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How to Sound Like Alvin & the Chipmunks in Cool Edit Pro

Alvin and the Chipmunks are a fictional vocal trio of rodents. Their initial 1958 recordings took use of new technology at the time to shift the pitch of the vocal recordings. Many novelty artists, such as Sheb Wooley with the Purple People Eater, made use of pitch-shifting technology during the 1950s. The popularity of Alvin and the Chipmunks recordings resulted in merchandising and numerous animated features. The sound of pitch-shifted vocals subsequently became associated with the fictional trio.

Things You'll Need

  • Cool Edit Pro
  • Computer microphone
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Instructions

    • 1

      Record the speech or vocal sample you wish to edit. Open Cool Edit Pro and create a new blank file by selecting File and clicking New from the Edit View window. Select the red record button from the playback control panel and record your speech or vocal sample with the computer's microphone. Click the stop button when you have finished. Alternatively, if you already have the speech or vocal sample recorded, open it in Edit View by selecting File and clicking Open, and navigating to the directory in which you stored the file.

    • 2

      Select the entire recording by double clicking the time-line window, which displays your wave form. Select Effects, then Time-Pitch and then Stretch from the menu bar. The Time-Pitch Stretch menu allows you to adjust the time and pitch of a recording, together or independently.

    • 3

      Select Pitch-Shift under the Stretching Mode box, to edit only the pitch and not the length of the recording. In the adjacent Pitch-and-Time-Settings box, select the Choose-appropriate-defaults box. These settings ensure that only the pitch is changed and that the software reconstructs the file without gaps, breaks or audio artifacts.

    • 4

      Adjust the pitch of the recording by using the ratio slider. Setting the ratio to roughly 60 or 62 changes any recording to "Chipmunk" range. Use the Preview button to listen to an approximation of what the final edit will sound like, and adjust the ratio as desired if the preview is unsatisfactory.

    • 5

      Process the file and create a pitch-shifted Chipmunk voice. Set the Precision option to High Precision, to ensure the most accurate final product. Select OK to apply the edits you've made to the file. Once the file is processed select File and click Save.

Recording Music

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