Is there such a thing as this? I admit that even though I played for 8 years (haven't even picked up my flute for about a year) that I am not very knowledgeable about equipment, terminology or anything really technical concerning instruments.

Basically what I'm looking for is something that can make my flute sound electrified. Something that has different distortion settings. I have been listening to Tina Guo for a while (She does some awesome stuff with an electric cello), and want to achieve the same effect with my flute.

Thanks for any input, it is really appreciated!!!

-Lysh

Try the program called Garageband. It's got an EQ and echo and reverb effects. If you record your flute under one of the filters for, say electric guitar, then you might achieve the sound you are looking for.

One technique is to hum while you are playing. Lots of jazz flutists use this technique to great effect. You can get a lot of different effects that way and NO EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED (other than your voice)! If you hum the same pitch as you are playing, it sounds sort of like two different instruments playing together. If you hum a single low pitch (like a bagpipe drone) while you play several different notes, it gives you sort of a "growling" effect. Experiment with it. For example, if you play an upward scale on the flute, hum a downward scale, or vice-versa. Hum along a third above or below the flute. There's no wrong way to do it, but it takes a while to learn how to control it and get the effect that you want. To learn to do it, play a note on the flute, then hum it alone, then try both together. Play a different note, and repeat the previous exercise. Keep doing it with every note that you can play. Mix it up. Play a C, hum it, then hum C while playing an A. Reverse it and try it again. There's no limit - use your imagination!

Another quick and dirty method is a mic and tweak with the controls on a standard small guitar amp. Then usually a mic from there to the recording machine/mixing program. IMO, old-school analog techniques like this work best over tweaking via software.

I don't think I've ever tried humming Musicman. Cool idea. I have tried the whole Jethro Tull rolling the tongue thing, which is the weirdest sensation ever, but sounds nifty.

For some reason I thought there was some piece of equipment that can clip onto the flute and has a wire that goes to some sort of amp/distortion thingymabob. I vaguely remember this from high school. Or maybe I just smoked too much pot during that time period. Who knows! No clue what that thing could be called, assuming it's real and I'm not crazy.

As always thank you for any input!

-Lysh

I always clipped a small lapel mic near the end and ran that to a preamp/eq, then to the amp itself. Gotta love low-tech

Yes, they make professional flute mics like you describe. But they cost what most "pro" recording equipment does as well.