# Talking Skull Audio Help



## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hey guys! This is my first post so hopefully it's in the right spot.

I recently finished setting up my talking skeleton prop, and I am ready to start the animation. I have created a rough draft audio file of what I would like the finished product to sound like. My skull picks up every bump and thunder rumble in the audio file, and I figured it would. Is there a way to have a file playing that contains all the sound effects, yet the skull only picks up the talking part of the file, and doesn't read the background effects? Or something along the lines of this.


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Here's a video showing how many of us set up the audio files for our talking skulls - 



 On one track you set tones that drive the jaw and the other track goes to your speakers and carries the audio.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I watched that video and found that the frequency trick works. Is there a way of doing everything through one mp3 player? Or do I have to make two seperate tracks that are synced together when played through different mp3 players? My skull has one audio input where I plug in an aux cord so the skull can sense the sound and then an output where you plug in speakers througg the skull to hear the sound. Basically I want the skulk to only talk when the talking audio I have talks. But the track also includes thunder sounds, rain, and background music. I tried the frequency method with it but it still picks up some of the booms from the thunder


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

The only audio feeding the skull motor should be the beep track. I use a single player with the beep tack running the skull, and don't have any crosstalk issues. But I'm not running any heavy effects on one track, just the beeps on one side and the voice on the other. If you're getting crosstalk, it could be coming from a cheap splitter, I've run into that before.
Could you descibe your setup in detail?


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Yes I can. 

The audio track is on my computer. It was made with a video editing software I have. Nothing fancy. Basically I have multiple audio tracks on a timeline. Some overlapping each other such as thunder going off while the "ghost host" talks. I have an aux cord running from my computer to the input on the skulls motherboard. To hear the sound, I plugged in another aux cord into the skull and into some speakers I have. The skull has an output for speakers. Thats pretty much it. 

On a side note, I evenrually want hook up the skull to a lynx express. Its basically like a dmx light o rama kit where you can control various power outputs to make things turn on and off. Id just turn the power to the skull on when I want it to talk and off when I dont that way I dont have to worrh about the audio situation. I didnt know if turning on and off the power to the board would cause problems with the motherboard and servo. Would the skull be fine thay way?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

So do you have a beep track dedicated to the servo driver? It should be sync'd to the voice track, but it should be the only thing going to the servo driver board. If the beep track is isolated, you should have have any issues, but you won't be able to to use the pass-through jack on the skull.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I dont have a beep track. The skull just reads what the audio is saying and playing. 

Would the skull be damaged if I used the on and off light o rama method?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

NickWaka7 said:


> I dont have a beep track. The skull just reads what the audio is saying and playing.
> 
> Would the skull be damaged if I used the on and off light o rama method?


I assume that the current audio track is the one packed with the voice and the SFX as well. Until you insert a beep track (or voice-only) and feed just that to the servo, the extraneous noise in the voice track will be a problem.

I don't know anything about Light-o-Rama, but I think you would be okay.

Any LOR gurus out there?


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I figured id have to separate the tracks. Is there a way to play the voice (beep track) and the background noise at the same time through the same speakers without having to use separate speakers and mp3/cr players?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Sure. The beep track would be on one side and the voice (combined with everything else) would be on the other. You don't hear the beeps, they're sent only to the skull servo driver board. Send the voice/SFX track to your speakers.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Would a setup like this help?

If im understanding this setup correctly, through audacity I would have the audio/background music coming out of one speaker, and the beep track going to the skull, and a speaker. Basically two channels, the left being the beep track and the right being the actual sounds. Would this work? http://www.frightprops.com/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=9&id=216&artlang=en


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Here's the setup I use:
Left track is the beep track. Right track is the voice and background stuff. The beeps are sync'd to the voice.
The stereo cable coming from the MP3 player has a stereo-to-mono splitter on it. The skull plugs into the left track (beeps only) and the right track has another adapter that takes the mono signal and turns it into stereo with both tracks the same (voice and background stuff). Your stereo speakers plug into this adapter so that both speakers have the voice and background sound.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Ok it all making sense now. Thanks for answering all my questions!


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

No worries, happy to help. Let me know how it turns out and if there's anything else I can help with.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Do you think you could take a few pictures of your set up? I cant seem to get the beeps to come out of one speaker (pretending its the skulk) and the actual noises to come out of the opposite speaker. Not sure of it is a cord problem, on audacity's end, or my speskers. My speakers are stereo speakers with RCA cords for left amd right so I dont think its the speakers.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I can send you the PDF of the Boris skull hack that has the pics of the cable setup. PM me with your email and I'll send it along.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I cant seem to get the two tracks to split. Ive used multiple cords, splitters, speakers, and ive tried them all with audacity. The skull still picks up the background noises even though audacity says thetwo tracks are split left and right. The mono splitter I have is capable of doing left/right tracks so im not sure whats going on. From my laptop I have the splitter. One cord from the splitter goes to a speaker I have to hear the beep track and the other cord goes to a completely separate speaker which im using for the background noise. Both speakers still play both tracks even though they are left/right. Can I not put two tracks in the audacity editor at the same time even though they are split? Im completely lost.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Hmmm...
What happens if you plug the speakers directly into the laptop? Do you hear the beep track on one side and the voice with background sounds on the other? What type of splitter are you using? You should be splitting the stereo track into two separate mono tracks (stereo-to-two-mono), one will have the beeps (and nothing else) and the other will have everything else (voice and background sound). If you can hear beeps plus other stuff on the beep side, you are getting crosstalk from your splitter. This happens with cheap splitter cables, they're not very well insulated.
If you are getting nothing but beeps on one side, plug the skull into that side. It should react to the beeps only.
To get the voice and background sound to your speakers, you need an adapter that takes the mono voice/backgound track and turns it into a stereo output. This way both of the speakers will get the voice/background track.
I think I called out the Radio Shack part numbers on that PDF I sent to you. The stereo-to-two-mono splitter I got from RS worked very well (surprisingly).


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I got the splitter from radioshack one male to two female y adapter mono


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Does it split the stereo signal cleanly? Beeps on one side, everything else on the other? As you suggested, the problem may be your Audacity file. Can you send it to me? I'll be happy to look it over and see if there's an issue.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

It says it is ideal usage is for L/R speaker splitting. You want the audio file I need a beep track to go with?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Sure, send me the whole thing. I can set up/adjust the beeps pretty quickly and test the file with my hacked Raven.


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## theundeadofnight (Aug 14, 2011)

Hi NickWaka7 ,

Did you check the output/export settings in Audacity to make sure it is saving the track as left / right stereo and not mono ?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

theundeadofnight said:


> Hi NickWaka7 ,
> 
> Did you check the output/export settings in Audacity to make sure it is saving the track as left / right stereo and not mono ?


Yep, that's what's happening. I just opened the file and both tracks are identical. Easy to fix.


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

When I imported the files, I went to the options window on the left side of the soundwaves, and in the drop down menu I had one track on left and the other on right. Not sure if this is the right way to do this, but luckily for me Otaku has offered to take my tracks and get them squared away for me.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Hey Nick...I forgot to ask, what servo driver board are you using?


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

I bought the skull completely assembled from a guy on ebay who builds skulls and sells them for cheaper than commercial sites. I believe he builds the boards himself since it's cheaper that way. The board says Audio Servo Controller 2012. The Servo: HiTEC Deluxe HS-425BB.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Hmmm...that board isn't familiar to me. You've got the right servo, though. Can you PM me the ebay link (we can't post them in open forum).


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Sure thing! I have his website, ill send that


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Oh, yeah, I know about this board...memory loss is a terrible thing...if I remember correctly...


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Haha I feel ya! Is it a good board? I like it personally, but I dont have anything to compare it to. I only have one skull.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

It has a good set of features that the Cowlacious board doesn't have, but can be found on other, more expensive boards like the AutoTalk II from BPE. I use both in the skulls, and having servo limits on both directions is really nice. With the Cow board, you have to dial in the length of the beeps to control the servo travel and prevent overdriving.


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