Carl Sagan Sings

gijoel writes "Someone with too much time on their hands and access to Auto-Tune has taken clips from Carl Sagan's Cosmos series to make this fantastic song. Watch for the Stephen Hawking cameo."

Comments

Question about the first clip

[Winckle]

What episode of Cosmos is the section where Sagan begins "I'm not very good at singing" ?

Re:Question about the first clip

[TrevorB]

Episode 11: The Persistence of Memory

Around the 10:24 mark.

Re:Question about the first clip

[Adrian Lopez]

According to YouTube, it's from "The Persistence of Memory". See here.

Re:Question about the first clip

[prograde]

Link for the lazy.

Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

Should this not be posted under idle?

Re:Question:

[Abreu]

No way! This was too beautiful for idle!

Re:Question:

[velja27]

Maybe it should have been posted under Entertainment but who cares when the video & song are awesome.

Re:Question:

[religious freak]

On the contrary, imho, this is what idle SHOULD be, instead of the worthless crap we saw at the first launch of idle (though I've got to admit, idle stories have gotten noticeably less shitty over the past few months).

Re:Question:

[msimm]

Agreed. That was amazing both musically and intellectually.

Re:Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

> ..., idle stories have gotten noticeably less shitty over the past few months

...or, you've been conditioned to drop your standards...

Re:Question:

[machine321]

I thought the processing made Hawking's voice sound raspy and unrealistic.

Re:Question:

[Frankenshteen]

Been playing John's mashup all morning. It is beautiful and inspiring. Thanks for the mp's...

Autotune the News

[NevermindPhreak]

Autotune the News has been doing this kind of thing for a while now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bduQaCRkgg4&feature=related

Re:Autotune the News

[RobDollar]

True, but this is actually the best use of Autotune I've heard yet, amatuer and professional alike.

Re:Autotune the News

[Xtravar]

That you've noticed. If your pitch correction is noticeable, you're doing it wrong. Unless you think the effect is cool - in which case you're a retard.

Re:Autotune the News

[wiredlogic]

His tune-up of MLK's I have a dream speech is pretty awesome. It's good enough to actually consider a mainstream artist doing a proper cover in the mode of the Obama "Yes we can" video.

Re:Autotune the News

[indiechild]

Agreed, I love their MLK song.

Re:Autotune the News

[bobaferret]

gotta say that the Sagan song was better though.

Re:Autotune the News

[ksandom]

Unless you think the effect is cool - in which case you're a retard.

This is where art and profession differentiate. And why they need each other.

Opinion != fact

Re:Autotune the News

[plastbox]

Opinion != fact

Sadly, a vast majority of people, when faced with this argument, will reply (as Sheldon Cooper's mother did when discussing creationism) "..and that is your opinion!". Sad state of affairs indeed!

Re:Autotune the News

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus, that is just about the worst chroma key pulling I've ever seen.

Re:Autotune the News

[Ardeaem]

That you've noticed. If your pitch correction is noticeable, you're doing it wrong. Unless you think the effect is cool - in which case you're a retard.

I could say the same about synthesizers: "If your synthesizer is noticeably different from a real instrument, you're doing it wrong. Unless you think synthesizer effects are cool - in which case you're a retard." Artists have always looked for new ways to create sounds. The repurposing of autotune is no different from the creation of synthesizers, or any other new instrument. Why is someone "retarded" for thinking that the use of autotune as a new musical tool is cool?

I mean, it annoys me too, but your point of view is really condescending. Let musicians play. Autotune is just a set of algorithms; there's no reason why it can't be used in a way that the original programmers didn't anticipate. And anyway, Stevie Wonder and Peter Frampton both used vocoders for a similar effect. Are they "retarded"?

Re:Autotune the News

[FredFredrickson]

While Autotuning is a form of a vocoder, I must point out that this was not, in fact, an autotuner, but just plainly a vocoder with the particular notes carried by a synth.

The difference being that autotuners attempt to use the same sound as the voice for a carrier, in order to keep it sounding like the singer. In this vocoder, the singer is only the modulator, and a synth is used as the carrier.

Re:Autotune the News

[Xtravar]

It used to be that vocalists wrote their own songs (Neil Diamond, Michael Jackson, etc); now it is not.

OK, fine. I can accept that. I understand having good vocalists being famous just for singing (Britney Spears, etc).

But if you're some commoner who can't write music AND can't hit a note, then what exactly are you? Not a musician in any sense of the word, and not a person with talent. You're just a BRAND at that point - a brand that the RIAA has picked to sell a product.

I have every right to be condescending toward the cynical marketing of the RIAA. I'm sorry if anyone's feelings are hurt by that statement, but go fuck yourself and jump off a bridge.

Re:Autotune the News

[Ardeaem]

Ah, the classic "I'll change what I said; maybe people won't notice that I said something different TWO POSTS ABOVE" technique. No, you didn't say that the (non)musicians were retarded. You said that anyone who thinks the effect is cool is retarded. This covers ANYONE who likes the effect, not just stupid RIAA brands. I am a musician. I am just as offended by modern pop music, if not more, than you are. But don't be silly and make blanket statements about ANYONE who likes the effect. I'll ask again: Do you think Stevie Wonder and Peter Frampton are retards? Or musicians?

Re:Autotune the News

[Verdatum]

"Auto-Tune" is a trademarked program from Antares Audio Technologies. And yes, it can do the effects from that video.

Re:Autotune the News

[Verdatum]

I dunno, did you ever see that episode of the Sopranos that was put together after the actress that played Tony's mom died? I involuntarily shudder every time I see they way they tacked her head into the scene.

Re:Autotune the News

[FredFredrickson]

On the contrary, during the video, some of the vocoded effects utilized a chord from the synth, not just a single note. This is not a feature of Antares Autotuner.

Re:Autotune the News

[Xtravar]

Ah, the classic "I'll start a pedantic flame war because I like to feel important" technique.

Any decent person would have taken my comment with the grain of salt that it's meant to be taken, and any legitimate musician would not waste so much time defending the "auto-tune fad".

Regardless, I said that people who are "doing it wrong" are retarded. That would be the "artist", not the listeners. The listeners are retarded in a uniquely different way not originally discussed! :)

Re:Autotune the News

[Olli_Niemitalo]

Auto-tune multiple times, mix. It is possible.

Re:Autotune the News

[Ardeaem]

If you think this is a flame war, you've obviously never been in a flame war :)

Regardless, I said that people who are "doing it wrong" are retarded.

OK, I'll take it for granted that's what you meant. You said that in the context of a post where a person made Carl Sagan "sing". Clearly he was going for effect, because he made Carl Sagan harmonize with himself. Your RIAA crap was just out of nowhere. You think, maybe, that the guy who made the Carl Sagan video is hoping to be the next T-Pain?

I am not defending the auto-tune fad. What I'm doing is defending people who experiment. No effect is inherently "retarded," although all effects can be misused. The problem with T-Pain and the like is not autotune. Most of those songs would be just as retarded without the autotune.

Re:Autotune the News

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU2ftCitvyQ

Shatner needs no autotune

Re:Autotune the News

[Xtravar]

Let's try this again.

1. Making Carl Sagan sing (along with Auto-Tune the news, etc) borders on parody, at the very least humor.

2. A lot of people out there have never heard of pitch correction outside of this context, where it is obvious that some processing has been done to the vocal track.

The intention of my post (snarky comment aside) was to point out to those less informed that there's pitch correction in nearly all of the music we hear these days.

Unfortunately, I had not anticipated the misinterpretation of my words as some sort of hostile attack on Carl Sagan and Peter Frampton.

So, instead of getting the +5 Informative, I get the -1 Troll with the +5 Insightful pedantic rebuttal, which is all too common around here. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

Censored from youtube due to copyright violations

[Anonymous Coward]

Censored from youtube due to copyright violations.

fuck autotune

[ZosX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8RqgDsO3c4

even the new skinny puppy album has autotune all over it. :( that shit was old from day one.

Re:fuck autotune

[d474]

fuck autotune...that shit was old from day one.

Yeah, but Carl Sagan is dead, so there aren't many other ways to make it seem like he's singing. If anything, this is the most appropriate use of autotune technology I've seen to date: Making the dead come back to life in a new way.

I'm sure Carl would approve :)

Re:fuck autotune

[SanityInAnarchy]

They seem to be objecting to artificial voices and a lack of originality...

I wonder where that music in the background came from? Synthesizer? Or sampled from someone else?

If you don't like how autotune sounds, fine. But that video was pretty hypocritical.

Re:fuck autotune

[Anonymous Coward]

I would even expect autotune in Skinny Puppy if it wasn't done in a hot-topic mall way. I'm probably in the minority but the big "electronic" acts in that day (Skinny Puppy, Ministry, and even Nine Inch Nails) all seemed to pretty much fall apart near the same time. After Last Rights ('91), The Downward Spiral ('94), and Psalm 69 ('92) everything from them has been pretty mediocre (sorry Fragile fans but the album would have been much better as a single CD without the crud).

Re:fuck autotune

[poopdeville]

Ugh, my 25 year old roommate still shops at Hot Topic. And she leaves clothing tags on the kitchen floor. I have to move out of here soon.

Re:fuck autotune

[lysergic.acid]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but nearly every mainstream (especially pop, country, hip-hop/r&b, etc.) album that includes vocal parts in it these days has been "enhanced" through the use of auto-tune. Heck, auto-tune is even used in live concerts nowadays. Don't confuse the general usage of auto-tune, which is merely a tool for pitch correction, with the specific practice of feeding extreme parameters into auto-tune software to produce synthetic- or electronic-sounding vocal effects (some like to call this "auto-tune abuse"), as was initially popularized by Cher in the track "Believe."

Even artists in genres you don't typically associate with electronic vocal effects, like rock, metal, punk, jazz, etc. use auto-tune to some degree these days. It's just part of the recording process now, and it's something you'd expect as "part of the package" when you hire a professional sound engineer to mix/master an album.

Not every musician out there uses it (and some musicians have even taken a stand against it), but it's a fact of life that the majority of albums you see on retail store shelves have been pitch-corrected to some degree.

Re:fuck autotune

[sartin]

A while back I was working with a producer and studio engineer on a web site. We were talking about pitch correction and they told me they almost ignore being in tune (within limits) for deciding which take is good. They focus almost exclusively on timbre and emotion. Minor imperfections can be fixed in edit without ruining the sound. Their concern was the downward spiral this could lead to as vocalists get sloppier at learning the fundamentals, but they still did it.

Re:fuck autotune

[Anonymous Coward]

It was written specifically for the piece. The composer does some really beautiful piano work. I wouldn't be surprised if he sampled some of the synth themes from _Cosmos_ to do it.

Re:fuck autotune

[Zerth]

Do you think he'd be for or against sounding like Kermit the Frog gone techno?

Re:fuck autotune

[Mix Master Nixon]

that shit was old from day one.

Mod parent insightful.

Re:fuck autotune

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'm sure Carl would approve :)"

He's not here to answer that question. Bringing back the voices of the dead with some novel technology is more of a moral question

Anyway, I think the whole idea is plain horrible

Re:fuck autotune

[Nithendil]

That and compression are probably why I've only bought a handful of CDs in the past 10 years. Oh that and the rootkits (thanks Velvet Revolver).

Re:fuck autotune

[Hurricane78]

Hey does that mean that you think Stephen Hawking sounds like Kermit the Frog gone techno? Because that guy normally talks like that!

Don't insult the H! Allright? ;)

I don't care.

[SanityInAnarchy]

It was worth watching.

Re:I don't care.

[Brian Gordon]

There are much better autotune videos out there:

Auto-Tune the News #2
I Was Like Um

Re:I don't care.

[d3ac0n]

There are much better autotune videos out there:

Very likely. but how many of those fall under the umbrella of "News for Nerds"?

(Yes, I'm aware that /. frequently breaks that rule, but the point of the story isn't Auto-Tune. It's Sagan.)

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[QuantumG]

It is perhaps unquestionably true that there is nothing more pathetic than the inheritors of the estate of great personages who choose to enrich their own endowments than carry on the work from which it came.
 

anyone got hires of the beach scene ??

[Anonymous Coward]

would make a great desktop background - galaxy rising over the beach at 0:56...anyone got a hi res version ??

Re:anyone got hires of the beach scene ??

[Fireye]

The mpg on the creators site is a bit higher quality, but not much.
http://hinome.net/EFh9F10/galaxyrise.jpg

A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

I think about the time in which Sagan lived, and the hope and threat of a more glorious dawn awaiting. Someone once compared the light of a nuclear detonation to the light of a thousand suns. While the current nuclear stockpile wouldn't reach the light of 400 billion suns, I think it would be close enough for all intended purposes. The current poll on /. seems to be leaning heavily towards the expectation that we will have destroyed ourselves in 100 years; Hawking has repeatedly stated that if we are to survive long term as a species, we will have to inhabit other worlds or at least colonize space. It seems that, barring any of a thousand other extinction events, the current age of humanity, whatever span of time it may be, will in fact rest upon which more glorious dawn we, as a species, choose, or allow to be chosen for us.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Namlak]

Hawking has repeatedly stated that if we are to survive long term as a species, we will have to inhabit other worlds or at least colonize space

And I thought guys like this were supposed to be *smart* and understand the scope and scale of things universal. Why exactly, does the universe need or want us to survive? If the universe doesn't need us, why do *we* need us? Our likely eventual nuclear destruction won't even register as background noise. You know, if the LHC creates a black hole and sucks in the Earth and 7 billion people into in in a minute, I'm OK with that - really. Nobody will be around *not* to be OK with it.

So let's say that we do colonize space and/or other worlds. Why do these guys think that the "colonists" won't end up just like us in due time? Because they'll all be peaceful, collective "space hippies"? Puhhhleeze. How odd that incredibly intelligent people who study nature on the grandest of scales refuse to acklowledge nature's most basic laws such as supply-and-demand of limited resources which create greed, jealousy, crime, class separation, etc.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Lord Ender]

Since the US finally has a president who is talking about getting rid of all nuclear arms, even our own, I think there may just be a galaxy rise in our future :-)

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do these guys think that the "colonists" won't end up just like us in due time? Because they'll all be peaceful, collective "space hippies"?

That's like saying that because everyone is going to die, the human race no longer exists. The colonies might evolve into worlds and countries with their own conflicts, and may destroy themselves. But the point is that it probably won't happen to all colonies all at once. Raze a planet, but the human species still lives on. The current problem is that all of our eggs are in the same basket, and that's bad. No need to get nihilistic about it.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[tsm_sf]

So let's say that we do colonize space and/or other worlds. Why do these guys think that the "colonists" won't end up just like us in due time?

Nobody thinks that. You think there are people thinking this, but I think you're wrong.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[LurkerXXX]

Those guys are smart. Those guys never said the universe needs or wants us to survive. That's the ramblings of some moron posting things on the internet, rather than a top physicist.

Why do *we* want to survive? Probably because most of us (other then the aforementioned moron) still have the desire to survive, procreate, and pass on our genes to a future generation. That's been hard-wired in most life on the planet for quite some time now.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[rantingkitten]

Why exactly, does the universe need or want us to survive? If the universe doesn't need us, why do *we* need us?

What the hell are you even talking about? This is about as coherent as an episode of Teletubbies.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

I suggest we build a space ship to colonize space and call it the "Ship of Fools". Bosch' Narrenschip.

of course, if we can't make it here, we can make it elsewhere

FC

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you're wrong. History tends to repeats itself. Look at what we are doing? We're revive to the dead with Auto-Tune- Zombie Tools and we need this ubersick digital necrophelia to keep lying to ourselves until the lie becomes the truth.

You don't want to pollute other planets with idiots who find it funny to hear a dead guy sing some crappy song.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[ciderVisor]

This is about as coherent as an episode of Teletubbies.

Oh yeah ?

"Laa-Laa sent out for one of those short, plump little breads called Tubby Toast, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of The Noo-Noo's hose. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the Tubby Custard in which I had soaked a morsel of the toast. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place...at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory..."

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[selven]

Because colonization is NOT planting a seed and forgetting. It's more like the way we colonized America, except ships will take a few time longer to travel around the Solar System and messages will travel in an hour. Why not colonize space? There are lots of fresh, unmined raw materials out there. We can solve the overpopulation crisis. We can solve the global warming crisis. Also, if you think we should stand around and be defeatist because we're insignificant, you're 6 billion times more insignificant. Why do you even try to work and make a living? Wouldn't you be OK with just killing yourself?

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Tink2000]

Tele-Proust? Marcel Tubby?

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[sjames]

Some people like to believe that our accomplishments mean something. The longer they or the follow-ons they enable endure, the better. If we wipe ourselves out all of that goes to zero instantly.

Nobody thinks that a colony will magically erase all of the anti-survival habits of humanity. The thinking is that is that if enough colonies exist, perhaps one or two might beat the odds.

If you believe none of that, shoot yourself in the head now. It's not like you'll exist to miss anything! If that doesn't strike you as a good idea, perhaps you will one day extrapolate your reasoning to the rest of humanity.

Perhaps the great minds do see clearly a way around the crap that leads economists and leaders to spout platitudes about supply and demand and such while themselves suffering none of the ill effects. It is, after all illogical to claim the problems insoluble when we know that adequate resources exist (the supply) to meet the demand. Perhaps they hope that we can evolve beyond that without resorting to an ethically questionable extermination of those who can't or won't get with the program (before they proceed further with ethically challenged programs of war that could well exterminate everyone).

In other words, if you wonder why the problems you believe to be built in to the universe seem to be solvable to them, perhaps you should educate yourself until you understand the solution.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Namlak]

Some people like to believe that our accomplishments mean something. The longer they or the follow-ons they enable endure, the better. If we wipe ourselves out all of that goes to zero instantly

Exactly my point, our "accomplishments" don't mean anything in the grand scale that those, like Hawking, should understand so well. Our accomplishments only mean something to ourselves. And if we're gone - either by natural means or by our own hand - there won't be anyone to know or care about it. People talk as if we have some impact on the universe and that our absence will be equally impactful - we don't even qualify as a blip.

If you believe none of that, shoot yourself in the head now. It's not like you'll exist to miss anything! If that doesn't strike you as a good idea, perhaps you will one day extrapolate your reasoning to the rest of humanity.

No, I'm not going to shoot myself in the head, I'm living my life now the best I can. I *do* have an impact in my local social and family circle. But really, not much beyond that. Extrapolated out, we do have an impact on our own existence and our extended human family, but not much beyond that.

Perhaps the great minds do see clearly a way around the crap that leads economists and leaders to spout platitudes about supply and demand and such while themselves suffering none of the ill effects. It is, after all illogical to claim the problems insoluble when we know that adequate resources exist (the supply) to meet the demand. Perhaps they hope that we can evolve beyond that without resorting to an ethically questionable extermination of those who can't or won't get with the program (before they proceed further with ethically challenged programs of war that could well exterminate everyone).

Then I suggest they use their great minds to solve the causes of self-destruction hear-and-now rather than try to solve the symptoms in some pie-in-the-sky far-off maybe-we'll-beat-the-odds future space utopia.

We don't even have a good *proposal* for long-term space survival (bio-environment, radiation protection, etc), let alone the ability to actually do it. It's pathetic that we sent some guys up to the moon in a relative tin-can and think that we're "space travelers" - some people have been mixing up their science fiction with their science. Just read up on how much lead, water, or voltage it takes to shield from inter-planetary radiation - that's going to be problem #1. The Apollo astronauts saw sparkles in their vision due to the radiation - even when their eyes were closed. And we're going to live how long out there? Then we're going to build a totally sustainable environment on a planet somewhere?

It looks to me like we need to solve the problems we have here now, first. But are we too entrenched in our social/economical/religious hang-ups to come out of it? If so, maybe we don't qualify for inter-planetary colonization - hence my original post regarding things turning out pretty much as they have.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

WE want to survive. Nothing else really cares. We are part of the universe, therefore the universe wants us to survive. The question is the same.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[sjames]

No, I'm not going to shoot myself in the head, I'm living my life now the best I can. I *do* have an impact in my local social and family circle. But really, not much beyond that. Extrapolated out, we do have an impact on our own existence and our extended human family, but not much beyond that.

Any interest in the survival of the younger members of your local circle? Any interest in THEIR children and their children's children (who you may never meet) surviving?

Then I suggest they use their great minds to solve the causes of self-destruction hear-and-now

Perhaps the future space utopia (or at least it's planning) is part of the answer? Perhaps instead of telephone sanitizers, we should send the corrupt and greedy after the untold riches to be found in space? It's less ethically questionable than roasting them on spits to feed the poor.

Perhaps it's a play for time. We don't have a frontier as most people understand it anymore, and human societies typically do better when they do have one.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of logical leap is that? Just because a tiny part of a bigger whole wants something, does not mean the whole wants it.

The ultra-rich want laws put in place to benefit the ultra-rich. The are part of society, therefore society wants laws that benefit the ultra-rich.

Re:A Still More Glorious Dawn (of some sort)

[Zarf]

How odd that incredibly intelligent people who study nature on the grandest of scales refuse to acklowledge nature's most basic laws such as supply-and-demand of limited resources which create greed, jealousy, crime, class separation, etc.

I think you're reading into things and probably making them more complex than they are. I don't think our desire to survive has any implication that God, the Universe, or anything else but us wants that to happen.

We want to survive because that which continues to survive survives. So wanting to survive helps with that as the alternative is not wanting to survive and thus there are no offspring to further that suicidal trait. We want to spread into the cosmos because that which spreads out avoids localized cataclysms and continues to survive.

All other complexities arise from the fact that we compete with other external forces for survival. How we choose to express that stress on the system is highly dynamic. It can be through cooperation or competition. We can create classes with which we cooperate and those that we compete against. We can do all manner of things with the end goal always being to continue to exist.

We choose to be because to choose otherwise means and end of choice. We choose to spread out because to choose otherwise is to choose to be confined and confinement and restriction of resources leads to diminished chances for survival. We choose to go on because if we do not then there will be no more choice.

There is a reason "go forth and multiply" is the first command of God. Deep in our psyches we all know we must go forth and we must create the descendants that will continue on after us. Otherwise there will be no other thinking thing to wonder at the choice we made to go on and to ask why we bothered.

How is this less important?

[SanityInAnarchy]

He inspired a generation to be interested in science. How many actual scientists today can trace their choice of career back to Cosmos?

Oh, and read Demon-Haunted World.

Re:How is this less important?

[Scott Ransom]

I'm certainly one of them (thanked him for Cosmos in my PhD thesis specifically).

And I agree with you about Demon-Haunted World. I think that should be required reading for all high school students.

Re:How is this less important?

[kidcharles]

My thesis has a quote from his wife: "He didn't want to believe, he wanted to know."

Re:How is this less important?

[syousef]

He inspired a generation to be interested in science. How many actual scientists today can trace their choice of career back to Cosmos?

Oh, and read Demon-Haunted World.

Read all his stuff. Pale Blue Dot is great for instance. His short essays were brilliant. Pity he was an arrogant man and so harsh on Sci-Fi though (especially Startrek) but that too is a lesson - don't idolize people.

Re:How is this less important?

[SanityInAnarchy]

Meh. I'm also an arrogant man, and also quite harsh on Star trek. I'll watch it, but I'll argue with it in the process...

I think he would've liked Firefly.

Re:How is this less important?

[InfiniteZero]

> Pity he was an arrogant man

Considering the challenges of spreading the "gospel" of science in a "demon haunted world", it takes a man of extraordinary wisdom, confidence, and strength to do the job. Such a man will inevitably come across as arrogant to some people.

Ordinary, everyday nice guys simply won't cut it.

Re:How is this less important?

[arethuza]

That's interesting - reading Demon-Haunted World also made me consider what the "must read" books for people leaving school should be. I'd certainly have that and include "Why People Believe Weird Things" http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0716733870 and a "A Short History of Nearly Everything" http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254133445&sr=1-2.

How many hits will this video get?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see if we can make this video get biiiiiillyuuns and biiiilyuuns of views!

Amazing...

[Loomismeister]

I could listen to those two all day. That song just overflows with profoundness.

Not Autotune

[Given M. Sur]

That doesn't sound like Autotune to me. It sounds like a vocoder.

Re:Not Autotune

[x1n933k]

Then maybe you should read about Auto-tune: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-tune because Cher's "Believe" was not processed with a vocoder but Autotune. The wiki entry article talks of other popular songs as well.

The fact the author of the video mentions auto-tune in the video's description is a good indication to the processing he used.

[J]

Re:Not Autotune

[u38cg]

Autotune doesn't sound like anything until you overdo it, when it suddenly sounds like sandpapering an innocent baby's bottom.

Re:Not Autotune

[Anonymous Coward]

sounds like sandpapering an innocent baby's bottom.

How about guilty babies? With a sander? What do they sound like? Microsoft Songsmith?

Re:Not Autotune

[imakemusic]

That doesn't sound like Autotune to me. It sounds like a vocoder.

Well, then you'd be wrong.

Re:Not Autotune

[Anonymous Coward]

there's definitely a vocodoer employed in there somewhere, autotune sounds unlikely but its possible.

People who know nothing about electronic music should refrain from trying to sound knowledgable by going on about auto-tune.

Re:Not Autotune

[FredFredrickson]

I mentioned this above, but this seems like a much better thread for it-

While Autotuning is a form of a vocoder, I must point out that this was not, in fact, an autotuner, but just plainly a vocoder with the particular notes carried by a synth.

The difference being that autotuners attempt to use the same sound as the voice for a carrier, in order to keep it sounding like the singer. In this vocoder, the singer is only the modulator, and a synth is used as the carrier.

Re:Not Autotune

[u38cg]

That would be Bob Dylan.

New Slashdot meme?

[areusche]

(Jostles for microphone) I'm sorry Carl, but Beyoncé had the best music video of all time!

Re:New Slashdot meme?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop now.

Re:New Slashdot meme?

[sorak]

(Jostles for microphone) I'm sorry Carl, but Beyoncé had the best music video of all time!

Heh. I just sent this link to someone with the title "Something to think about the next time you hear a song by Kanye West or Akon"...

Apparently, those little transformers voice boxes they use now are a good substitute for talent.

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[Clover_Kicker]

perhaps unquestionably?

Loud

[WeblionX]

It's nice, but the music track is too loud compared to the voice.

Re:Loud

[je ne sais quoi]

Go check out the high quality version from the guy's web-site. It's much easier to hear what he's saying (singing).

I'm not a Carl Sagan fan, but there's something I noticed about this song: when was the last time you heard a "serious" composition dedicated to something in science? It seems that most songs are about love, or how life sucks, or something equally mundane. In the 60s and early 70s you heard a lot of protest songs or other political ones and before that you did hear some from people like Woody Guthrie whose subject matter was the plight of workers and farmers and long before that a lot of the ones that got written down were mostly about god. I really enjoyed this song, if only because it sounded pretty good and the fact that it had some inspiring subject matter that wasn't about procreation or religion.

Re:Loud

[mattack2]

I'm not a Carl Sagan fan, but there's something I noticed about this song: when was the last time you heard a "serious" composition dedicated to something in science?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_(song)?

There's probably a Weird Al song that qualifies, but I can't think of one. ("White & Nerdy" could be considered to be about *scientists*.)

Re:Loud

[Anonymous Coward]

I was listening to Rush's "Natural Science" and "Chemistry" yesterday. I'm sure that counts as some serious rockin'.

Re:Loud

[Anonymous Coward]

They Might Be Giants just came out with a science CD.

Expurgated version

[LSD-OBS]

Is there a version edited for rednecks?

Re:Expurgated version

[GodfatherofSoul]

Check the Drudge Report for links.

Re:Expurgated version

[Tablizer]

Is there a version edited for rednecks?

Yip! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Ug-dJrdmc

MC Hawking

[Anonymous Coward]

MC Hawking did this years ago.

Re:A scientific icon

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan Alda, who is less pompous.

I wouldn't have thought that possible!

F.E.Dec

[surgeon]

Auto-Tune is the Frankenstein Computer God Voice simulator

Good Tune

[BeaverAndrew]

I honestly enjoyed this. Carl Sagan to a good beat. -- Stephen Hawking at 2:20 is what truly made it awesome! "A still more glorious dawn awaits..."

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[windsurfer619]

You know it hasn't actually been censored, right?

Great

[GarretSidzaka]

This was truly grand. i can believe someone would make this! i forwarded this to everyone i know :D

Re:Oh my god.

[mb1]

Oh, comon, there's not even a comment list with Profit! at the end yet...

Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[rmdyer]

Does anyone have any idea of how to get a hold of the very original Cosmos television series that aired on P.B.S. back in the early 80's ?

The Cosmos series was bought, remastered, and remade in the late 90's by Ted Turner, and that is the series that I own (the DVD set), however it is not what I watched as a child. I liked the original better. The original had much better ambient music, and in the transitions between scenes, worked much better I thought (more powerfully evoking). The remastered version may be more up to date scientifically, but the music has been replaced with mostly classical that doesn't fit the emotion, and is hacked up quite a bit.

I know the story is that Carl had a large disagreement with the way the original series was produced by KCET out of Los Angeles. Later the series was remade with the help of his wife, but some of the original music could not be relicensed (or was not even licensed correctly the first time) when the series was sold to Turner.

I have most of the episodes of the original 80's version on cassette, that I have now digitized. But the sound isn't that great since it was recorded by simply placing a microphone in front of the TV. There are other tape "abnormalities" as well, like the side A to side B change over.

I know there must be some remaining VHS or Beta tapes around of the original series somewhere, since they were sold as sets to schools and universities back in the 80's. I'd love to have a copy of those! Digital of course.

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[Anonymous Coward]

All of the episodes are available on any good Torrent tracker site.
(ahem, or so I am very reliably told)

May I suggest that a Google for 'MV Group' be performed?

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[Anonymous Coward]

This guy has it all: http://www.youtube.com/user/Zuke696

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[GonzoPhysicist]

They are all on Hulu, just search for Cosmos.

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[atrader42]

Just found the whole series streaming on Netflix.

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[Tink2000]

That's the remastered series that he is referring to.

Re:Where is the Original Cosmos series???

[rleibman]

I have the original series in VHS, only problem is it's dubbed to Spanish, given to me as a bday gift many, many years ago, no longer have a VCR to play it either.

Re:Let me guess

[joocemann]

worth watching. not slow news at all. matter of fact, its much cooler than another 'lets toot the linux/FOSS horn' and the 'F to the RIAA' pitter patter that constantly resounds here.

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[QuantumG]

Cosmos is continually being removed from Youtube and re-added.

Got to love it!

[nnnich]

I think it speaks volumes of the so called "slashdotter" that this video is a news story - very classy my friends. plus it makes me want to do some acid real bad....

Autotune the News #8 was the best mix

[Gopal.V]

Yo, I'm happy for Autotune #1 and all, but I'ma let you finish... the Autotune the News #8 was the best news mix of all time.

Especially the lip-sync video editing was just too good. It had me singing along to Michael Vick ... that's gotta count for something :)

Re:Autotune the News #8 was the best mix

[TobyRush]

#8 is okay, but don't give up on Auto-tune the News until you've heard #6.

Re:Autotune the News #8 was the best mix

[Progman3K]

"wake up, wake up, wake up dead..."

#6 is also my favourite.

The most awesome thing I have seen all day.

[Anonymous Coward]

Beautiful rational thought, presented beautifully, with a kind of wistful emotional quality. Brought a tear to my eye it did.

Re:Oh my god.

[jellyfrog]

This is ridiculous.
1. kdawson should be ashamed
2. His bosses should be embarrassed
3. The advertisers should be asking some difficult questions
4. PROFIT!!
5. ???
Oh, wait.

Interesting piece of work!

[Announcer]

I genuinely enjoyed this! A very clever and imaginative work of art, I'd say. Lyrics, music, and visuals... two thumbs-up, for sure!

fuck you

[Anonymous Coward]

you have no idea what the hell you are talking about

fuck you

Re:Oh my god.

[macshit]

Don't be silly.

Carl Sagan is always on topic on Slashdot.

Cosmos was as profound and inspiring as TV gets, and a defining moment for an entire generation of nerds; any excuse to talk about it is welcome.

Re:A scientific icon

[Beelzebud]

Only on the internet could someone called Anonymous Coward try to slam Carl Sagan for being "a nobody".

Geez

[Fotograf]

it was cool. 100% better then most of songs vomited at us today.

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Good point.

You can download both the mp3 and the high rez video from this page

http://www.colorpulsemusic.com/youtube.html

Sagan is the man

[Ladysman3621]

Did a good job with this. It makes me want to go back and watch the whole Cosmos series. I think they are all on hulu.

Re:Sagan is the man

[BenBoy]

Also on netflix, as instant play.

Bitch..

[Anonymous Coward]

got nothin on MC Hawking.

Beautiful

[stoicio]

That's really beautiful.
I love the 'Galaxy Rise' line.

Okay, technology gone too far

[Tablizer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_4AxzvhCPY&NR=1

Re:Okay, technology gone too far

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

The last time I heard anything like this, I was stationed outside of Istanbul.

MC Hawking

[frozentier]

You boys need some REAL nerdcore: MC Hawking! http://www.mchawking.com/mp3s/

Cosmos

[physburn]

That series was a real classic. It amazing that a science show from the 80s is still so remembered today. Carl Sagan died over twelve years ago. So let the song, be tribute to him.

---

Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

Better get out more

[rueger]

Hey guys - if you're trilling on about how beautiful and inspiring this "music" is, it's probably about time that you got out of your basement and headed out to see some real live musicians (rock, punk, baroque - doesn't matter). There are about a million living breathing artists out there doing truly beautiful (or at least seriously rocking) music. No need for this odd ersatz stuff.

Re:Better get out more

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why we can't have night things!

Re:Better get out more

[pat sajak]

Music comes in many forms, and different genres appeal to different people. Listen to some film soundtracks, and ambient music (Brian Eno) and you might find that quiet subtlety can be beautiful.

Re:Better get out more

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize you have a good reason to suggest people get out and support their local music scene, but could you be a little less, you know, preachy?

I end up passing on live music a lot because I don't like dealing with more than the one pretentious asshole that's always around me.

Re:Let me guess

[flewp]

And honestly, it's so much better than the music in your sig. "Girls say they like my complexion - I got it from your descendants, god bless them" That doesn't even make any fucking sense. Or maybe it does, but how does that work? Your offspring and future generations develop time travel to go back in time and give you a better complexion?

That was actually kind of awesome

[perlmangle]

But does the way Carl Sagan talks remind anybody else of Agent Smith? "That's a billion suns, Mister Anderson."

Re:That was actually kind of awesome

[SanityInAnarchy]

You're not the first to think of Carl Smith. (Or Agent Sagan, if you prefer.)

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[Anonymous Coward]

Or watch it for free on hulu...

Re:Let me guess

[joocemann]

thanks for taking the time to listen to real hip hop! Stay Positive!

Carl Sagan is amazingly inspiring

[Dasher42]

I was given the book Comet which he co-authored with Ann Druyan, and while you might think the subject matter smaller, the vision it showed for how we could travel to space and spread life between the stars was amazing. It showed there's more to do out there than invent a spaceship to go from world to world at - how we do not know - speeds far greater than light's. We can be the ancestors of life made to be out there. Panspermia might not be a fact now, but we can make it so. I think that's a beautiful goal to pursue.

Very nice

[Lavene]

Lot's of negative comments here. I can only assume that they're posted by the younger generation.
To me though, that had the privilege to watch the original "Cosmos" series in my early teens, this video brings back found memories of a man that inspired me and planted the seed of curiosity in me.

I like this video. Not for the music or technical achievement, but for it's spirit.

Re:A scientific icon

[iroll]

Except for being the guy who briefed the Apollo astronauts. And writing the book(s) on exobiology. And a bunch of other stuff that you haven't heard about, because you haven't cared to look.

Only in H-U-SA

[Anonymous Coward]

Hulu works only for a very small percentage of land-locked humans on this planet.

Better return it

[Anonymous Coward]

And you need to return that computer you stole.
Person you stole it from probably knows that you are posting on Slashdot using their ID right now.

What was it? A laptop you found "just lying there"?

Subtitles

[Novus]

SRT Subtitle file (tested using Xine on the MPEG-1 file) available here

Re:Moron geek

[Anonymous Coward]

Glad that I'm not the only one who's absolutely disgusted by this seriously disturbed, banal, digital puppetmaster crap

Re:Oh my god.

[mb1]

...followed by something about clods without feelings, you for one welcoming the AutoTune overlords, complaints that the article is merely advertising in disguise, and the obligatory assumption that no-one actually read the fk'in article.

Oh, and you are not a lawyer.

Too much time on their hands?

[hindumagic]

Some of us call that creativity, or "art".

Great job!

Redshirts

[Anonymous Coward]

Why exactly, does the universe need or want us to survive? If the universe doesn't need us, why do *we* need us?

What the hell are you even talking about? This is about as coherent as an episode of Teletubbies.

what you mean is that the guy in red doesn't get shot, shocked, or eaten everytime they go out on an expedition ?

It's still missing something

[davidbrit2]

Namely, Eric Idle stepping out of a refrigerator wearing a pink suit.

Yup.

[EddyPearson]

This is absolutely fantastic.

Re:Censored from youtube due to copyright violatio

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

That IS free.

And I was commenting on the possibility of it getting taken down. I was talking about people downloading it first so they could have it for posterity.

How to do this?

[Reed_Law]

Does anyone know how to make a video sync with Auto Tune as this guy and Auto Tune the News are doing? I know how to extract the audio from a video clip and Auto Tune it, but I'm not sure how to make the video speed up and slow down in sync with the new audio.

Re:How to do this?

[Novus]

As far as I can tell, Auto-Tune retains the timing of the audio; you shouldn't need to adjust the video speed. You seem to be using the old-school trick of speeding up or slowing down the audio.

Re:How to do this?

[StormWolf]

Auto-Tune allows the user to adjust pitch independent of tempo, so you shouldn't have to do anything keep the audio and video in sync.

Re:How to do this?

[Hatta]

But if you watch the video, it's clear that the timing is altered to make Carl's phrasing match the tempo. I suppose they altered the timing as they wanted it for the whole video, and then used autotune to adjust the pitch as needed.

I THINK ITS QUITE OVIOUS

[mdwh2]

I THINK ITS QUITE OVIOUS THAT STEALING VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE OF CARL SAGAN SINGING IS KILLING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. Except when I'm sharing other people's music that I've "acquired", then it's okay.

Apologies to Lily Allen.

(blah blah lameless filter, it's not my fault that the Slashdot filter thinks Lily Allen is lame.)

Will it sell millions and millions?

[stuntpope]

I can't watch it yet (at work), but I hope (and expect) it has his "whoooop..... GAAAAAAAW" whale impression.

Re:A scientific icon

[sjames]

Not really a nobody, just a part of the rank and file of science without which, the few "big names" would get nowhere.

Advising astronauts, working on space probes, etc.

It just happens that those things are eclipsed in the public mind by his contributions in teaching and advocacy. He helped awaken students to scientific thought and to curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world. Without people like him, where would the next generation of scientists come from?

Need more Cowbell!

[jameskojiro]

And some more "Billions and Billions"...

Wonderful!

[darjr]

Wonderful! Thank you!

Re:Oh my god.

[Caraig]

And don't forget a beowulf cluster of Mae Ling Mak not touching this with a ten-foot Natalie Portman with hot grits....

Re:Oh my god.

[mb1]

argh, forgot the cluster! Also, I never mentioned if linux would boot on it or not.

bonus marks for working in some flaming of slashdot 2.0 javascript, anything about the death of Flash, and any further comments about how things used to be when someone with a low userid was telling someone else with a low userid about telling some n00b to get off their lawn.

I think that about covers it.

Too much time on my hands

[daeley]

"Someone with too much time on their hands..." quoth the Internet denizen with time enough for a Slashdot submission and a snarky comment.

It's the people who *don't* do anything you should be complaining about.

Re:Too much time on my hands

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for saying that. People usually denigrate creativity that way when they're afraid of being ridiculed for liking it.

Even so... the "too much time" guy needs to f- off. ;)

Another Tune Featuring Sagan

[polyp2000]

I wrote a tune early on this year featuring the dulcet tones of Carl Sagan.. This made me mp3 it up and post it online ...

please enjoy ....

http://www.ashgroveservices.com/dark_existance_feat_sagan.mp3

Nick ...