Computer Love
This week I have been researching how to create a computerized voice. I want to use this audio style and live translation of the Chinese New Year, TV Gala show video in my performance at the Chinese Art Centre. The simple way of doing this would be to pre-record my voice and edit it over the top of the video, however I feel this could be a good opportunity to create something live from the material. I have been looking at using a vocoder pedal which requires attaching a mic and a musical instrument such as an electronic keyboard. A different option on the market is a keyboard which has a mouth attachment that operates in the same way as the vocoder, simpler to use but much more expensive. It was suggested to me to use ‘text speak’ on the computer were you simply type in the words and it replays back in a computerized voice. I love this and have been playing with the voice and writing different scripts for ‘Linda’ to read. Linda is a voice I downloaded which sounds very similar to what I heard in China a computerized, English translation, void of emotion. Ideally I would like to use the keyboard as I see the potential of it as a prop which gives the impression that I may play something musical on it. However the voice sounds more like a musical instrument, which is not the effect I am looking for. The ‘text speak’ function on my computer is the right tone and the laptop is also an effective prop. I envisage sitting behind or to the side of the audience tapping away on my laptop, I could also try and lip-synch to the sound. In the video the female presenter wears a green sparkly evening dress and I like the idea of wearing something similar creating a duplicate image.
