices beginning with the Type 967 Phase Shifter around 1967; The 968A is the last model in this series, released around '71. Like the 967 and 968, the 968A uses an internal Envelope Follower rather than a cyclic LFO for phase modulation. There is also a CV input on the front panel, along with the audio input and output.

Besides being one of the very first of its kind, and having a very unique sound, the 968A is designed in a way that makes it particularly suited to experimental audio processes and special audio effects (as opposed to and different from your average stomp box phaser). There's not a lot of information online about this rare device, but what is available is mostly concerning it's experimental applications.

The 968A was used in a number of early electronic music studios including the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It's featured in this BBC TV 70's documentary film." [posted here]

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