I was really excited about doing this assignment, one can never go wrong chipmunking a song.Ā I wanted to do something different though, not the typical rock or rap song. I’ve been decided to try something more soulful. I chose a song by the up and coming artist Frank Ocean. This song “Thinking about you” has been one of my favorites for months now, just doesn’t want to get old in my head. The chipmunks just got some soul! I used audacity to edit the song, I played around with speed and pitch. Took the pitch higher, and shortened the song from 3 min 12 sec to 2 min 45 sec… not a huge difference, but enough that it sounded right. It was really tough getting it to sound good to me, because in the original song Mr. Ocean hits some pretty high notes as is… but after about 30 minutes playing with it I got it!
Check it out:
Why did I choose such a serious track? Well initially I thought I would take the song and add some humor to it, or at least lighten it up in my eyes. I did the opposite though, listening to the finished product over and over… it still comes off the same. The emotion of the song has rubbed off on the chipmunk(s), rather than the chipmunk(s) rubbing off on the song. I guess the emotion behind it was too strong a presence to be overshadowed by the chipmunks’ high-pitched cuteness. Or maybe it’s just me?
Holy crow it’s been a busy week. Ā Had a couple of days of workshops with Diana Laufenberg. Ā Boy does she make me feel like a total slacker.
I’ve been kicking around the parks with the 2-year-old. Ā As a result, I totally neglected DS106. Ā I miss it. Ā The week doesn’t feel complete without doing something. Ā So here’s the first of what I hope is the first of several audio assignments.
I used Aviary’s Myna to chipmunk the B-52′s “Deadbeat Club.”
Now that we’re into audio week, it was hard to pass up the Mainstreamed Chipmunkd’ Audio Assignment 494. After hearing Jolie’s “You Can Call Me Al-vin” last night, I just had to try it myself. While I found the Genesis classic “Carpet Crawlers” mighty wonderful at any speed, I decided to up-chipmunk The Chipmunks’ recent version of LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem.
I spent a bit of time working around with the settings in the djay app, by algoriddim. The interface is wonderful for mixing and playing with your recordings. Somehow, I wasn’t able to get the sound effects working last night (too tired to search the documentation), but I had lots of fun with the looping effect.
If Dave Grohl ever hears this he is going to find me and kick my ass…
I’m a big fan of the Foo. Ā On a scale of “1″ being very chipmonkable (Think Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on It”) to “10 being very un-chipmonkable (pretty much anything by Black Sabbath), Ā I figure they are in the 8-9 range. Ā Of course, I had to do it.
I used VirtualDJ Home on my Mac to play with the beats per minute and pitch until it was just a little faster, and way higher pitched. Ā Easy, fun… now thinking about recording some fellow teachers and ‘monking them.
I love those crazy woodland critters that can sing better than me. I have listened to many songs that have been chipmunk-ed. So I was highly excited to see this assignment. In Audacity, I changed the pitch of the song andĀ voilĆ ! I was done.
I love so many songs and couldn’t think of just one to chipmunk. Eventually, after careful consideration, I choseĀ You Can Call Me Al by PaulĀ Simon. Everything about it was just perfect for this assignment. Even if the singing is high-pitched, this song is still a favorite of mine.
I chose to do a Rihanna Chipmunk version. Yes, I LOVE Rihanna to bits, and I know all of her songs One of her songs I love the most is “Only Girl (In the World).” This song is very upbeat and a lot of people know it very well. Along with that, I knew that the chipmunk version would sound great to this song.
It was very easy and fun to do. I just opened the song on Windows Media player, clicked EDIT, and changed the pitch. I made the pitch very high, and it turned into “chipmunk” mode. I didn’t know how to upload that to my blog, so that is why I chose to upload it on SoundCloud. I hope you enjoy it!
Camp is now over (see the final story. If you are craving an experience like this, head over to ds106 and see how to participate. For more on the Summer of Magic Macguffin, see.....
