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How do I get this "wow" effect?

Dylanguitar

Senior Member
Any sound design ninjas have idea how to get this effect? The video is time-stamped. It happens twice in a row. It sounds like the recorded sound jumps like there's an irregularity in the tape. It's somewhat similar to the "wow" effect on a turntable. I have a bunch of plugins that do the "wow/flutter" thing, but this seems more controlled......little jabs that punctuate the pitch. I could automate the wow with a lofi plugin, but even then, the direction and speed of the pitch shift would be somewhat random and I would like to have more control. If you've heard this soundtrack, this effect is used quite a bit throughout. I'm interested in being able how to get it.
Thanks!
 
Any sound design ninjas have idea how to get this effect? The video is time-stamped. It happens twice in a row. It sounds like the recorded sound jumps like there's an irregularity in the tape. It's somewhat similar to the "wow" effect on a turntable. I have a bunch of plugins that do the "wow/flutter" thing, but this seems more controlled......little jabs that punctuate the pitch. I could automate the wow with a lofi plugin, but even then, the direction and speed of the pitch shift would be somewhat random and I would like to have more control. If you've heard this soundtrack, this effect is used quite a bit throughout. I'm interested in being able how to get it.
Thanks!

video unavailable
 
That's cool. It would be easiest done by whacking the flange of the tape spool, but that's probably not what you were looking for. Most controllable way of dragging the playback, far as I know. Maybe there's a DJ application that can introduce drag on-the-fly. Woud be the same as manually choking speed, momentarily, on a turntable.
 
It sounds like a stereo tape loop is playing (the repeating/looping shushing hiss) and they have pushed the tape with their finger, causing the wow... If its only the wow you want, I'd try manually drawing a pitch curve on an app or plugin (eg Serato Pitch n Time Pro) that has a pitch curve option. You could likely even extract the pitch curve from the recording eg with Melodyne...

Another method could be to use a tape sim or tape echo plugin that has a wow/flutter option and perform or automate a short surge, but this seems less predictable than the first method
 
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