What sound effect am I hearing?

[takearushfan]

Hi,
I've attached a very short audio clip from The Day After. There's a woman's scream at about 4.5 seconds. Can someone identify what the audio effect that's been applied to it is? I can't pinpoint it. All I know is the soundtrack is Mono.
- Justin

[Soopafresh]

Doubling and slight detuning. They used the effect on Robert Plant's voice in 1979-80 when he could no longer sing the Led Zeppelin songs in concert very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GsxFaWbXFU

[jagabo]

Sounds like a phase shift.

[takearushfan]

Hm. Well, I took a random sample from The Mothman Prophecies and attempted to recreate that effect. I read that a delay of 30-50 milliseconds is typical, so that's what I used. As a reference, you'll hear the unaltered vocals a moment before my attempt to recreate the effect. Please let me know if it sounds about right.

[jagabo]

Yes, that sounds like a ~50 ms phase delay.

[takearushfan]

Cool

It's interesting how very subtle effects can produce such uneasy feelings so well. I really have to give kudos to those that know how to use such effects sparsely. Too often the "subtle" part is left out, resulting in too much of an effect that destroys the feel the creators were going for. I also think that audience members aren't (always) stupid. That is, you don't (generally) need to be an audiophile to determine when an effect is overkill. Sometimes it'll stick out like a sore thumb.