C..h...r..i...s..t..m..a..s....C...h..r..i..s..t..m..a..s
October 26, 2006 12:55 PM   Subscribe

If you slow down an Alvin and the Chipmunks recording by just the right amount you can hear the voices of the original singers. via
posted by Turtles all the way down (38 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I used to do that when I was a kid. I believe that ALL of the voices are one guy on multiple tracks. Dave Seville, I think.
posted by Shfishp at 1:01 PM on October 26, 2006


Pretty funnyPatton Oswald bit this reminded me of. (youtube, after the gay retard bit, unfortunately.)
posted by anomie at 1:04 PM on October 26, 2006


Patton Oswalt (YouTube about 1 minute in)
posted by hal9k at 1:08 PM on October 26, 2006


Simon... Theodore... ANOMIE!
posted by hal9k at 1:10 PM on October 26, 2006


Patton Oswalt...

Now that is funny.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 1:16 PM on October 26, 2006


Apparently it's this guy.
posted by lowlife at 1:18 PM on October 26, 2006


Simon... Theodore... ANOMIE!

At least you got his name right.

/declares hal9k winner
posted by anomie at 1:19 PM on October 26, 2006


The MrsMoonPie can do a pitch-perfect Chipmunks imitation without any electronic doo-dad-ery. I find it incredibly cute.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:26 PM on October 26, 2006


/me I want a hula hoop
posted by dr_dank at 1:32 PM on October 26, 2006


Um....duh?
posted by agregoli at 1:38 PM on October 26, 2006


If you play The Chipmunk Song backwards it says "Simon is Dead" over and over.
posted by BeerFilter at 1:59 PM on October 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: Um....Duh?
posted by drleary at 2:03 PM on October 26, 2006


More on Ross Bagdasarian, a.k.a. David Seville here.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:09 PM on October 26, 2006


Fun fact: If you play the records at double speed they sound twice as chipmunk-y!
posted by gigawhat? at 2:12 PM on October 26, 2006


I was inspired to do this just last month, after first trying the technique with Diary of an Unborn Child. Just to let you know, it only makes that song scarier, too. Which I just didn't think was possible.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:23 PM on October 26, 2006


And played backwards,
Me, I want a huuuuula-hooooop,
becomes
Puling humans! Kneel before Bagdasarian!
posted by Iridic at 2:26 PM on October 26, 2006


The Great Big Mulp writes "I was inspired to do this just last month, after first trying the technique with Diary of an Unborn Child. "

Lil Markie isn't a tape speed trick, though. He makes that voice in real time. YouTube has the terrifying videos.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:33 PM on October 26, 2006


I think they slowed it down too much.
posted by smackfu at 2:44 PM on October 26, 2006


I grew up in an era where record players still had selectors for speeds of 16, 33, 45 and 78 rpm -- 16 rpm was apparently used for language records, and it was perfect for revealing the multitracked Bagdasarians behind the Chipmunks.


Fun fact: Bagdasarian is the songwriter that Jimmy Stewart spies on in Rear Window.
posted by barjo at 2:45 PM on October 26, 2006


This is great.

I did this nearly 40 years ago by dragging my finger on the turntable while the 45 was playing.
posted by wfc123 at 2:55 PM on October 26, 2006


For UK-er, Pinky and Perky
posted by A189Nut at 3:17 PM on October 26, 2006


On one hand I've always known how the Chipmunk songs were made, but on the other, I find it a little peculiar to hear the original, unmodified voices.
posted by lekvar at 4:51 PM on October 26, 2006


I'm sure this has been mentioned here before but Alvin saying "OK!" sounds EXACTLY like Jello Biafra.
posted by davebush at 4:51 PM on October 26, 2006


It makes me appreciate the amount of control that these singers needed - enunciate in such a way that it sound natural (well, kind of natural) at twice the speed. It seems to involve some serious stifling of natural speech patterns.
posted by aliasless at 5:15 PM on October 26, 2006


Not a double, but here's the original thread where we all remember hearing it the first time.
posted by yhbc at 5:19 PM on October 26, 2006


Alvin always made me want a hula hoop and my two front teeth.
posted by WaterSprite at 6:20 PM on October 26, 2006


Oh, and the normal version made me finally understand the lyrics after so many years. I sent this link to my dad, who subjected my brother and me to Chipmunks music for days on end when we had our tonsils out.
posted by WaterSprite at 6:23 PM on October 26, 2006


Y'know. Discoveries of such magnitude should, in an ideal world, like, cure cancer or something. However, I feel like I've just damaged a couple brain cells wrapping my mind around this realization: that anyone on this planet discovers this and finds it bluesworthy.

I mean. That's cool! When I was 12 and figured this out the first time I was like, "awesome! That's how they did that!" When I told my nephews some years ago that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named after Famous Italian Renaissance Artists they were like, "that's so cool." I once knew a guy who thought Aerosmith wrote the Beatles song "Come Together." When I educated him, he was like, "that's so cool."

Granted, this makes me feel older than dirt whenever it happens, but hey. Nothin' new under the sun, but everything is new to everybody once.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:19 PM on October 26, 2006


I did this nearly 40 years ago by dragging my finger on the turntable while the 45 was playing.

Me too. Kids today don't know what they're missing out on.

Off the lawn/uphill in the snow/keeping the ball/etc.
posted by Opposite George at 8:04 PM on October 26, 2006


Off the lawn/uphill in the snow

Gargling gravel and drinking poison before labouring 12 hours in mine etc.

I asked my daughter (7) if she'd ever seen a record player. She looked at me like I was retarded and said "Uh...yeah! Like in movies!"

Same answer for dial telephones. I am so old.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 8:33 PM on October 26, 2006


My friend and I used to do the digital equivalent of dragging the record on the turntable by shifting the pitch up and down in Sonique. Similar to this, if you slow down any songs to about 70% from South Park, you can easily pick out the voices of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Also, as an added treat, try shifting "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears down to 60-something percent. It should sound like she's trying to summon some terrible demon from the netherworld.
posted by Zaximus at 8:40 PM on October 26, 2006


My friend and I used to do the digital equivalent of dragging the record on the turntable by shifting the pitch up and down in Sonique.

Yeah, and you kids think you invented sex. Don't you! Don't you!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 8:56 PM on October 26, 2006


Y'all don't know this but I invented Death Metal back in 1982 when I put my brand-new Bad Brains Destroy Babylon EP on the turntable on 33 rpm, not knowing it was supposed to run at 45. It wasn't 'till the second track that I realized something was amiss.

The dude from Sepultura was hanging out outside my parents' house and thus history was made.

Tune in tomorrow for our next exciting story: "The peanut butter/chocolate bar faux pas!"
posted by Opposite George at 9:27 PM on October 26, 2006


Turtles all the way down: My wife has a bone to pick with you. You (ok, I) apparently just robbed her of her best childhood memories. (Yes, we both knew how this was done, but actually hearing it is another thing entirely).
posted by JMOZ at 10:22 PM on October 26, 2006


Lil Markie isn't a tape speed trick, though. He makes that voice in real time. YouTube has the terrifying videos.

Jesus Fucking Christ! That makes me want to gouge out my brain!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:50 AM on October 27, 2006


JMOZ: you mean until now she thought they were real chipmunks?!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 9:27 AM on October 27, 2006


Man, the instrumental intro slowed down really needs to be the next hook in someone's sample-heavy project.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:57 AM on October 27, 2006


There more slowed-down Chipmunk tracks in this article. (I did a whole podcast about the history of the Chipmunks...)
posted by destinyland at 8:26 PM on October 31, 2006


« Older pi in pixels   |   The Annotated Mystery Science Theatre Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments