Troutman Vs Wonder ‘Talk Off’

As you may have already guessed Cosmic Disco are huge fans of both Roger Troutman (Check out those outfits!) and Stevie Wonder and whilst scouring the net we came across some fantastic examples of both artists rocking the Talk Box.

Not to be confused with the Vocoder a talk box is a musical sound effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument by changing the shape of the mouth.

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.

Anyway…Enough of the tech-speak, let the videos do the ‘talk’ing.

For more info on the legend that was Roger Troutman click here who, for us will always be king of the ‘Box’. Approx. half way through this clip you will find what is our all time favourite cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ but watch Stevie blow it to pieces, rocking a live cover of The Temptations ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’ from way back in 1972!

Stevie Wonder LIVE in 1972 (Double click to open in new window)

Roger & Zapp LIVE in 1989

Who wins? You decide!