Talk box

Typically, a talk box directs sound from the instrument into the musician's mouth by means of a plastic tube adjacent to a vocal microphone.

The performer can vary the shape of the mouth and position of the tongue, changing the sound of the instrument being reproduced by the talk box speaker.

In 1939, Alvino Rey, amateur radio operator W6UK, used a carbon throat microphone wired in such a way as to modulate his electric steel guitar sound.

The novel-sounding combination was called "Singing Guitar", and employed on stage and in the movie Jam Session, as a "novelty" attraction, but was not developed further.

The Sonovox was used in many radio station IDs and jingles produced by JAM Creative Productions and the PAMS advertising agency of Dallas, Texas.

[9] Drake's device consisted of an 8-inch paper cone speaker driver attached to a funnel from which a clear tube brought the sound to the performer's mouth.

It used a 30-watt driver and was released to the mass music market in early 1969, two years before Bob Heil's talk box became widely available.

The Bag is claimed to have been designed by Doug Forbes,[13][14] who states that exactly the same concept (speaker attached to a plastic tube and inserted into the mouth) had previously been patented as an artificial larynx.

[15] Stevie Wonder gave the talk box its first national television prominence, performing a medley of The Carpenters' "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye", both via a Kustom Bag, live on the David Frost show in 1972.

[19] David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was an obvious candidate for both the talk box and the vocoder, experimenting with merging voice and instrument into a single unified sound.

The effect was employed during the lengthy guitar solo sections of "Raving and Drooling" and "You've Got to Be Crazy" on the 1974 tour, which would eventually become "Sheep" and "Dogs" on the Animals album.

In an interview for the 1999 DVD Live in Detroit, Frampton says he first heard the talk box in 1970 while sitting in on sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.

[26] In 1976, Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker recorded the talk box effect atop an already-recorded Dean Parks solo in "Haitian Divorce", on the album The Royal Scam.

[31] Early users of the ElectroSpit include P-Thugg of Chromeo, Terrace Martin who works with Kendrick Lamar, and Teddy Riley.

[32] A talk box connected to an iPad running an effects program was used to create the voice of the character BB-8 in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.