Hey there, >bounce/oz readers! I’m AaronM, a new addition to the site. You may know my writing from Metal Lungies, the blog of the Sound of Young America, Maximum Fun, or my own blog Canned Thinking. Anyway, enough self-promotion for now. Let me set into my topic for today.
Well, the titular instrument at the top of this post is what I’m covering today. I was reminded of the strange power of the talkbox when I saw the fantastic music video for Snoop’s new song, “Sensual Seduction“. The video pays affectionate tribute to the low production values of late ’70s/early ’80s music videos, complete with Zapp & Roger-esque costumes and split images ala “When Doves Cry.” Snoop spends most of the song singing through a talk box to produce that vocoder-sounding singing.
Of course, one of the most famous instances of talkbox use was on the song this blog takes its title from. Zapp’s “More Bounce to the Ounce” is a funk classic and has been heavily sampled in hundreds of songs, including EPMD’s “You Gots To Chill” and Snoop himself on the self-explanatory “Snoop Bounce.”
Wikipedia also has a nice writeup of the basics of the ‘box, along with a short, interesting history. Definitely worth a read.
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.
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.
More at Wikipedia.
Here are a few more recent talk box classics. Whether on the hook or used for main vox, the talk box is always a welcome addition to any jam.
Chromeo
Fancy Footwork
Fancy Footwork, 2007
An irresistible jammie by fellow Jewish Canadian electro lovers. Encourages men to impress girls by dancing to “show her that you’re not that shy.”
Daft Punk
Digital Love
Discovery, 2001
A really sweet ballad, with a catchy backing track sampled from synthesizer guru George Duke’s
“I Love You More.” Love songs are sweeter when sung through a talk box, it’s true.
Kool G Rap & Capone-N-Noreaga
My Life (Remix)
Soundbombing 3, 2002
CNN pay tribute to the Kool Genius in a nice collaboration. The remix, done by VIC, has some lovely pumping horns on the beat and a SMOOTH talk box chorus by someone named G-Wise. A nice summer jam for partying gangsters and wiseguys.
Snoop Dogg
Sensual Seduction
Ego Trippin’, 2008
I think you already know.
Bonus Beats: Snoop explains how “Sensual Seduction” is intended as a tribute to Zapp and “not T-Pain”. U.S. only, my apologies (I can sympathize; as a Canadian, I only got to see this recently since I went to Florida).
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