Talk box

Last updated

Peter Frampton's talk box Peter Frampton's Talk Box-3-2.jpg
Peter Frampton's talk box

A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sounds of the instrument. Typically, a talk box directs sound from the instrument into the musician's mouth by means of a plastic tube adjacent to a vocal microphone. The musician controls the modification of the instrument's sound by changing the shape of the mouth, "vocalizing" the instrument's output into a microphone.

Contents

Weezer guitarist Brian Bell with a talk box, the tube being attached to the microphone (2022) Weezer - 2022154163929 2022-06-03 Rock am Ring - Sven - 1D X MK II - 1281 - B70I5835.jpg
Weezer guitarist Brian Bell with a talk box, the tube being attached to the microphone (2022)

Overview

A talk box is usually an effects pedal that sits on the floor and contains a speaker attached with an airtight connection to a plastic tube; however, it can come in other forms, including homemade, usually crude, versions, and higher quality custom-made versions. The speaker is generally in the form of a compression driver, the sound-generating part of a horn loudspeaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection.

The box has connectors for the connection to the speaker output of an instrument amplifier and a connection to a normal instrument speaker. A foot-operated switch on the box directs the sound either to the talk box speaker or to the normal speaker. The switch is usually a push-on/push-off type. The other end of the tube is taped to the side of a microphone, extending enough to direct the reproduced sound in or near the performer's mouth.

When activated, the sound from the amplifier is reproduced by the speaker in the talk box and directed through the tube into the performer's mouth. The shape of the mouth filters the sound, with the modified sound being picked up by the microphone. The shape of the mouth changes the harmonic content of the sound in the same way it affects the harmonic content generated by the vocal folds when speaking.

The performer can vary the shape of the mouth and position of the tongue, changing the sound of the instrument being reproduced by the talk box speaker. The performer can mouth words, with the resulting effect sounding as though the instrument is speaking. This "shaped" sound exits the performer's mouth, and when it enters a microphone, an instrument/voice hybrid is heard.

The sound can be that of any musical instrument, but the effect is most commonly associated with the guitar. The rich harmonics of an electric guitar are shaped by the mouth, producing a sound very similar to voice, effectively allowing the guitar to appear to "speak".

The effect produced by talk boxes and vocoders are often conflated by listeners. [1] [2] However, they have radically different mechanisms for achieving the effect. Talk boxes send the carrier signal into the singer's mouth, where it is then modulated by the singer themselves. On the other hand, vocoders process both the carrier and the modulator signal integrally, producing the output as a separate electric signal. They are also more common in different genres: a talk box is often found in rock music due to its typical pairing with a guitar, whereas vocoders are almost always paired with synthesizers, and as such, are ubiquitous in electronic music.

History

Singing guitar

In 1939, Alvino Rey, amateur radio operator W6UK, used a carbon throat microphone wired in such a way as to modulate his electric steel guitar sound. The mic, originally developed for military pilot communications, was placed on the throat of Rey's wife Luise King (one of The King Sisters), who stood behind a curtain and mouthed the words, along with the guitar lines. The novel-sounding combination was called "Singing Guitar", and employed on stage and in the movie Jam Session, as a "novelty" attraction, but was not developed further.

Rey also created a somewhat similar "talking" effect by manipulating the tone controls of his Fender electric guitar, but the vocal effect was less pronounced. [3]

Sonovox

Another early voice effect using the same principle of the throat as a filter was the Sonovox, invented by Gilbert Wright in 1939. [4] Instead of a throat microphone modulating a guitar signal, it used small transducers attached to the performer's throat to produce sounds that the mouth shapes. [5] The Sonovox was marketed and promoted by the Wright-Sonovox company, an affiliate of the Free & Peters advertising agency.

The Sonovox was used in many radio station IDs and jingles produced by JAM Creative Productions and the PAMS advertising agency of Dallas, Texas. Lucille Ball made one of her earliest film appearances during the 1930s in a Pathé Newsreel demonstrating the Sonovox. [6]

The first use in music was a score by Ernst Toch in the Paramount film The Ghost Breakers, in June 1940. [7] The Sonovox was used to produce the "voice" of the anthropomorphic train Casey Jr. in the 1941 animated film Dumbo , [8] and was also used for the "talking piano" in a children's record issued on Capitol Records entitled Sparky's Magic Piano .

Talking steel guitar

Pete Drake, a Nashville-based player of the pedal steel guitar, used a talk box on his 1964 album Forever, in what came to be called his "talking steel guitar". The following year Gallant released three albums with the box, Pete Drake & His Talking Guitar, Talking Steel and Singing Strings, and Talking Steel Guitar. [9] Drake's device consisted of an 8-inch paper cone speaker driver attached to a funnel from which a clear tube brought the sound to the performer's mouth. It was only loud enough to be useful in the recording studio. [3]

Another prominent use of the talking steel guitar appears in The Ventures' Christmas Album , released in 1965. In the song "Silver Bells", Red Rhodes spoke through a talk box, distorting the phrase silver bells. [10] [11]

Kustom Electronics talk box ("The Bag")

The Kustom Electronics device "The Bag" [12] was the first mass market talk box and was housed in a decorative bag slung over the shoulder like a wine bottle. It used a 30-watt driver and was released to the mass music market in early 1969, two years before Bob Heil's talk box became widely available. The Bag is claimed to have been designed by Doug Forbes, [13] [14] who states that exactly the same concept (speaker attached to a plastic tube and inserted into the mouth) had previously been patented as an artificial larynx. [15]

Stevie Wonder gave the talk box its first national television prominence, performing a medley of The Carpenters' "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye", both via a Kustom Bag, live on the David Frost show in 1972. The performance was later sampled on Frank Ocean's "Close To You".

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was an obvious candidate for both the talk box and the vocoder, experimenting with merging voice and instrument into a single unified sound. The effect was employed during the lengthy guitar solo sections of "Raving and Drooling" and "You've Got to Be Crazy" on the 1974 tour, which would eventually become "Sheep" and "Dogs" on the Animals album.

Jeff Beck used a Kustom Bag talk box in May 1973 on "Superstition" at a Santa Monica concert. [16] [17] He also used it on "She's a Woman" from his 1975 release Blow by Blow , and was seen using it for the song on BBC television program Five Faces of the Guitar in 1974 in which he also explains its use to the host of the show. [18]

Heil high-powered talk box

The first high-powered talk box was developed by Bob Heil. [19] The device was the first that could be reliable when used on high-level rock stages. His first Heil talk box was built for Joe Walsh's Barnstorm tour. Heil and Walsh, both avid ham radio operators (K9EID and WB6ACU, respectively), along with Walsh's guitar tech "Krinkle", combined a 250-watt JBL driver and suitable hi-pass filter which was used for Walsh's single "Rocky Mountain Way". Walsh gives credit to Bill West, an electrical engineer, Nashville steel guitarist and first husband of country-music legend Dottie West, for inventing the talk box for him in a 2006 interview with Howard Stern.

Pete Townshend, in his 2012 autobiography Who I Am , claimed to have invented a version of the talk box during a Who tour of the US in 1976. "I built a speaker in a small box, attached a tube and put the tube in my mouth, allowing me to speak music."

In 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc., which currently builds the Heil talk box to the exact standards that Heil designed in 1973.

The classic rock artist Peter Frampton made extensive use of the talk box in his music. In an interview for the 1999 DVD Live in Detroit, Frampton says he first heard the talk box in 1970 while sitting in on sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass . While he sat next to Pete Drake in the album sessions at Abbey Road Studios, he heard Drake using it with a pedal steel guitar. Frampton said in the same interview that the sound it produced reminded him of an audio effect he loved listening to on Radio Luxembourg in the later 1960s. Frampton acquired one as a Christmas present from Bob Heil in 1974. It was a hand-built talk box in a fiberglass box using a 100-watt high-powered driver. This was the Heil talk box used for the Frampton Comes Alive tour and album. [20] [21] [22] [23] He then promptly locked himself away in a practice space for two weeks, and came out with some mastery of it. The success of the albums Frampton and Frampton Comes Alive!, and particularly the hit singles "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way", made Frampton's music somewhat synonymous with the talk box.

Frampton also now sells his own line of custom-designed "Framptone" products, including a talk box. [24]

In 1976, Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker recorded the talk box effect atop an already-recorded Dean Parks solo in "Haitian Divorce", on the album The Royal Scam . [25] Also from 1977, Johnnie "Guitar" Watson used a talk box. [26] The 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard features Eric Clapton using a talk box during his outgoing solo on the song "Mainline Florida". [27]

ElectroSpit

Producer Bosko, who played talk box on Big Boi's 2010 album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty , conceived an alternative to the cumbersome and unsanitary talk box in mid-2014, imagining a neck-worn electronic system that would be easier to use. Bosko showed the ElectroSpit prototype in 2016, and launched a Kickstarter campaign in June 2018. [28] [29] The device sends sound into the mouth by way of electromagnetic transducers placed against the throat, allowing the user to shape the sounds of a synthesizer, guitar or any other electronic source. Bosko released the ElectroSpit product in 2019, showing it at the NAMM Show. [30] Early users of the ElectroSpit include P-Thugg of Chromeo, Terrace Martin who works with Kendrick Lamar, and Teddy Riley. [31]

Non-musical uses

A talk box connected to an iPad running an effects program was used to create the voice of the character BB-8 in Star Wars: The Force Awakens . [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effects unit</span> Electronic device that alters audio

An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocoder</span> Voice encryption, transformation, and synthesis device

A vocoder is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Frampton</span> English-American musician and songwriter (born 1950)

Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English-American guitarist, singer and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands The Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career Frampton found significant success as a solo artist. He has released several albums, including his breakthrough album, the live recording Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), which spawned several hit singles and has earned 8× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States. He has also worked with various other acts such as Ringo Starr, the Who's John Entwistle, David Bowie, and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Joe Bonamassa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audio feedback</span> Howling caused by a circular path in an audio system

Audio feedback is a positive feedback situation that may occur when an acoustic path exists between an audio input and an audio output. In this example, a signal received by the microphone is amplified and passed out of the loudspeaker. The sound from the loudspeaker can then be received by the microphone again, amplified further, and then passed out through the loudspeaker again. The frequency of the resulting howl is determined by resonance frequencies in the microphone, amplifier, and loudspeaker, the acoustics of the room, the directional pick-up and emission patterns of the microphone and loudspeaker, and the distance between them. The principles of audio feedback were first discovered by Danish scientist Søren Absalon Larsen, hence it is also known as the Larsen effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recording studio</span> Facility for sound recording

A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie speaker</span> Electric amplifier and loudspeaker

The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided by a rotating system of horns in front of the treble driver. It is most commonly associated with the Hammond organ, though it was later used for the electric guitar and other instruments. A typical Leslie speaker contains an amplifier, a treble horn and a bass speaker—though specific components depend upon the model. A musician controls the Leslie speaker by either an external switch or pedal that alternates between a slow and fast speed setting, known as "chorale" and "tremolo".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instrument amplifier</span> Amplifier with loudspeaker for use with musical instruments

An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with musical instruments such as an electric guitar, an electric bass, electric organ, electric piano, synthesizers and drum machine to convert the signal from the pickup or other sound source into an electronic signal that has enough power, due to being routed through a power amplifier, capable of driving one or more loudspeaker that can be heard by the performers and audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar amplifier</span> Electronic amplifier for musical instruments

A guitar amplifier is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which are typically housed in a wooden cabinet. A guitar amplifier may be a standalone wood or metal cabinet that contains only the power amplifier circuits, requiring the use of a separate speaker cabinet–or it may be a "combo" amplifier, which contains both the amplifier and one or more speakers in a wooden cabinet. There is a wide range of sizes and power ratings for guitar amplifiers, from small, lightweight "practice amplifiers" with a single 6-inch speaker and a 10-watt amp to heavy combo amps with four 10-inch or four 12-inch speakers and a 100-watt amplifier, which are loud enough to use in a nightclub or bar performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electro-Harmonix</span> Guitar pedals company

Electro-Harmonix is a New York City-based company that makes electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s. EHX also made a line of guitars in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kustom Amplification</span> American amplifier manufacturer

Kustom Amplification or Kustom Electronics is a manufacturer of guitar and bass amplifiers and PA equipment and accessories. Since 1999, Kustom has been owned by the Hanser Music Group headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Do You Feel Like We Do</span> 1976 song by Peter Frampton

"Do You Feel Like We Do" is a song by English guitarist, singer and songwriter Peter Frampton. It was originally released on his 1973 studio album Frampton's Camel. The song later became one of the highlights during his live performances in the following years, and it was one of the three hit singles released from his signature 1976 live album Frampton Comes Alive!. The live version was recorded on 14 June 1975 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, United States. This live version is featured in Guitar Hero 5 and as downloadable content in Rock Band 3. The studio version of the song is available as downloadable content for Rocksmith 2014.

Roddis Franklin "Pete" Drake was a Nashville-based American record producer and pedal steel guitar player. One of the most sought-after backup musicians of the 1960s, Drake played on such hits as Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden", Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors", Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay", and Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man". Drake was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distortion (music)</span> Type of electronic audio manipulation

Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but may also be used with other electric instruments such as electric bass, electric piano, synthesizer and Hammond organ. Guitarists playing electric blues originally obtained an overdriven sound by turning up their vacuum tube-powered guitar amplifiers to high volumes, which caused the signal to distort. While overdriven tube amps are still used to obtain overdrive, especially in genres like blues and rockabilly, a number of other ways to produce distortion have been developed since the 1960s, such as distortion effect pedals. The growling tone of a distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many rock music genres, notably hard rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, acid rock, and heavy metal music, while the use of distorted bass has been essential in a genre of hip hop music and alternative hip hop known as "SoundCloud rap".

A guitar speaker isolation cabinet is a sound-proof enclosure that surrounds the speaker and sound-capturing microphone and prevents sound leakage into the outside environment, enabling the guitar amplifier to be turned up without excessive listening volume. An amplifier and speaker at full volume can be extremely loud, posing a risk to hearing and an annoyance to neighbors, and will often drown out other instruments in a mix in live shows. In a recording studio, the sound of an amplifier at full volume may spill into the microphones for other instrumentalists.

Robotic voice effects became a recurring element in popular music starting in the second half of the twentieth century. Several methods of producing variations on this effect have arisen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvino Rey</span> American swing era musician

Alvin McBurney, known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. He is also known for being the grandfather of Win Butler and Will Butler and grandfather-in-law of Regine Chassagne, Win Butler's wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Heil</span> American sound and radio engineer (born 1940)

Bob Heil is an American sound and radio engineer most well known for creating the template for modern rock sound systems. He founded the company Heil Sound in 1966, which went on to create unique touring sound systems for bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Who. He invented the Heil Talk Box in 1973, which was frequently used by musicians such as Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh and Richie Sambora, and is still in use today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heil Sound</span> American audio equipment manufacturer

Heil Sound Communications, Inc is an American manufacturer of professional audio equipment based in Fairview Heights, Illinois. The company was founded by Bob Heil in 1966, and is well known for inventions in live sound, the Heil Talk Box and a variety of high-quality microphones and headsets for use in commercial and amateur radio. Heil Sound is also the only manufacturer to be invited to exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music technology (electric)</span> Musical instruments and recording devices that use electrical circuits

Electric music technology refers to musical instruments and recording devices that use electrical circuits, which are often combined with mechanical technologies. Examples of electric musical instruments include the electro-mechanical electric piano, the electric guitar, the electro-mechanical Hammond organ and the electric bass. All of these electric instruments do not produce a sound that is audible by the performer or audience in a performance setting unless they are connected to instrument amplifiers and loudspeaker cabinets, which made them sound loud enough for performers and the audience to hear. Amplifiers and loudspeakers are separate from the instrument in the case of the electric guitar, electric bass and some electric organs and most electric pianos. Some electric organs and electric pianos include the amplifier and speaker cabinet within the main housing for the instrument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electro-Voice RE20</span> Professional broadcasting and music microphone

The Electro-Voice RE20 is an American professional cardioid dynamic microphone, commonly used in broadcasting applications since 1968. Designed by Electro-Voice using the company's patented Variable-D technology and a large-diaphragm element, it has been described as an industry standard "iconic" microphone for its natural sound and its wide usage in radio, television and recording studios. In 2015, the RE20 was inducted into the TEC Awards Technology Hall of Fame.

References

  1. ↑ Fortner, Stephen (1 May 2011). "How It Works: TALKBOX 101". Keyboard . Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Jamieson, Ali (3 March 2015). "Talking Synths: Using Vocoders and Talkboxes in your DAW" . Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 ProSoundWeb. Forum: Recording Engineering & Production. Thread: JUNE is "Ask Bob Heil" Month! Message: 347458. Bob Heil responds about the origin of the Talk Box. Posted June 6, 2008 [ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Means and method for producing sound effects".
  5. ↑ Twomey. "Wendy Carlos Vocoder Q&A". wendycarlos.com.
  6. ↑ Pathé, British. "Machine Made Voices!". britishpathe.com.
  7. ↑ Letter from Gilbert Wright to Melville Clark, 28 April 1940.
  8. ↑ Pescovitz, David (8 February 2019). "Watch Lucille Ball demo a 1939 ancestor of the "talk box" famously used by Peter Frampton". BoingBoing. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  9. ↑ REVIEW: Adams, Greg. Forever @ Allmusic
  10. ↑ Stav, Steve. "The Ventures A Go-Go in the New Millenium". Pandomag.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011.
  11. ↑ O'Rourke, Sally (22 December 2016). "ALBUM: The Ventures, 'The Ventures' Christmas Album'". REBEAT Magazine. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  12. ↑ "Kustom Electronics The Bag". Effects Database. Retrieved 30 November 2018.[ dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Doug Forbes". dougforbes1.googlepages.com.
  14. ↑ "Doug Forbes". mocheez.fr. Archived from the original on 3 September 2007.
  15. ↑ "AT&T Labs Fosters Innovative Technology – AT&T Labs". corp.att.com.
  16. ↑ "Beck, Bogert, & Appice - Superstition - Santa Monica May '73 stereo". YouTube .
  17. ↑ "Beck, Bogart & Appice - Superstition -1973". YouTube .
  18. ↑ McCulley, Jerry. "Rare Video – Jeff Beck Plays His '54 Oxblood Les Paul With Upp". Gibson.com. Gibson Guitar Corporation. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Paule, Marty. "A Conversation with Bob Heil—the Master of Game-Changing Microphone Technology – The HUB". The HUB from Musician's Friend.
  20. ↑ Lux, Joanna. and David Dayen "Peter Frampton: More Alive Than Ever" – G4 Media – Thursday, 13 June 2002
  21. ↑ Green, Douglas. "Pete Drake: everyone's favorite" Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ Baron, Josh."I'm In You: Peter Frampton Still Feels Like We Do" Archived 22 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Relix – Monday, 25 October 2004
  23. ↑ "Peter Frampton & Bob Heil Reunite, Talk Past, Present & Future". ProSoundWeb. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  24. ↑ "Framptone product page". frampton.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2006.
  25. ↑ "Steely Dan Interview – Against All Odds | Guitar.com". www.guitar.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "Johnny Guitar WatsonP". Movingtheriver.com. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  27. ↑ Book, Ryan (17 August 2014). "40 Years of '461 Ocean Boulevard': Music Times Looks Back and Ranks Eric Clapton's Classic Record". Music Times. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  28. ↑ "Reinventing Instruments, Winning a Grammy, and Beating the Odds: Artiphon and ElectroSpit Creators…". 23 May 2019.
  29. ↑ "ElectroSpit takes the tube out of the talkbox". 19 June 2018.
  30. ↑ "ElectroSpit ESX-1 Tubeless Talkbox at NAMM 2019". 9 February 2019.
  31. ↑ "This Kickstarter Completely Reinvents the Talkbox". Pitchfork . 5 June 2018.
  32. ↑ Berman, Eliza. "You'll Never Guess the Actor Behind Star Wars Droid BB-8's Voice". Time.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.