funky voice on The Ninth Wave

[jon drukman <jsd@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us>]

The "jiggling" voice effect (where it comes in and out very rapidly)
is achieved through the use of a device known as a "noise gate."  What
it does is pass a sound through based on certain criteria, such as the
volume level of the source.  This is good for electric guitars that are
going through amps, and might be humming or buzzing.  The noise gate
will shut off the annoying hum until something loud enough (like a real
intentionally hit guitar note) comes through.  Very useful.  What Kate
has is a version of the gate that can trigger the sound based on ANOTHER
source.  The Boss Microrack Compressor/Gate does this.  How it works is:
you stick some kind of noise source into the trigger input (Kate probably
used a drum machine) and you stick the sound you want to go on and off
quickly into the input line.  Now, whenever the sound at the trigger
input gets loud enough, it turns on the sound coming from the input line.
This sounds kind of complicated, but it's really quite easy.  You just
program your drum machine to go click click click very rapidly, and stick
it into the trigger.  Now, when you sing through your mic, your voice only
gets heard when the drum machine makes a sound.  Bingo!  Instant on/off
voice effects.  Very useful and very dramatic.

I hope this is abundantly clear.  Let me know if questions still haunt
you.

--Jon "All I Need Is An Amoeba" Drukman