Saturday, March 15, 2008

Well, this week flew by rather quickly... it's already early Saturday and my mind is probably still stuck at Tuesday or Wednesday >_<.

So. Just to keep track.

Tuesday - Photoshoot Day with Wei Ning, Sherilyn and Clarice. Just for fun and entertainment~

Wednesday - Potato Chip Party at Starbucks, Dhoby Ghaut with Wei Ning and Sherilyn (Clarice wasn't feeling well u_u)! To earn the right to sit there I bought a chocolate muffin and a Blackcurrant Frappuccino... for the heck of it!

Thursday - Computer + Audio Editing Software + Some LP tracks + LOTS of spare time = CHIPMUNKIZING TIME!!!

At first I wanted to replicate the effect of In The End sped up like in The Making of In The End MV. So I duplicated a copy and opened it in Cool Edit Pro. Now it was the second time I ever touched that program (the last time I touched it was when I decided to reverse Announcement Service Public) and I was messing around with the options trying to achieve the squeaky effect when I found it: the magical STRETCH effect. It allows you to manipulate the pitch and tempo of the song independently. So I jacked up the pitch, and I nailed it! It's In The End by LP, feat. The Chipmunks! Honestly it sounds so fucking cute. Srsly.

Excited, I logged on to MSN and started to tell Wei Ning all about it. Then she wondered what an emo-sounding song would sound like when Chipmunkized? So I did exactly just that. I picked Valentine's Day, easily one of the worst and most emo LP song I have ever heard so far (and that's coming from a fan, mind you), and Chipmunkized it. Voila! You get.... EMO CHIPMUNK!! It sounded terrible. It actually sounds like techno.

Inspired (or otherwise), I tried to Chipmunkize two other songs - Given Up, which is possibly one of the highest-pitched and most screamy LP song ever, and Faint, which has a good mix of rapping, singing and screaming. Crunch them down the Chipmunkizer and what do you get?

Given Up was a glass-shatterer. The highest part of the chorus was so fucking high, the peaks in the graph went out of the range, and if you don't try hard enough to listen, you probably wouldn't hear the highest parts at all because those parts are at a pitch dangerously close to ultrasound. Funny I should mention ultrasound, for the screaming sequence really sounds like the emergeance of a particulary bad-tempered baby with lungs of steel, screamin' its head off, "CHANGE MAH DIAPER YOU FUCKERRRRRRRRRR~~~~~ RAAAWWWRRRRRRR!!!!!!". It's heavy on the ears, kids, don't try this with stereo earphones. You'll die. I tried and barely lived to tell the tale.

On the other hand, Faint was a relatively easy ride compared to Given Up; the rapping bit was so sweet but once Chipmunk Chester starts... oh man, another Screamo Baby just arrived at KK Hospital. Fucking strenuous, I tell you! Especially the "No! Hear me out now! You're gonna listen to me like it or not, right now!" part, well, let's just say the Screamo Baby grew up a little and learnt to construct better sentences, but hasn't quite broken its voice yet. Once again, the track turned out rather techno-ish. Oh and one more thing, it's not a good idea to Chipmunkize the strings sample in Faint. It's high on the discomfort to hear it.

Oh well. That's a wrap folks. Fangying is tired. Fangying speaks in third person when she is fucking tired and her joints hurt from all the humidity.