+8% pitch & tempo

December 30, 2003 4:13 PM

Morrissey is Debbie Harry at +8% pitch & tempo (MP3). More high-pitched artists here. More about Morrissey here)
posted by iffley (21 comments total)

ha ha ha ha ha

Inversely, Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks slowed down is Duff man.
posted by machaus at 4:22 PM on December 30, 2003

I was alarmed to learn that due to cinema having 24 frames per second, and PAL TV having 25, every movie I've ever seen on a TV screen was 4% too fast, with 4% too high a pitch. Villains are less sinister. Slo-mo is less slow. Chipmunks are inaudible.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:22 PM on December 30, 2003

If you think that's bad, NTSC is 29.97 frames per second.
posted by SweetJesus at 4:37 PM on December 30, 2003

Yeah, but I think movies are converted to be the same speed for NTSC. I mean, every fifth movie frame takes up 2 TV frames. It means the sound is marginally out of sync once a second, but everything's the right speed.

Is that right?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:45 PM on December 30, 2003

You've got the right idea, but the math is a little different. NTSC converted from film takes advantage of interlacing to eliminate the synchronization issue. Basically, two out of every five NTSC frames are composites made up of two different movie frames interlaced together. (You can sometimes see this effect when you freeze-frame a DVD.) So while the sound may get out of sync for a frame or two, it's essentially imperceptible since it's back in sync every sixth of a second. More at HowStuffWorks.
posted by jjg at 5:24 PM on December 30, 2003

I think this is a great link. Get a sense of humor!
posted by ParisParamus at 5:48 PM on December 30, 2003

I take it back. The only worthwhile one is the Morrisey/Blonde observation. The rest are just pointless, senseless copyright infringements.
posted by ParisParamus at 5:55 PM on December 30, 2003

I've heard that if you speed up ParisParamus 7% he no longer sounds like a crotchety troll.
posted by machaus at 6:00 PM on December 30, 2003

haven't listened to the smiths for so long - brilliant.
posted by carfilhiot at 7:06 PM on December 30, 2003

And Clay is Ruben speeded up 7%...

...and bleached...

...and cut in half...
posted by wendell at 7:13 PM on December 30, 2003

Get a sense of humor!

who are you talking to? youre crazy.
posted by Satapher at 7:50 PM on December 30, 2003

Sting sped up 7% sounds like Peter Brady.
Rod Stewart sped up 7%.. sounds like Rod Stewart sped up 7%.
Blondie down three semitones sounds like a female impersonator.
Y'know. Discoveries of such magnitude should, in an ideal world, like, cure cancer or something. However, I feel like I've just damaged a couple brain cells wrapping my mind around this concept.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:20 PM on December 30, 2003

What's worse, I now think from repeated listenings of the Chipmunks song slowed down (which is about the funniest thing I've heard in ages) that Dave Seville actually voiced all three chipmunks. Meaning he sang..... that.... slow.... at.... least.... three.... times. If you haven't listened to that link yet, do, if only to hear Dave (as Alvin) belt out "I still want a hula hoop!" at almost a regular speed. Hilarious.
posted by yhbc at 8:25 PM on December 30, 2003

Bruce Springsteen [33 rpm] is Dolly Parton [45 rpm].
posted by moonbird at 8:31 PM on December 30, 2003

on the same tack - Rick Astley [ 33 rpm ] is Kylie Minogue [ 45 rpm ] and vice versa.

i'm sure everyone will be able to sleep better after these earth shattering conclusions have been brought to light...
posted by triv at 12:29 AM on December 31, 2003

"Get a sense of humor!"

Huh? Anyway, it's good to see that speeding up stuff is still funny.
posted by Outlawyr at 4:49 AM on December 31, 2003

The new Stanton turntable can pitch things up or down by 50%. Samplers/sampling software can do the same.

Screen readers for the blind also allow the speed and pitch of the output to be reader defined. Maybe someone would like to code a tag that imparts this data to a screen reader so that each screen name on Mefi would be given a different tone of voice. Then you could give those you consider shrill annoying high-pitched vocals, and those you consider wise low ponderous worldly vocals. What fun. /not entirely pointless off-topic comment

Morissey sped up sounds about as much like Debbie Harry as I do when affecting a falsetto, sorry.
posted by asok at 5:22 AM on December 31, 2003

Sorry - Morrissey himself got there first on this one - the backing vocals on ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ are a speeded up tape of the singer's vocals.
posted by Singular at 6:41 AM on December 31, 2003

I was just about to make moonbird's observation that Bruce Springsteen sounds like Dolly Parton.

Try "I'm on Fire" off Born in the USA for uncanny proof.
posted by Vidiot at 9:14 AM on December 31, 2003

There's an amazing plugin for winamp that does pitch-independant tempo-shifting, and vice-versa, called PaceMaker. I've been using it to listen to all my music at +17%. Faster, yet still the same.
posted by nomisxid at 10:27 AM on December 31, 2003

Hmm. This Charming Man speeded up sounds more like Kirsty MacColl in a pissy mood than Blondie. Still rather cool.
posted by maudlin at 2:15 PM on December 31, 2003