Aphex Twin Aphex Twin Stone in Focus Hidden Voice?

I was listing to Stone in Focus by Aphex Twin as I was falling a sleep just now and heard a voice in the background being spoken at exactly 6:12. Weather its saying anything or if it is even really a voice is debatable but there is certainly something there.

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to maybe turn that sound up and cancel out or turn down the rest of the sounds to hear it better or does that require tools beyond free software?

Hear is a link to it on youtube in HQ but I'm not sure you will be able to hear it unless its via headphones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkVT2NwiAgY

I sleep now...

Hi, read the rules.

wouldnt be surprised if this were true

seems like aphex twin likes to leave a microphone on in the room when he's recording a track

there's a shellac song where you can hear steve albini ask for a glass of water hehe

slight whisper

Repeating it various times and can't make out anything. Not even a wisper. I did notice however that you can still hear the clock ticking very very faintly in the background, even though it's been faded out mostly by this point in the song.

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

  On 11/14/2009 at 1:26 PM, Bramsworth said:

Repeating it various times and can't make out anything. Not even a wisper. I did notice however that you can still hear the clock ticking very very faintly in the background, even though it's been faded out mostly by this point in the song.

 

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

I actually think this song has a higher BPM then most think. Playing the song in Audiosurf helped me notice just how fast the song might be. Audiosurf analyzed the song with mostly reds and ended up playing fast for what I thought would be an apraently slow song and I believe Audiosurf analyzes a songs BPM to judge speed.

It sounded normal to me, not high pitched. I'm not debating its existence cause I know its there I just want to know what is being spoken.

mysterious... will listen in a bit and see if I can hear anything...

  On 11/14/2009 at 4:05 PM, ZiggomaticV17 said:

I actually think this song has a higher BPM then most think. Playing the song in Audiosurf helped me notice just how fast the song might be. Audiosurf analyzed the song with mostly reds and ended up playing fast for what I thought would be an apraently slow song and I believe Audiosurf analyzes a songs BPM to judge speed.

Apologies but you're talking absolute bollocks. Listening to music without a written score one cannot say that a piece has a certain BPM or not. Say while recording a track, some sequencers were used which were set to 120BPM. You could say this track was at 120BPM, but also 60, 30, 15, 240, 480, 960, etc. etc. It depends on which time division you reference to as a beat.

BPM detection algorithms will often get this wrong. For example a DJ friend of mine was doing a live set using Ableton Live and dropped in a track that he hadn't set up with beat markers. Hence, Live did a vague job at tempo detection but ended up playing the track at twice the speed to much the amusement of the audience and myself.

I wouldn't say Stone In Focus had a strong beat - harmonic rhythm is present yes, but again this says nothing about the tempo - you could have a very very slow piece with a very very fast harmonic rhythm.

I'd never say that any of this kind of ambient music takes any real tempo, but is more freeform - the only reference point you can really have to this is its harmonic rhythm and the rate at which the musical material repeats.

  On 11/14/2009 at 1:26 PM, Bramsworth said:

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

If it's true, you just broke a myth for me. I'm like "how, god how has he done this" for years, which give a special halo to the track. Same but even more mysterious with [Tree]

  On 11/15/2009 at 3:41 PM, ilt17 said:

  On 11/14/2009 at 1:26 PM, Bramsworth said:

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

If it's true, you just broke a myth for me. I'm like "how, god how has he done this" for years, which give a special halo to the track. Same but even more mysterious with [Tree]

Tree? I believe someone here previously said that track is just a trumpet or something also being played back slowly, and also at a lower pitch than normal for such an instrument.

Wonder what the other instruments in that one are though. I've tried getting samples of cellos and trumpets and then slowing them down, it's impossible to produce the same sound you get in these songs. Something to do with using hardware as opposed to digital software maybe? And of course any effects that are less distinguishable that help make the sound.

i hear it but it is verrrry quity. two quick sylables whispered.

voices from 7.14-7.17

I feel like calling bull here. I swear there's no whispers at any points that are being pointed out.

  On 11/16/2009 at 5:55 AM, Bramsworth said:

  On 11/15/2009 at 3:41 PM, ilt17 said:

  On 11/14/2009 at 1:26 PM, Bramsworth said:

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

If it's true, you just broke a myth for me. I'm like "how, god how has he done this" for years, which give a special halo to the track. Same but even more mysterious with [Tree]

 

Tree? I believe someone here previously said that track is just a trumpet or something also being played back slowly, and also at a lower pitch than normal for such an instrument.

 

Wonder what the other instruments in that one are though. I've tried getting samples of cellos and trumpets and then slowing them down, it's impossible to produce the same sound you get in these songs. Something to do with using hardware as opposed to digital software maybe? And of course any effects that are less distinguishable that help make the sound.

So, many tracks on SAWII would 'only' be samples played slower with effects and that instead of synths ?!

I agree; this song is definitely at 480 bpm

There's definitely a voice at 6:11'ish. I'll have to check it out with headphones later.

  On 11/14/2009 at 4:05 PM, ZiggomaticV17 said:

  On 11/14/2009 at 1:26 PM, Bramsworth said:

Repeating it various times and can't make out anything. Not even a wisper. I did notice however that you can still hear the clock ticking very very faintly in the background, even though it's been faded out mostly by this point in the song.

 

All I can say is it most definitely is a sound being played back at a slower rate. A cello in fact, which is more obvious if you play the track at a faster rate.

 

 

I actually think this song has a higher BPM then most think. Playing the song in Audiosurf helped me notice just how fast the song might be. Audiosurf analyzed the song with mostly reds and ended up playing fast for what I thought would be an apraently slow song and I believe Audiosurf analyzes a songs BPM to judge speed.

 

It sounded normal to me, not high pitched. I'm not debating its existence cause I know its there I just want to know what is being spoken.

Ziggo, buddy, I played Stars of the Lid and the entire track was red. I don't think bpm has anything to do with it.

  On 11/16/2009 at 5:41 PM, xxx said:

I don't even fucking recognize this song and I've owned SAW II on 2CD since March of 1994. Is this vinyl-only business? FML *shoots self*

Yes. The only digital copy is from a compilation. From wikipedia:

19 "[stone in focus]" aka "[wall-to-wall carpet]" 10:05 - / E2 (vinyl/cassette only — see Notes)

"SAW2 was originally released on compact disc, cassette tape and vinyl. The 19th song only appears on vinyl and cassette copies, as it was not able to fit on CD copies. The vinyl edition came in two pressings: a black vinyl and a limited edition brown vinyl of 10,000 copies; currently, the brown vinyl is easier to find than the black vinyl edition. Track 19 is also omitted from online retailers, as their copies are based on the original CD version. The only hard-copy digital form of track 19 can be found on the Astralwerks compilation Excursions in Ambience: The Third Dimension, on which it has been given the name "#19". [1] In the United States, Sire Records also omitted track 04 from their CD edition."

  On 11/17/2009 at 4:03 PM, joshuatxuk said:

  On 11/16/2009 at 5:41 PM, xxx said:

I don't even fucking recognize this song and I've owned SAW II on 2CD since March of 1994. Is this vinyl-only business? FML *shoots self*

 

Yes. The only digital copy is from a compilation. From wikipedia:

 

19 "[stone in focus]" aka "[wall-to-wall carpet]" 10:05 - / E2 (vinyl/cassette only — see Notes)

 

"SAW2 was originally released on compact disc, cassette tape and vinyl. The 19th song only appears on vinyl and cassette copies, as it was not able to fit on CD copies. The vinyl edition came in two pressings: a black vinyl and a limited edition brown vinyl of 10,000 copies; currently, the brown vinyl is easier to find than the black vinyl edition. Track 19 is also omitted from online retailers, as their copies are based on the original CD version. The only hard-copy digital form of track 19 can be found on the Astralwerks compilation Excursions in Ambience: The Third Dimension, on which it has been given the name "#19". [1] In the United States, Sire Records also omitted track 04 from their CD edition."

I actually tracked down that album for Stone In Focus, was easier than getting SAW II on vinyl.

am i the only dumbass here that never knew this track existed?

....Add further dumbass comments below......

if you were into CD's over vinyl, it's understandable. i was clueless about the vinyl only tracks on In Pine Effect

and i love the name Wall to Wall Carpet

i hear a quick voice at 6.12

i loaded this track in Ableton Live sometime last year and noticed that the song (the rhythmic reverbed tock actually) shifts in BPM throughout the track but it's very subtle. I only noticed it because when I sped the track up 100% you hear (and see) the variation.

i'm now noticing a similarity between SAW2 CD1 track 1 and this track. after work i'm going to take the melody of CD1 track 1 and see if maybe reversing it, slowing it down or pitching it yields any results. they both use a three chord progression for the melody as well.

on headphones, i've always thought i hear some slight breathing somewhere in Blue Calx

barely audible tho

It's not a voice I don't think, just an artifact. tons of Aphex songs have little "hidden" stuff like this. For example, Flim at 1:02 iirc.