Freesound Forums

sdrawkcab dnuoseerf - That's "freesound backwards"

This continuum mini-dare was inspired by a game that my daughters play.
They use their nintendo DS consoles to record their own voice saying something backwards, then reverse the audio and play it. - It is really funny and you don't realize how difficult it is until you try.

Here are a few examples:
http://www.freesound.org/people/AlienXXX/packs/11008/

Post yours! Please tag them with "continuum-6"

Have fun!!!

From my memory of experimenting with this with a 4-track many years ago, what I found most amusing was the unusual prosody that results, giving the reversed phrases a strong sense of "foreign accent", whatever "foreign" might mean to you. BTW: I recognized the word sdrawkcab instantly not visually but phonetically (from memory). Have fun with it, but I don't think I'll take the time to join in on this one.

What I found most fun those years ago was trying to pronounce a phrase the way it should sound when backwards (after hearing it played backwards), such that when the attempt is recorded and reversed on playback, it comes out sounding the way it should forwards. It is amazingly difficult, because plosive consonants become physically impossible to reverse, and trying to even come close to emulate their reversal requires some creative "vocal" techniques. Maybe those who join in on this should give that a try.

Wow, the forum's auto-spam-detection is a bit over-zealous lately. Somehow, posting a link to my as-yet-unmoderated sound triggers the "Your post was considered spam" warning. I've seen that a lot lately. Oh well, go looking for it yourself, I guess. What I wrote, in addition to the link, was "Well, ok, I did throw in my little quicky of an attempt at a homage for some of you old-timers:".

zimbot wrote:

From my memory of experimenting with this with a 4-track many years ago, what I found most amusing was the unusual prosody that results, giving the reversed phrases a strong sense of "foreign accent", whatever "foreign" might mean to you. BTW: I recognized the word sdrawkcab instantly not visually but phonetically (from memory). Have fun with it, but I don't think I'll take the time to join in on this one.

What I found most fun those years ago was trying to pronounce a phrase the way it should sound when backwards (after hearing it played backwards), such that when the attempt is recorded and reversed on playback, it comes out sounding the way it should forwards. It is amazingly difficult, because plosive consonants become physically impossible to reverse, and trying to even come close to emulate their reversal requires some creative "vocal" techniques. Maybe those who join in on this should give that a try.

Hello zimbot. Thanks for joining in!
I can't post a link to your sound either. Anyone interested can just type the sound number "176147" in the search box

It is very true that the results of trying to talk in reverse and then reversing the audio and listening to it are quite unpredictable.
Of course some plosive consonants and also the "c" sound at the start of words or sylabes can become physically impossible to pronounce.
However, the funny intonantions (the 'foreign accent' you refer to) come often more from the vowels and joined up vowels in the word and also from a completely incorrect timming on the words or sentences when they are played 'the right way around'.

I find this very amusing. Even if the sounds are not very useful for others...

I used to do this to record messages on friend's answering machines... fun.

Hi,

Anyone for Papadoms?

sound: 175958

~_^

David Lynch's television show Twin Peaks used this technique as well.

try this one it's a French saying
Une Slave Valse Nue
I think you would be interested by the way this one sounds when you reverse it!