Hey guys,
I am trying to recreate the voice effect that Dido has in the very beginning of the song Stan by Eminem. Her voice is kind of like in the distance almost sounds like it’s through a phone or speaker? Not sure, I’m sure many of you have heard the song and it can’t be anything to complicated but I just don’t even know where to begin with and what effect to mess around with. Any ideas? Thank you.
I’m sure many of you have heard the song
Or not. Post a link to a sample of what you’re trying to achieve. Also post notes from that pink band above. Thanx,
Koz
I don’t know that song either… I don’t know who Dido is…
Don’t upload the entire song or post a link to a pirated download but it should be OK to [u]upload a short clip[/u].
like it’s through a phone or speaker?
Try a bandpass filter to kill the high & low frequencies. In Audacity, I believe you need to do that in two steps: Effect → Classic Filters → Low-pass (at about 4000Hz) to reduce the high frequencies (treble). Then a high-pass filter at about 400Hz to reduce the low frequencies (bass). Use a steeper (higher order) filter for a stronger effect, or try changing the cutoff frequencies.
If that’s not enough “damage”, try the limiter set to Hard Clip to add distortion. You can also try making a low quality (low-bitrate) MP3 for some of that “digital compression” sound.
If you are the speaker/singer you can also try mimicking the sound with your own voice. A combination of mimicking and processing might give the best results.
Just to remind, Classic Filters was only released in Audacity 2.1.1 and is not enabled by default, so won’t be in the Effect Menu. To enable it use Effect > Manage…, select “Classic Filters” then click Enable and OK.
Audacity also has a high pass and low pass underneath the divider in Effect Menu.
Gale
My apologies, I was writing this post on my phone and rather quickly. Below is a link to the song. I just want to recreate the effect that is present within the first 25 seconds, I am pretty sure the rest is just standard recording. I will try your suggestions when I come home from work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQRmA2v2D9s
Thank you so much for your help and posts.
Yeah I don’t have Classic Filters 
I am running Audacity 2.1.0. Do I need to install a plugin or something? Let me know, and if those steps still apply with the link I sent in my last post. Thank you, much appreciated.
2.1.0 does not include Classic Filters. In my opinion you could use High Pass and Low Pass instead.
If you want to use Classic Filters you must update to 2.1.1 from http://audacityteam.org/download/windows then enable Classic Filters in Plug-in Manger. See my previous post https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/voice-effect-from-stan/40219/4
Gale