The Talk Box
Published by James E on Monday, September 03, 2007.I've always wondered how people make that noise with their mouths. Is it a harmonica or some voice distortion effect. Naturally, Wikipedia has the answer:
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. A foot-operated switch on the box directs the sound either to the talkbox speaker or to the normal speaker. 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.
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