Delay and pitch shifting are time-honoured tools in the art of vocal thickening, but audio plugins recreating classic ‘harmoniser’ effects can bring shifted goodness to other things as well.
Taking recording gear as a whole, digital technology in the studio arrived a long time before the computer moved from the office into the control room, with classic time based effects boxes dating back to the 1970s. These units finally afforded engineers dedicated, professional tools promising pristine delays, programmable pitch shifting, and memorable modulation effects. Not only were these digitally generated effects more convenient to incorporate into a mix, but arguably they also offered improved audio quality by ditching the sometimes quirky tape-based solutions available up to that point.
1975 saw the first ever device offering the holy trinity of pitch shifting, modulation effects, and delay in one box, landing in the form of the Eventide H910 Harmoniser. Although no-one was pretending that this unit offered intelligent harmonisation, it was a great name nonetheless! Producers and engineers quickly found the new magic box was able to perform musical-sounding thickening on many sources, with vocals being the prime target. Like so many classic designs, the unit was not without the idiosyncrasies that make famous sounds all the more distinctive if technically imperfect.
Vocal Thickening…
Previously, using tape to introduce an amount of pitch shifting involved slightly changing the tape speed of the recorder during a double track. With the original speed restored on playback, the resulting voice would be shifted in pitch, with natural timing imperfections providing some time differences as well. Overnight, the digital effects unit allowed the process to be left until the mix with all options left open, with fine control over delay and pitch parameters.
…And Beyond
Although the Harmoniser name alludes to its usefulness in vocal applications, the unit is not musically intelligent, and requires a MIDI input to prescribe the amount of shift needed for true harmonies. There are still, however, many non-harmony uses for Harmonisers (and similar units) by the use of their time and pitch-shaping capabilities.
Instrument Modulation
Although classic effect designs built into synths or guitar pedals offered modulation effects, even comparable treatments offered by dedicated rackmounted processors inevitably had a sound of their own. The extra functionality offered by external processing had an added bonus: units could be stacked or run in parallel in the case of the the H910 stereo ‘trick’ utilising two boxes running (cross-unit) stereo feedback.
Drum Weirdness
Perhaps the most innovative use of the Harmoniser was its use on drums. The other-worldly pitch-twisted drum sounds that grace records such as David Bowie’s Low album were all courtesy of Eventide’s H910- a great example of technology giving the world entirely re-imagined sounds that artists find hard to resist. On any production, being able to thicken sounds, or to graft glitchy pitch dropped effects to them is a welcome alternative to other forms of manipulation, without relying on canned replacement samples or regular modulation effects.
Not Just For Vocals
Using audio plugins or hardware to create Harmoniser type effects on instruments can take regular sounds and make them shine in ways beyond the usual shaping tools. While traditional dynamic manipulation and EQ can help to bend sounds to ramp up existing character, harmoniser effects can create entirely new sounds literally out of thin air. Harmonisation isn’t just for vocals, and the next time you want to imbue mix instruments with a different aesthetic, some harmoniser ear candy could be the thing that gets you there.