Spacey Sound in “Ordinary World”

Ask Katy

Hello Katy, I feel very privileged for the opportunity to ask you a question. My question, up front, is about a sound effect in the song Ordinary World, a song that I love. It is a kind of Sci-Fi sound effect can be heard at the at the 3:12 mark and ends at 3:15 (on the official music video) so it's about 3 seconds long. The sound effect has always stood out to me since the first time I heard it back when the song came out.

I wondered how the sound effect got mixed into the song ...There’s an audio editing card in the computer that makes the exact same sound at startup that’s heard in "Ordinary World" - but at a different pitch.

So, I thought I would ask if you can tell me about the sound effect? Thanks so much Katy! Roger

"Hi Roger, Without playing back the song in the studio, I am not entirely certain what the specific effect would be. However, a lot of the more “spacey” sounds were created during the mix by using tape delays and spinning some of the sounds from the track around. The mixer, David Richards, had a unique approach and would spend many days on each track. I believe “Ordinary World” was done almost over three weeks! He worked in isolation in his own studio, so he could move at his own pace. I remember we were all quite concerned that it was taking so long for this specific track to be sent back to use from Switzerland, but when it arrived we were all stunned by the detailed work that he had added. NR"