11 September 2011

Peter Frampton and his "talk box"


I must have heard this song a hundred times without understanding how the effect was achieved.
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...

When activated, the sound from the amplifier is reproduced by the speaker in the talkbox 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 talkbox 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. 
Text from Wikipedia, which also has a history of the development of the talk box and its use by other musicians.

8 comments:

  1. I heard from a musician friend that these things are way cool, but apparently bad for the teeth - my guess would be because of the teeth drying out when used for a long time

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  2. I've used one and never heard of anyone having dental problems with a talk box. I suppose the fact that the tube is held in the teeth bothers some people.

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  3. I would be surprised if it dried the teeth, because as I understand it what comes out of the tube is sound, not air. Perhaps holding the mouth open for extended time periods could be detrimental, though.

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  4. Did you not go to music concerts? I recall this from Frampton, Nazareth, Aerosmith, and a few other concerts... ah, memories! The sound varies depending on how far back you push the tube, and if it goes back in the mouth past where the consonants are formed, it just sounds like a bagpipe.

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  5. Music concerts are too expensive. My last one was Genesis in the 1980s, and the one before that was James Taylor in the late 1960s. But I did sit at Judy Collins' feet in a little coffee house a few years before that...

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  6. The Talk boxes weren't bad for the teeth at all. However, the sound vibrations could irritate teeth made sensitive through poor oral hygiene, smoking or drug use. Three issues that are unfortunately common among many traveling musicians.

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  7. Big gigs are expensive - but there are plenty of good groups out there at smaller venues - at least in the UK.

    Squid took me to see The Enid for my birthday and I took her to see Shooglenifty for hers.

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