Talk box

A talk box is a musical sound effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by changing the shape of his or her mouth.

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TalkBox

The effect can be used to shape the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto a musical instrument, typically a guitar (its non-guitar use is often confused with the vocoder) and keyboards.

A talk box is an effects pedal that sits on the floor and contains a speaker attached with an air tight connection to a plastic tube. The speaker is generally in the form of a horn driver, the sound generating part of a horn speaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection.

The box has connectors for the connection to the speaker output of an amplifier and a connection to a normal instrument speaker. A foot-operated switch on the box directs the sound either to the talkbox 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 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.

The sound can be that of any musical instrument, but the effect is mostly 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".

History

In the 1960s, Bill West, a country music steel guitar player (husband of Country singer Dottie West), and Pete Drake. Drake, a Nashville mainstay on the pedal steel guitar and friend of Bill West, used it on his 1964 album Forever, in what came to be called his "talking steel guitar." The following year Drake released three albums with the box, Pete Drake & His Talking Guitar, Talking Steel and Singing Strings, and Talking Steel Guitar.

There is controversy over who invented the talking guitar device. Bob Heil has claimed he invented the talk box but there is clearly prior art in the form of the Kustom Electronics device, "The Bag", which is the same concept housed in a decorative bag slung over the shoulder like a wine bottle and sold in 1969, two years before Mr. Heil's Talk Box. The Bag is claimed to have been designed by Doug Forbes , who states that the exact same concept (horn driver attached to a plastic tube and inserted into the mouth) had previously been patented as an artificial larynx.

Bill West gave his talk box to Joe Walsh, and Walsh used it in 1971 on "Rocky Mountain Way" live.

It was later patented by Bob Heil of Heil Sound. Then later by Rocktron Banshee Amplified Talk Box, and the Danelectro "Free Speech" Talk Box

In 1973, Heil gave his talk box to Peter Frampton as a Christmas present. Frampton first heard the talk box when Stevie Wonder was using it for his upcoming album Music of My Mind. Then when he was playing guitar on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, he saw Pete Drake using it with a pedal steel guitar. Frampton used it extensively on his album Frampton Comes Alive! Due to the success of the album, and particularly the hit singles "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way", Frampton has become somewhat synonymous with the talk box.

In 1977, Southern rock band Stillwater used the Talk Box for the chorus and backing vocals of their song "Mindbender."

In 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. who currently builds the Heil Talk Box to the exact standards that Bob Heil designed in 1973. Peter Frampton also now sells his own line of custom designed "Framptone" products, including a talk box.

One notable performer who utilizes the talkbox is Richie Sambora, the guitarist with rock band Bon Jovi, on their hit single, Livin On A Prayer and since on It's My Life, One Wild Night, and We Got It Goin On. Many Funk bands utilized the effect as well such as Roger and Zapp on "More Bounce to the Ounce", as well as bands like Parliament/Funkadelic,Sly and the Family Stone and Lipps Inc on "Funkytown".

Alice in Chains use the effect in Man in the Box.

Another famous performance utilizing the talkbox is "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" from Pink Floyd's seminal album Animals. It was used again on Keep Talking from 1994's The Division Bell. The performance of this song on the live P•U•L•S•E (film) shows the effect in use in concert.

Eric Krasno, guitarist in the funk/jazz trio Soulive also has used the talkbox extensively, for example on the song "So Romantic" on the group's album Doin' Something and on "Don't Tell Me" from the band's most recent 2007 album No Place Like Soul.

In concert, Manny Charlton of the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth uses a talk box disguised as a set of bagpipes.

Van Halen used a Heil Talk Box on the single "Can't Get This Stuff No More", from their short-lived 1996 reunion with original lead singer David Lee Roth and the recording of their Best of Volume I greatest hits album. According to guitarist Edward Van Halen, the tube from the talk box used in the first part of the solo didn't work properly unless stuck into the back of his throat, triggering his gag reflex. As a result, Roth had to step in and use his own mouth for that portion of the recording.

Guitarist Slash has used a talk box many times. He first used it in "Anything Goes" from Guns N' Roses album Appetite For Destruction. During the Use Your Illusion Tour, he used a talk box during his solo. He also used one in Guns N' Roses cover of "Hair of the Dog" on their album "The Spaghetti Incident?". More recently, he used one in Velvet Revolver's song "Get Out the Door," from the band's 2007 album Libertad, and their cover of Pink Floyd's "Money".

In 2006 Progressive Rock band Tool featured an extensive guitar solo using a talk box in the song Jambi on 10,000 Days.

The Foo Fighters also made use of a talk box in their song "Generator".

Lead guitarist Travis Stever of the band Coheed and Cambria uses a Heil Talk Box extensively in live shows and also on albums. Most notably in their often improvised performance of The Final Cut.

Rancid used the effect on their song Django from their 2003 album Indestructible

Chromeo member P-Thugg uses a talk box on both Chromeo albums (Fancy Footwork and She's in Control).

Zakk Wylde made use of it on his song Fire it Up.

Peter Frampton utilized a talk box in a Geico "Celebrity Interpretation" commercial.

Snoop Dogg notes he used a Talk box on "Sensual Seduction",, while other rappers such as T-Pain have used an Auto-Tune on tracks.

Sonovox

An earlier voice effect using the same principle of the throat as a filter was the Sonovox. Instead of a tube, it uses small loudspeakers attached to the performer's throat. It was used in a number of songs from the 1940s to the 1960s, and is used to create the voice of Casey Junior the train in Dumbo and The Reluctant Dragon, the instruments in Rusty in Orchestraville and the piano in Sparky's Magic Piano. The Sonovox was also used in many radio station ID's produced by PAMS of Dallas and JAM Creative Productions. Lucille Ball appeared in one of her earliest film appearances during the 1930s in a Pathe Newsreel demonstrating the Sonovox.

External links

• The Talkbox FAQ
• Songs featuring a Talk Box on Rhapsody Radish