I'm trying to mimic the sound of a cold war era shortwave radio signal from halfway around the world.
I've identified a few things to get me close:
- Bandpass to reduce frequency bands to a narrow spectrum
- Light distortion - mostly clipping
- Noise
But there are a couple of things I can't seem to get right.
Drifting
There's a kind of 'drifting' quality to shortwave signals that I'd like to capture. Probably caused by changing densities in the atmosphere through heat and cold layers - I've tried using a phaser but it's not quite right and just sounds like I've simply put a phaser on the track
Dropouts
A lot of shortwave radio signals seem to have a 'stuttering' quality that appears to be uneven and random - Although they seem to be around 8-12Hz (ish), the timing constantly varies and the level of dropout seems to vary with every instance.
Crackle
I have added noise but there's a crackle that is more uneven that I just can't replicate.
Limitations
I'm doing this within Cubase so I can't make use of any hardware solutions. I'm having to rely on a combination of VST synths and effects.
I don't mind reconsidering everything including the things that I think I've got right so I'm open to almost any suggestion but I'm not prepared to hire a transmitter ;)
I'd love to hear what suggestions everyone else has.