Auto-Tune may be the most hated invention in the history of modern music. There has been no shortage of disdain for artists like Kanye West, T-Pain, Ke$ha and others who utilized the pitch-perfecting device throughout their careers. While critics repeated over and over the argument that Auto-Tune users lacked the talent and confidence necessary to sing without automated help, those artists often stood by their voices – Auto-Tune was a new stylistic choice, a different direction to take their music. It presented the opportunity for experimentation and innovation. But while this overcorrected, robotic singing style is closely associated with the music of the 2000’s, it is a phenomenon that is much older, and has been reproduced many times before.

Sonovox

One of the first voice-modulating devices was the Sonovox, which acted almost as an artificial larynx. It was a small, handheld device containing tiny speakers, and it was used by holding the device up to the musician’s throat. The Sonovox used electrical signals to transmit the sound of an instrument – a keyboard, guitar, or even wind instruments – to the speakers, which projected the sound into the performer’s throat. The sound was then altered by the change of the musician’s mouth and throat, producing a mechanical-sounding singing voice. While it had its musical applications, the Sonovox was mostly used for films and radio station jingles. It was prominent in Disney movies and animated shorts throughout the 1940’s, used to produce the voices like the train character in “Dumbo.” More often simulating a speaking voice than a singing voice, the Sonovox sounded the most metallic and unnatural of the many speech synthesis devices that emerged in the 20th century, and musicians were more reluctant to use it. The sounds it produced were harsh – it resembled a robotic wheezing, so grating it almost seemed to reject any melody. After many had forgotten it, The Who used the Sonovox in their 1967 album, The Who Sell Out, using the device to speak the days of the week through a guitar. While it did make its way into mainstream music, the other, more reliable speech modulation devices ultimately became favored over the Sonovox.

Notable Uses:

“Dumbo” (1941)

“The Reluctant Dragon” (1941)

“The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” (1947)

Vocoder

The vocoder had other uses before it was ever heard on a record player. Its early predecessor was developed in the late 1930’s as a device that encoded speech and reduced bandwidth for secure and efficient voice transmission, and was used to encrypt conversations between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II. The technology of the vocoder is incredibly complex, but to simplify, it works by mathematically breaking down speech and then rebuilding it. The device examines how speech changes, and these changes become signals that are split into “bands” to be transmitted. On the other end, the vocoder then recreates speech, as a “carrier” produces sound while the bands define the articulation of speech. But the vocoder becomes an instrument when the carrier, or source of sound, is changed – usually, a synthesizer plays this role. The synthesizer is played, while the articulated speech is sung by the pitches of the instrument. The vocoder becomes the instrument and the musician, as both the pitches and the words come from the same place at the same time. Used predominantly in R&B, funk, and jazz fusion during the 1970s, the vocoder is powered by technology that sets it apart from other voice-altering devices. It synthesizes the voice rather than modulating it, so it often appears in places that voice normally wouldn’t be, like from jazz pianist and unquestionably-not-a-singer Herbie Hancock. It carves out a space for itself in music, a space that the listener may not have even known was there. It is not the same as the musician that’s using it, but something beyond that. Some devices act as a tool for the musician, but the vocoder can often sound like a completely different entity of its own.

Notable Uses:

“Come Running To Me” – Herbie Hancock

“The Robots” – Kraftwerk

“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” – Michael Jackson

Talk box

The talk box was a favorite means of voice synthesis for many musicians in the days before autotune. This device comes in the form of an effects pedal, which plugs into any electronic instrument on one end and is connected to a long plastic tube on the other end. When the talk box is switched on, it receives the sound from the instrument and reproduces it through the speaker within the device. That sound is then directed through the tube, which is held in the musician’s mouth near a microphone. The microphone picks up the sound from within the musician’s mouth, which allows the musician to modulate the sound by altering the shape of their mouth. The musician can open and close their jaw or lips to characterize the sound, and they can mouth words to simulate singing. The musician provides the words while the talk box produces the tonal structure, intertwining the musician with the instrument. Though the talk box has been used many times by keyboardists like Stevie Wonder, it is usually paired with a guitar, and is much more prevalent in rock music. Whereas the vocoder is technologically complex in the way it produces sounds on its own, the talk box is simple and unfiltered, producing music that is inorganic yet still natural and authentic. The talk box is just an extension of the musician and their instrument. It takes the place of the typical singing voice, contorting and reinventing what the listener is already accustomed to. Its simplicity is what broadens the possibilities for its artistic applications. The talk box only adds more to the sound of a guitar, and it can be fluid but mechanical, natural but unnatural, all at the same time.`

Notable Uses:

“Do You Feel Like We Do” – Peter Frampton

“Man in the Box” - Alice in Chains

“California Love” – Tupac feat. Dr. Dre