ValhallaShimmer Tips and Tricks: Shimmering

ValhallaShimmer was designed to get a variety of big reverb sounds, with the option of adding pitch shifted feedback to the decay. The “Shimmer” in the title refers to the classic shimmer effect, as used by U2, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Coldplay, etc. There are a few presets that ship with ValhallaShimmer which reproduce this effect, but if you want to dial in your own version, here’s some tips:

• Use the mediumStereo or bigStereo reverb modes for the smoothest shimmer sounds. The mono reverb mode will have a stronger sense of pitch shifting in the feedback signal, while the other modes have a gentler onset of the pitch shifting.
• Set the Feedback control for the desired amount of pitch shift in the output signal, and then use the Size control to dial in the decay.
• The Pitch control should be at +12 semitones.
• Diffusion works best at around 0.9 for reverberant sounds. If you set Diffusion < 0.5, it will sound closer to a pitch shifted echo, which is another cool sound.
• The different pitch shift modes have different levels of “smoothness”:
  • The single and dual pitch shift modes have more noisiness in their decay. This is better for emulating the orchestral sounds as heard in “Deep Blue Day.”
  • The singleReverse and dualReverse pitch shift modes are much smoother, and are better for organ-esque sounds.
• colorMode should be set to dark. This produces a natural roll-off of high frequencies, which eliminates almost all of the aliasing noise in the feedback path of the pitch shifter.
• Set the modDepth control to a fairly low value at first, as the pitch shifting provides its own random modulation to the signal.

ValhallaShimmer released for OSX AU, VST, RTAS. $50. Demo versions online.

After far too much work, ValhallaShimmer is finally available for sale and demoing:

ValhallaShimmer

OSX users, grab yerself a demo copy and see how you like it. Windows folks, I estimate another week of work and beta testing until the Windows VST/RTAS release.

Some thanks are in order:

• Beta testers. You’ve dealt with far too many revisions, and your input has been invaluable.
• The Audio Damage guys. You gave me credit for my work on Eos, at a time when I had never received any public credit for my consulting gigs.
• My old co-workers at Staccato Systems / Analog Devices. It was like going to school, just getting paid.
• My teachers at University of Washington and CCRMA. It was exactly like going to school, except I was learning really cool stuff. You helped me start off on this crazy journey.
• Bram Wessel and David Hopper, for encouraging me to keep going on Shimmer even when I was ready to walk away from the project.
• All of you who have been following this blog and the forums, and giving me words of encouragement.
• Last and by no means least, my lovely wife Kristin has given me emotional and financial support, time, and has been an awesome web designer. Plus, you’ve heard me rant about allpass filters and modulated delays for the past 13 years, which makes you a freaking hero.

All Hail Harmonia!!!

I’m deep inside the plugin mines right now, working on the next Valhalla DSP release. So here’s a quick tribute to one of the bands that got me interested in this whole electronic music thing in the first place: Harmonia.

Harmonia was a “supergroup” of sorts, consisting of Michael Rother (1/2 of NEU!), and Hans-Joachim Rödelius and Dieter Moebius (2/2 of Cluster). In 1973, Rother, Roedelius and Moebius moved to the rural village of Forst, West Germany, where they built the coolest studio I have ever seen in some ancient farmhouse or barn or something. Seriously, every picture I have ever seen of this place makes me want to move out to the country and buy up some old test equipment:

Here’s another shot of Micheal Rother’s setup:

Harmonia’s first album, titled Musik von Harmonia, was released in 1974, and is simply essential. The tracks consisted of the same tentative, snaky interlocking parts that characterized Cluster’s music of the time, with Rother contributing beautiful sustained fuzz tones:

In 1975, Harmonia released Deluxe. This album drew more heavily upon the “motorik”* beat that characterized NEU!, and the melodies were a bit more “soaring.” This album gets heavy rotation while I am coding new algorithms:

Harmonia went on hiatus after Deluxe, but had a brief reunion in Forst in September 1976, where they were joined by Brian Eno. The resulting tracks were released in 1997, on Tracks and Traces. Again, the photos from the studio are incredible:

The music is very close to the first collaboration between Cluster and Eno. Good stuff:

Anyway, go get these recordings. There is a live album from 2007 that is pretty great as well, but the first two studio recordings are essential.

* The rock critic term for the highly repetitive “buh-buh-BUH-buh-buh-buh-BUH-buh” beat that was used by NEU! in their faster songs, as well as by Kraftwerk and other Krautrock-influenced bands. Personally, I think it should be called a “Moe Tucker” beat, as she made heavy use of it during her tenure in the Velvet Underground.

Early tape loop experiments with Eno, Fripp, Terry Riley, and Pauline Oliveros

As a huge Eno fan, I was always fascinated by the idea of Frippertronics. This process (made famous by the album (No Pussyfooting) by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp) used two tape decks, situated a small distance from each other. The tape travels from the supply reel of the first machine to the take-up reel of the second machine. In addition, the sound is recorded on the first machine, and played back on the second machine. By adjusting the distance between the machines, and by feeding the output of the second machine back to the record head of the first machine, very long delays can be achieved (on the order of several seconds), where the delays feedback away at a very slow rate. Put the right input into such a system, and the result can be very ethereal:

Delving deeper into the history of looping, I found that Eno and Fripp’s work had been preceded (by a good decade) by the work of Terry Riley. Riley had first used the feedback tape loop technique in 1963, in “Music for ‘The Gift’”:

In this piece, Riley fed recordings of the Chet Baker Quartet into a tape loop system, to create a disorientating effect. Several years later, Riley would use a feedback tape loop system to create improvisations with a Farfisa organ, as featured in “A Rainbow in Curved Air”:

Pauline Oliveros also experimented with feedback tape loops. In her 1965 composition, “Bye Bye Butterfly,” Oliveros made use of swept oscillators (and the difference tones between them), tape echo, and classical snippets to create a dense, beautiful ambiance:

It is interesting to contrast Oliveros early electronic work with her performances with the Deep Listening Band (as described in a previous blog post). Both the early electronic work and the later acoustic work create sustained sound through the use of delay and reverb, but Oliveros’ current work relies upon the lengthy reverb of unusual acoustic spaces.

Shimmer: Modulation, auto-correlation, and decorrelation

In my previous post, I discussed the Eno/Lanois shimmer sound, and how it is based around a pitch shifter and a digital reverb placed in a global feedback loop. It is worth exploring what is going on in this signal chain at the micro level, and how a fairly simple signal routing can create such a complex sound.

The AMS pitch shifter used by Eno and Lanois used a de-glitching board in its architecture, to find the ideal points for splicing together the time-scaled waveform chunks. This presumably worked in a similar manner to the H949 de-glitching card, in that autocorrelation was used to find the most similar segments of the waveform, and the delay time of one of the channels was adjusted for an ideal splice. It is also possible that the auto-correlation would trigger a new splice, such that the rate between splices was a function of the periodicity of the input signal.

Auto-correlation works well for determining splicing points, assuming that the input signal has a certain degree of correlation. A single sustained guitar note, for example, can have a high auto-correlation factor after the initial attack. But what happens when the signal to be shifted has a very low auto-correlation factor? Such a signal is said to be decorrelated; that is, the auto-correlation or cross-correlation is said to be greatly reduced compared to the original signal.

In the audio world, decorrelation often refers to randomization of the phases of the signal while preserving the frequencies, or to a time-varying process to slightly shift the frequencies of a signal to prevent feedback. Both of these processes are present, to a large extent, within time varying reverbs such as the Lexicon 224 and EMT250 used by Eno and Lanois.

The Lexicon 224 Concert Hall algorithm is made up of a number of allpass delays, which preserve the input frequencies while completely scrambling the phase response. In addition, the Concert Hall algorithm uses time varying delays inside of the recursive delay network, which increased the perceived modal density of the reverb, and also impart a beautiful chorusing to the reverb decay. This lushness from time-varying delay lines is very prominent in 1980′s Eno/Lanois productions – in addition to the Concert Hall algorithm and EMT250, they made use of the multi-voice chorus algorithms in the Lexicon units, as well as the Symphonic preset in the Yamaha SPX-90.

So, what happens when a pitch shifter that uses auto-correlation to find the ideal splicing points is put into a feedback loop with a reverb that is highly decorrelated and time-varying? The answer: chaos. The pitch shifter will NOT be able to find ideal splicing points, as the phase of the reverb output is continually being scrambled.

The pitch shifter HAS to splice, whether or not it is a perfect situation, so it will pick the best possible match, but this will probably be a fairly random location each time. The result will be random delays for each new splicing point, or random sizing of the grain windows, depending on how the auto-correlation is used within the pitch shifter. This randomization will cause the sidebands of the input signal to be spread out, such that an individual sinusoid would be turned into a band of frequencies centered around the original (that has been shifted up by an octave).

Add in the additional octaves produced by the feedback, the random sideband spread caused by the modulation within the reverb, and harmonics that are created by analog nonlinearities in the feedback path, and the result is a HUGE amount of sonic complexity generated from a simple system. Put a sine wave into this type of feedback system, and the output can approach near orchestral levels of thickness.

In this light, it is interesting to think about Eno’s use of the DX7 around this time. The DX7 can produce chaotic sounds through the use of cascaded FM, but it can also produce gentle, minimalist textures through the use of parallel operators (sine oscillators). A simple DX7 patch with several parallel sine oscillators and a low FM index may produce a fairly boring sound on its own, but would create an enormous yet controllable sound when fed into a complex feedback loop of digital processing.

Coming up: more on the topic of generating complexity through simple systems with feedback applied to them, both from a technical and creative perspective.

Eno/Lanois Shimmer Sound: How it is made

The basic foundation of the Brian Eno / Daniel Lanois shimmer sound is fairly simple: Create a feedback loop, incorporating a pitch shifter set to +1 octave, and a reverb with a fairly long decay time. By controlling the gain and equalization of the feedback loop, and the lengths of the various delays within the loop, the temporal evolution of the sound can be altered from steel drum-esque sounds to the slow attack “string pads” hear on many of the Eno/Lanois tracks. This is the same technique used by ValhallaShimmer, with the reverberation, pitch shifting and feedback all incorporated within the same plugin.

Kevin Killen, answering a question about the signal flow on the U2 song “4th of July” on Gearslutz, described the signal path as follows:

The delay and modulation was derived from the AMS 1580. On its fader return , some hi frequencies were rolled off, then it was fed into a 224 Hall setting, probably 5 seconds but with a rolloff in the top and bottom. This return may have been equalised also. We may have added a second delay but then the delays have to be timed to the track as the net effect is blurring the chord progression…Our last tweak would be to play with the sends on all of the returns to the point that its almost recirculating out of control, which in turn is creating a layer upon layer effect.

The AMS DMX 15-80s was a digital delay / sampler / pitch shifter that was in common use in Britain in the early 1980′s. Eno and Lanois have both sung the praises of this unit, and Wendy Carlos has said that the AMS unit had “perhaps the least audible artifacts to pitch shifting available at that time.”

David Kulka has written that the AMS DMX had an optional de-glitch card installed, which worked on a similar principle to the auto-correlation deglitcher in the H949. His post is worth quoting:

Harmonizers, at least the early ones, had to electronically “splice” sections of the waveform in order to accomplish pitch change. When the out and in points had different voltage levels, a small DC pop could be heard at each transition. The result was a sort of low level crackle, more obvious with certain kinds of program material, and more audible at extreme pitch change settings.

The Eventide H910 exhibited this, along with the early AMS Harmonizers. Both Eventide (on the H949) and AMS partially resolved this by adding “de-glitch” cards. The circuitry on this card added a “smart” algorithm to pitch change, adjusting the transitions to better match voltages at the in and out points.

The “224 Hall setting” that Killen refers to is the Concert Hall algorithm in the Lexicon 224. This algorithm has a fairly low initial echo density, that builds to a higher density as the decay evolves. The Concert Hall algorithm is also distinguished by its high degree of modulation. The resulting sound is not a terribly accurate simulation of a real concert hall, but rather a lush and spatially expansive reverb that is still sought after more than 30 years after its introduction.

Other accounts of the “shimmer” sound refer to different reverbs being used, such as the EMT250. In addition, modulated delay lines, such as the Lexicon Prime Time, have been used by Lanois at different times. The common elements always seem to be the pitch shifter, a modulated reverb and/or a modulated delay line, and feedback and equalization generated via an analog mixer. In my next post, I will analyze the contributions of these elements to the shimmer sound, and will discuss how the various components respond in a feedback situation.

Eno/Lanois Shimmer effect: Early examples

The collaboration of U2 with Brian Eno and David Lanois was the first introduction to a wide listening audience of the reverb with swelling octave overtones that has come to be referred to as “shimmer.” However, the effect was in use by Eno and Lanois for some time before it was featured on the 1984 album, “The Unforgettable Fire.”

My favorite example of the sound comes from the 1983 album, “Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks” by Brian Eno, his brother Roger, and Daniel Lanois. It makes up the huge background pad in the song “Deep Blue Day:”

Similar octave-shifted reverb sounds can be heard all over the album. Not all of the songs use the feedback configuration of the reverb feeding into a pitch shifter and back into the reverb. In “An Ending (Ascent),” the main melody instrument has a delayed pitch shifted signal an octave above and below, but no feedback:

A more “shimmery” sound (i.e. more feedback) can be heard in the “Prophecy Theme” from the Dune soundtrack:

In the next post, we will examine the signal chain used to get these sounds.

Early pitch shifting: The Eventide H910 Harmonizer

In 1975, Eventide came out with their first Harmonizer, the H910:

Designed by Anthony Agnello (later of Princeton Digital), this was a digital variant of the rotary tape head pitch shifters that I discussed earlier. Like the Lexicon Varispeech that preceded it, the H910 would be what I would label a 2-tap pitch shifter, in that there were 2 pitch shifted signals, with crossfading between the 2 signals. The H910 appears to use a fairly simple triangle wave crossfading, which means that the 2 different delayed signals will be present to a greater or lesser extent in the output at virtually all times.

So, why did the H910 become identified with pitch shifting, and the term “Harmonizer” become almost as generic as “Xerox” (at least in recording circles), while the Lexicon Varispeech faded into relative obscurity? I don’t know. If I had to guess, it has something to do with marketing. The Varispeech was described in the literature as a way of time correcting speech, while the Harmonizer was sold from the get-go as something to generate musical harmonies. Let’s face it, Harmonizer is a great name.

Whatever the reason, the Harmonizer quickly made its way into recording studios around the world. Tony Visconti famously described the H910 to David Bowie and Brian Eno: “It fucks with the fabric of time!” Visconti used the H910 while recording Bowie’s “Low,” where it was used to create a snare drum sound that descended downwards, with the amount of pitch bend determined by how hard Dennis Davis hit the snare:

The snare sound also has some sort of gating on it, but you can clearly hear the Harmonizer on the first snare hits. The H910 was set to a downshift setting of around -1 semitone, and the feedback was turned up to get the quick delays that shoot down in pitch.

One of my personal favorite examples of harmonizer (ab)use is “Duck Stab” by The Residents. Practically every song on this record uses harmonizer feedback, either for generating a detuned chorus on the vocal, or a minor third transposition with feedback to create “dimished” harmonies. Enjoy the following super creepy video while listening to the nifty pitch shifting tricks.

Eno/Lanois, U2, and the “shimmer” effect

UPDATE: Since I wrote this post, I have released a plugin, ValhallaShimmer, that is designed to obtain the classic “shimmer” sound found on the U2 songs I discuss below, as well as a whole bunch of other cool reverbs and soundscapes. You can check it out at

http://www.valhalladsp.com/shimmer.html

As a teenager in the 1980′s, I listened to a lot of U2. I loved their early work with Steve Lillywhite, but the albums produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois took U2 into a more ambient direction. One of the most distinctive sounds of the Eno/Lanois collaboration with U2 is a reverb effect with octave swell. You can hear this on the “infinite” guitar in “With or Without You”:

The effect is more prominently featured on the instrumental “4th of July”:

Nowadays, this effect is referred to as the “shimmer” effect. Judging from browsing a bunch of forums, a lot of people have tried to figure out how to get this sound with current gear. Over the next week, I will discuss the shimmer effect in more detail, with some examples of its use pre-U2, and a detailed technical analysis of what is going on inside the effect.

Early examples of modulated reverbs

I have been trying to track down good sonic examples of a modulated reverb in action. Here’s a few that come to mind:

Vangelis, “Creation du Monde,” 1973. This is an interesting example of a home-brewed modulated reverb. Vangelis used 3 Roland Space Echos in series, processing a Hammond organ and Clavinet, to get the huge spacey sounds in this track. The old Space Echos (and other tape echos) tended to have a fair amount of wow and flutter, due to imperfections in the tape, slipping and sticking of the capstan, and so on. By applying feedback in a single tape echo, the result is a modulated echo sound, where the amount of modulation increases with each passthrough of the system. Run three of these in series, and the result is a LOT of pitch modulation.

Harold Budd and Brian Eno. “First Light,” 1980. The modulation of the EMT250 can be clearly heard on this track from “The Plateaux of Mirror.”

Jeff Buckley, “Hallelujah,” 1994. Buckley’s guitar is being run through an Alesis Quadraverb, which has several really nice modulated reverb options available (and a lot of noise, at least on my Quadraverb). The vocals sound like a modulated reverb, but I am unsure of which unit – a high end Lexicon seems likely.

I know that there are a lot more, but I am kind of forgetful today. Any suggestions welcome.