Speed Variation
The principle of playback speed variation consists of playing back a recorded sound at a different speed than the one at which the recording was made. This allows for the exploration of sound. Speed variation enables two simultaneous and correlated actions on sound: • Pitch transposition • Time stretching or compression Other less obvious modifications will appear: • Expansion or reduction of sound reverberation • Stiffening or softening of sound attacks Despite its often caricatural aspect, this modification proves to be extremely rich. In extreme cases (very slow speed for example) it completely deforms the original sound and thus generates new "unheard" material. Reducing or increasing the playback speed by half or double means, in musical terms, raising or lowering the frequency by one octave.