The Talk Box

1
The Talk Box

• By Alex Bowers

2
Background/History

• Device which enables individual to manipulate the
  sound of an instrument by changing the shape of
  the mouth.
• Produces classic talking guitar sound
• Ex. Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive
• Created by Bill West in 1971 for Joe Walsh to
  play "Rocky Mountain Way" live
• Later patented by Bob Heil of Heil Sound
• 1973 Heil gave his talk box to Peter Frampton as
  a Christmas present
• 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to
  Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc.
• Peter Frampton also sells his own line of
  Framptone products

3
History

• Created by Bill West in 1971 for Joe Walsh to
  play "Rocky Mountain Way" live
• Later patented by Bob Heil of Heil Sound
• 1973 Heil gave his talk box to Peter Frampton as
  a Christmas present
• 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to
  Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc.
• Peter Frampton also sells his own line of
  Framptone products

4
Other Models

• Danelectro Free Speech Talkbox
• Rocktron Banshee
• Heil Sound Talkbox
• Electro-Harmonix (E-H) Golden Throat
• 1970s, first to include integrated amp
• Kustom Bag
• 1970s, enclosed compression in suede pouch worn
  over shoulder, looked like strange bagpipe/water
  bong

5
Famous Talk Box Users

• Peter Frampton "Do You Feel Like We Do", "Show
  Me the Way"
• Bon Jovi (Richie Sambora) "It's My Life",
  "Livin' on a Prayer
• Slash "Lower", "Anything Goes", "Dust n'
  Bones", "Rocket Queen" (Live)
• Aerosmith (Joe Perry) "Sweet Emotion", "Walk
  this way
• Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl)
  "Generator"
• The Flaming Lips
  "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song",
  "The Wizard Turns On...
• Stevie Wonder

6
Talk Box in Action

• Stevie Wonder
• Stevie Wonder 2
• Peter Frampton
• Peter Frampton 2
• Random Dude

7
How it Works

• Instrument signal into amp
• Amplified signal sent to horn driver
• Sound sent through tubing into mouth
• Mouth-shape modifies sound
• Picked up by mic

8
Source Filter Model

• Vocal chords (folds) create periodic signal of
  pressure pulses, high harmonic content
• Vocal tract operates like a variable filter
• Response different for different frequencies
• Shape of tract changes frequency response
• Gain of tract sampled at multiples of the
  fundamental frequency
• Resonances can be estimated from the peaks in the
  envelope of the sound spectrum.
• Formants
• Easier to determine for low fundamental, i.e.
  mans voice

9
Formants

• Vocal tract acts as a closed open pipe w/ nodes
  and anti-nodes
• When tract (pipe) is constrained at node, the
  resonant frequency (formant) decreases, when
  expanded, rises.
• Opposite is true for anti-nodes