A talking box? How droll!
Warning: What follows is a YouTube heavy entry. I’ve cut the entry after the first video, so if you want to see the rest you can click through to the entire entry.
I admit it. I’m primarily an acoustic guy, even if I do spend a bit of time mixing hip-hop these days. Even so, I love music that rocks, and when I hear a cool sound I want to know how it’s done. I have a couple of electric guitars hanging around, and every now and then this acoustic strummer picks ‘em up and gives ‘em a try.
I was already familiar with Peter Frampton’s talking guitar when I saw him destroy the competition on The Colbert Report, but just last week I wound up buying a digital download of Frampton Comes Alive. The result? I heard a lot of that sound. And I want it.
A quick search on Wikipedia pulled up the fact that it’s actually a very easy effect to buy. Not to throw too many Amazon affiliate links at you, but if you’d care to spend the money you can buy anything from the Banshee Talkbox (Standard)
Then because I’ve come to see Wikipedia as more a fun starting point than where I want to end my research, I went to the next completely-open sounding board for absolutely anybody with two circuit boards to rub together – YouTube.
And I found that the talkbox was strong with this one. First of all, here’s modern-day Frampton jamming on the classic talkbox anthem, “Do You Feel Like We Do?” with Ringo Starr on drums.
I know I shouldn’t but considering that one of the lyrics from one of my favorites songs on the Comes Alive album is “I don’t care if they cut my hair,” I find Frampton’s modern look very funny.
Then I found a training video for those of you who now have your talkboxes and can’t understand why simply mouthing the words only produces an effect like a wah wah pedal, and not the talking effect it’s known and loved for. The Talkbox Tutor explains the physics of the talkbox, and why it’s actually a “throat and mouth” thing.
And Frampton’s guitar wasn’t the only big name instrument plugged into a talk box. Here’s Stevie Wonder showing off a talkbox plugged into his keyboard on the song “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”
And then a construction project I can really get behind. Most of the tutorials I found on home-building a talkbox involved wiring and attaching wires and soldering… but here’s the oddly-named MooT BooXLe (you can be anybody you want on YouTube – including, apparently, someone named MooT) showing how to build a “Ghetto Talkbox.” The commercial alternatives may not have been all that expensive, but this is dirt cheap:
And, finally, because YouTube is the home of viral video – dilliot2k decides to take his talkbox and his considerable production skills… and cover “Chocolate Rain.”
Geez… no wonder I’m behind on my novel.