Misplaced Pages

#210789

83-399: A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box ) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sounds of the instrument. Typically, a talk box directs sound from the instrument into the musician's mouth by means of a plastic tube adjacent to

166-408: A carbon throat microphone wired in such a way as to modulate his electric steel guitar sound. The mic, originally developed for military pilot communications, was placed on the throat of Rey's wife Luise King (one of The King Sisters ), who stood behind a curtain and mouthed the words, along with the guitar lines. The novel-sounding combination was called "Singing Guitar", and employed on stage and in

249-476: A guitar solo may use a boost to increase the volume of their solo. Volume effects: Electro-Harmonix LPB-1, Fender Volume Pedal, MXR Micro Amp, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. Treadle -based volume pedals are used by electric instrument players (guitar, bass, keyboards) to adjust the volume of their instrument with one foot while their hands are being used to play their instrument. Treadle-style volume pedals are often also used to create swelling effects by removing

332-444: A tube amplifier . Throughout the 1990s, musicians committed to a lo-fi aesthetic such as J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. , Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices continued to use analog effects pedals. Effects and effects units—stompboxes in particular—have been celebrated by pop and rock musicians in album titles, songs and band names. The Big Muff , a fuzzbox manufactured by Electro-Harmonix ,

415-501: A Kustom Bag talk box in May 1973 on " Superstition " at a Santa Monica concert. He also used it on " She's a Woman " from his 1975 release Blow by Blow , and was seen using it for the song on BBC television program Five Faces of the Guitar in 1974 in which he also explains its use to the host of the show. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was an obvious candidate for both the talk box and

498-419: A brand's name embedded in the heads of potential customers even though it did not fit into the definition of "advertisement" accepted in the late 1920s. The art of the jingle reached its peak around the economic boom of the 1950s. The jingle was used in the advertising of branded products such as breakfast cereals, candy , snacks , soda pop , tobacco , and beer . Various franchises and products aimed at

581-478: A few knobs to control the effects to large, expensive floor units with many pedals and knobs. Rack-mounted multi-effects units may be mounted in the same rack as preamplifiers and power amplifiers. A tabletop unit is a type of multi-effects device that sits on a desk and is controlled manually. One such example is the Pod guitar amplifier modeler. Digital effects designed for DJs are often sold in tabletop models, so that

664-463: A funnel from which a clear tube brought the sound to the performer's mouth. It was only loud enough to be useful in the recording studio. Another prominent use of the talking steel guitar appears in The Ventures ' Christmas Album , released in 1965. In the song "Silver Bells", Red Rhodes spoke through a talk box, distorting the phrase silver bells . The Kustom Electronics device "The Bag"

747-413: A guitar amplifier capable of producing the distorted crunch that rock musicians were starting to seek. The electronic transistor finally made it possible to fit effects circuitry into highly portable stompbox units. Transistors replaced vacuum tubes , allowing for much more compact formats and greater stability. The first transistorized guitar effect was the 1962 Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal, which became

830-474: A preamp or equalizer. The earliest sound effects were strictly used in studio productions. Microphones placed in echo chambers with specially designed acoustic properties simulated the sound of live performances in different environments. In the mid to late 1940s, recording engineers and experimental musicians such as Les Paul began manipulating reel-to-reel recording tape to create echo effects and unusual, futuristic sounds. In 1941, DeArmond released

913-544: A rack can offer space for conveniently mounting additional rackmount equipment or accessories. Rackmounted effects units are typically mounted in a rack, which may be housed within a road case, a durable case with removable access panels that protect the equipment within during transportation. Because of this, rackmount effect units are not always designed with durable protective features such as corner protectors which are used on stompboxes and amps that are designed to be transported as standalone units. A multi-effects (MFX) device

SECTION 10

#1732782935211

996-509: A sample of 1,279 national commercials; by 2011, the number of jingles had dropped to eight jingles out of 306 commercials. One of the longest running jingles is for McCormick Foods' Aeroplane Jelly . Composed in Australia before 1943, the jingle has been used in advertising well into the 21st century. During the '40s, it made itself famous, or infamous, as it was played more than 100 times a day on some stations. Another long-running jingle

1079-634: A sensation after its use in the 1965 Rolling Stones hit " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction ". Warwick Electronics manufactured the first wah-wah pedal , The Clyde McCoy, in 1967 and that same year Roger Mayer developed the first octave effect , which Jimi Hendrix named "Octavio". Upon first hearing the Octavia, Hendrix reportedly rushed back to the studio and immediately used it to record the guitar solos on " Purple Haze " and " Fire ". In 1968, Univox began marketing Shin-ei's Uni-Vibe pedal, an effect designed by noted audio engineer Fumio Mieda that mimicked

1162-517: A stompbox's, although its circuits are typically more complex. Unlike stompboxes, rackmounts usually have several different types of effects. Rackmount effects units are controlled by knobs, switches or buttons on their front panel, and often remote-controllable by a MIDI digital control interface or pedal-style foot controller . Rackmount effects units are most commonly used in recording studios and front of house live sound mixing situations. Musicians may use them in place of stompboxes, as use of

1245-525: A talk box. 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 . Also from 1977, Johnnie "Guitar" Watson used a talk box. The 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard features Eric Clapton using a talk box during his outgoing solo on the song "Mainline Florida". Producer Bosko, who played talk box on Big Boi 's 2010 album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty , conceived an alternative to

1328-663: A throat microphone modulating a guitar signal, it used small transducers attached to the performer's throat to produce sounds that the mouth shapes. The Sonovox was marketed and promoted by the Wright-Sonovox company, an affiliate of the Free & Peters advertising agency. The Sonovox was used in many radio station IDs and jingles produced by JAM Creative Productions and the PAMS advertising agency of Dallas , Texas. Lucille Ball made one of her earliest film appearances during

1411-553: A tube, allowing the sound to be shaped into vowels and consonants with movements of the mouth. The modified sound is then picked up by a microphone. In this way, the guitarist is able create the effect that the guitar is talking. Some famous uses of the talkbox include Bon Jovi 's " Livin' on a Prayer ", Stevie Wonder 's " Black Man ", Mötley Crüe 's " Kickstart My Heart ", Joe Walsh 's " Rocky Mountain Way ", Alice in Chains 's " Man in

1494-531: A variety of solid-state effects pedals including flangers , chorus pedals, ring modulators and phase shifters were available. In the 1980s, digital rackmount units began replacing stompboxes as the effects format of choice. Often musicians would record dry , unaltered tracks in the studio and effects would be added in post-production. The success of Nirvana 's 1991 album Nevermind helped to re-ignite interest in stompboxes. Some grunge guitarists would chain several fuzz pedals together and plug them into

1577-456: A vocal microphone. The musician controls the modification of the instrument's sound by changing the shape of the mouth, "vocalizing" the instrument's output into a microphone. A talk box is usually an effects pedal that sits on the floor and contains a speaker attached with an airtight connection to a plastic tube; however, it can come in other forms, including homemade, usually crude, versions, and higher quality custom-made versions. The speaker

1660-729: Is "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There", which was composed by Barry Manilow and has been used in one form or another in commercials for State Farm Insurance since 1971. The 6-note ABS-CBN jingle, used from 1967 to September 23, 1972 and since its reopening on September 14, 1986, serves as the network's jingle as it is used on various IDs, such as Christmas and Summer station IDs. Jingles can also be used for parody purposes, popularized in Top 40 / CHR radio formats primarily Hot30 Countdown , used primarily for branding reasons. Television station idents have also introduced their own audio jingles to strengthen their brand identities, for example

1743-476: Is a single electronics effects pedal or rackmount device that contains many different electronic effects. multi-effects devices allow users to preset combinations of different effects, allowing musicians quick on-stage access to different effects combinations. Multi-effects units typically have a range of distortion, chorus, flanger, phaser, delay, looper and reverb effects. Pedal-style multi-effects range from fairly inexpensive stompboxes that contain two pedals and

SECTION 20

#1732782935211

1826-440: Is a type of overdrive effects unit that clips a signal until it is nearly a squarewave , resulting in a heavily distorted or fuzzy sound. Fuzzboxes may contain frequency multiplier circuitry to achieve a harsh timbre by adding complex harmonics . The Rolling Stones ' song " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction ", with a fuzz effect featured prominently on the main electric guitar riff played by Keith Richards, greatly popularized

1909-443: Is also called an effect box , effects device , effects processor or simply an effect . The abbreviation F/X or FX is sometimes used. A pedal-style unit may be called a stomp box , stompbox , effects pedal or pedal . Unprocessed audio coming into an effects unit is referred to as dry , while the processed audio output is referred to as wet . A musician bringing many pedals to a live show or recording session often mounts

1992-621: Is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing . Common effects include distortion/overdrive , often used with electric guitar in electric blues and rock music ; dynamic effects such as volume pedals and compressors , which affect loudness ; filters such as wah-wah pedals and graphic equalizers , which modify frequency ranges; modulation effects, such as chorus , flangers and phasers ; pitch effects such as pitch shifters ; and time effects, such as reverb and delay , which create echoing sounds and emulate

2075-579: Is commemorated by the Depeche Mode song " Big Muff " and the Mudhoney EP Superfuzz Bigmuff . Nine Inch Nails , Pink Floyd , George Harrison , They Might Be Giants and Joy Division are among the many musicians who have referenced effects units in their music. Distortion, overdrive, and fuzz effects units add a warm , gritty , or fuzzy character to an audio signal by re-shaping or clipping it, which distorts

2158-519: Is controlled by the volume of the input signal. The most common filter type used for this effect pedal is the low-pass filter, although many designs include a toggle for band-pass or high-pass filters as well. Additionally, some designs can switch between a down filter mode and an up filter. This effect is commonly used in funk, reggae and jam band music. Envelope filter effects: Musitronics Mu-Tron III , Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus, DOD Envelope Filter 440. Modulation , in general electronics, means

2241-649: Is created in a studio by session singers and includes a musical representation of the radio station name and frequency. Radio stations will sub contract to specialist radio jingle producers who will create the musical sound and melody, along with recording the session singers. The elements, termed a donut , will then be dispatched to the radio station in various time variations to be edited by local radio producers before being broadcast in between songs, or into and out of commercial breaks. Alternatively, jingles can be made in-house by production staff. When commissioned to write jingles, writers will sometimes create all aspects of

2324-412: Is generally in the form of a compression driver , the sound-generating part of a horn loudspeaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection. The box has connectors for the connection to the speaker output of an instrument amplifier and a connection to a normal instrument speaker. A foot-operated switch on the box directs the sound either to the talk box speaker or to the normal speaker. The switch

2407-416: 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 talk box 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

2490-642: The Hammond B-3 organ), tabletop units designed for DJs and record producers, and rackmounts , and are widely used as audio plug-ins in such common formats as VST , AAX , and AU . Musicians, audio engineers and record producers use effects units during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboard or electric piano . While effects are most frequently used with electric or electronic instruments , they can be used with any audio source, such as acoustic instruments, drums, and vocals. An effects unit

2573-409: The dynamic range of an audio signal . A compressor is often used to stabilize volume and alter the sound of a note's attack . With extreme settings of its controls, a compressor can function as a limiter . Compressor effects: Keeley Compressor , MXR Dyna Comp , Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer . Noise gate : Noise gates attenuate hum, hiss, and static in the signal by greatly diminishing

Talk box - Misplaced Pages Continue

2656-662: The 1930s in a Pathé Newsreel demonstrating the Sonovox. The first use in music was a score by Ernst Toch in the Paramount film The Ghost Breakers , in June 1940. The Sonovox was used, with an opening credit, for the spirit voices in the 1940 comedy film You'll Find Out . It was used to produce the "voice" of the anthropomorphic train Casey Jr. in the 1941 animated films The Reluctant Dragon and, most famously, Dumbo , and

2739-596: The Air Tonight . Noise gate effects: Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor . Filter effects alter the frequency content of an audio signal that passes through them by either boosting or weakening specific frequencies or frequency regions. Equalizer : An equalizer is a set of linear filters that strengthen ( boost ) or weaken ( cut ) specific frequency regions. While basic home stereos often have equalizers for two bands, to adjust bass and treble, professional graphic equalizers offer much more targeted control over

2822-626: The ElectroSpit product in 2019, showing it at the NAMM Show . Early users of the ElectroSpit include P-Thugg of Chromeo , Terrace Martin who works with Kendrick Lamar , and Teddy Riley . 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 . Effects unit An effects unit , effects processor , or effects pedal

2905-506: The Heil talk box to the exact standards that Heil designed in 1973. (Now out of production) The classic rock artist Peter Frampton made extensive use of the talk box in his music. 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 . While he sat next to Pete Drake in

2988-713: The Model 601 Tremolo Control, the first commercially available stand-alone effects unit. This device produced a tremolo by passing an instrument's electrical signal through a water-based electrolytic fluid. Most stand-alone effects of the 1950s and early 1960s such as the Gibson GA-VI vibrato unit and the Fender reverb box, were expensive and impractical, requiring bulky transformers and high voltages . The original stand-alone units were not especially in-demand as many effects came built into amplifiers. The first popular stand-alone

3071-471: The Twin Cities market. After advertising manager Samuel Chester Gale pointed out that this was the only location where "Have You Tried Wheaties?" was being aired at the time, the success of the jingle was accepted by the company. Encouraged by the results of this new method of advertising, General Mills changed its brand strategy. Instead of dropping the cereal, it purchased nationwide commercial time for

3154-489: The advertisement. The resultant climb in sales single-handedly established the "Wheaties" brand nationwide. After General Mills' success, other companies began to investigate this new method of advertisement. Initially, the jingle circumvented the ban on direct advertising that the National Broadcasting Company , the dominant broadcasting chain, was trying to maintain at the time. A jingle could get

3237-413: The album sessions at Abbey Road Studios , he heard Drake using it with a pedal steel guitar. Frampton said in the same interview that the sound it produced reminded him of an audio effect he loved listening to on Radio Luxembourg in the later 1960s. Frampton acquired one as a Christmas present from Bob Heil in 1974. It was a hand-built talk box in a fiberglass box using a 100-watt high-powered driver. This

3320-409: The altering of one signal based on another. In audio effects, modulation is a control feature that varies the strength or other attribute of the effect over time to alter tonal properties. Some modulation effects modulate an instrument's audio signal with a signal generated by the effect called a carrier wave . Other modulation effects split an instrument's audio signal in two, altering one portion of

3403-478: The attack of a note or chord, as popularised by pedal steel guitar players. This enables electric guitar and pedal steel players to imitate the soft swelling sound that an orchestra string section can produce, in which a note or chord starts very softly and then grows in volume. Treadle-based volume pedals do not usually have batteries or require external power. Compressor : Compressors make loud sounds quieter and quiet sounds louder by decreasing or compressing

Talk box - Misplaced Pages Continue

3486-403: The audio frequency spectrum. Audio engineers use highly sophisticated equalizers to eliminate unwanted sounds, make an instrument or voice more prominent, and enhance particular aspects of an instrument's tone. Equalizer effects: Boss GE-7 Equalizer , MXR 10-band EQ Pedal. Talk box : A talk box directs the sound from an electric guitar or synthesizer into the mouth of a performer using

3569-650: The box " and Peter Frampton 's " Show Me the Way ". Talk boxes: Dunlop HT1 Heil Talk Box , Rocktron Banshee . Wah-wah : A wah-wah pedal creates vowel-like sounds by altering the frequency spectrum produced by an instrument—i.e., how loud it is at each separate frequency —in what is known as a spectral glide or sweep . The device is operated by a foot treadle that manipulates a potentiometer or other electronic control. Wah-wah pedals are often used by funk and rock guitarists. Wah effects: Dunlop Cry Baby , Morley Power Wah , Vox . Auto-wah or, more generally, envelope filter effects: A filter effect that

3652-619: The compression. Some guitar amplifiers have built-in multi-effects units or digital amplifier modeling effects. Bass amplifiers are less likely to have built-in effects, although some may have a compressor / limiter or fuzz bass effect. Instruments with built-in effects include Hammond organs , electronic organs , electronic pianos and digital synthesizers . Built-in effects for keyboards typically include reverb, chorus and, for Hammond organ, vibrato. Many clonewheel organs include an overdrive effect. Occasionally, acoustic-electric and electric guitars will have built-in effects, such as

3735-536: The consumers' self-image, such as automobiles , personal hygiene products (including deodorants , mouthwash , shampoo , and toothpaste ), and household cleaning products, especially detergent , also used jingles. In August 2016, The Atlantic reported that in the United States, the once popular jingle was now being replaced by advertisers with a mixture of older and recent pop music to make their commercials memorable. In 1998, there were 153 jingles in

3818-431: The cumbersome and unsanitary talk box in mid-2014, imagining a neck-worn electronic system that would be easier to use. Bosko showed the ElectroSpit prototype in 2016, and launched a Kickstarter campaign in June 2018. The device sends sound into the mouth by way of electromagnetic transducers placed against the throat, allowing the user to shape the sounds of a synthesizer, guitar or any other electronic source. Bosko released

3901-412: The effect, and a single LED that indicates if the effect is on. A typical distortion or overdrive pedal's three potentiometers, for example, control the level or intensity of the distortion effect, the tone of the effected signal and the output level of the effected signal. Depending on the type of pedal, the potentiometers may control different parameters of the effect. For a chorus effect , for example,

3984-572: The effect. Talk boxes send the carrier signal into the singer's mouth, where it is then modulated by the singer themselves. On the other hand, vocoders process both the carrier and the modulator signal integrally, producing the output as a separate electric signal. They are also more common in different genres : a talk box is often found in rock music due to its typical pairing with a guitar, whereas vocoders are almost always paired with synthesizers, and as such, are ubiquitous in electronic music . In 1939, Alvino Rey , amateur radio operator W6UK, used

4067-421: The form factor, effects units are part of a studio or musician's outboard gear . Stompboxes are small plastic or metal chassis that usually lie on the floor or in a pedalboard to be operated by the user's feet. Pedals are often rectangle-shaped, but there are a range of other shapes (e.g., the circular Fuzz Face ). Typical simple stompboxes have a single footswitch, one to three potentiometers for controlling

4150-444: The guitar and the amp or between the preamplifier and the power amp. When a pedal is off or inactive, the electric audio signal coming into the pedal diverts onto a bypass , an unaltered dry signal that continues on to other effects down the chain. In this way, a musician can combine effects within a chain in a variety of ways without having to reconnect boxes during a performance. A controller or effects management system lets

4233-567: The instrument is speaking. This "shaped" sound exits the performer's mouth, and when it enters a microphone, an instrument/voice hybrid is heard. The sound can be that of any musical instrument, but the effect is most commonly associated with the guitar. The rich harmonics of an electric guitar are shaped by the mouth, producing a sound very similar to voice, effectively allowing the guitar to appear to "speak". The effect produced by talk boxes and vocoders are often conflated by listeners. However, they have radically different mechanisms for achieving

SECTION 50

#1732782935211

4316-460: The jingle: music, lyrics, performance and recording. In this case, the writer may be paid for these aspects as well as a flat fee. Although the advertiser receives rights free of writer royalty, sometimes the writer will try to retain performance rights. In most cases the writer retains no rights whatsoever. In other cases, advertisers purchase jingles in package deals from producers specializing in jingles. The writers working for these producers receive

4399-455: The knobs may control the depth and speed of the effect. Complex stompboxes may have multiple footswitches, many knobs, additional switches or buttons that are operated with the fingers, and an alphanumeric LED display that indicates the status of the effect with short acronyms (e.g., DIST for "distortion"). An effects chain is formed by connecting two or more stompboxes forming a signal chain . Effect chains are typically created between

4482-505: The land. Wheaties Jingle (1926) The Wheaties advertisement, with its lyrical hooks, was seen by its owners as extremely successful. According to one account, General Mills had seriously planned to end production of Wheaties in 1929 on the basis of poor sales. Soon after the song "Have you tried Wheaties?" aired in Minnesota , however, sales spiked there. Of the 53,000 cases of Wheaties breakfast cereal sold, 40,000 were sold in

4565-461: The melodic motifs of Channel 4 's Fourscore or BBC One 's 'Circle' idents . Most often the term "radio jingles" can be used to collectively describe all elements of radio station branding or identification. Accurately the term in the context of radio is used to describe only those station branding elements which are musical, or sung. Sung jingles are the most common form of radio station branding otherwise known as imaging. A radio jingle therefore

4648-407: 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 talk box speaker. The performer can mouth words, with the resulting effect sounding as though

4731-529: The mouth) had previously been patented as an artificial larynx . 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. The performance was later sampled on Frank Ocean's " Close To You ". Mike Pinera from Iron Butterfly used it in 1970. Jeff Beck used

4814-453: The movie Jam Session , as a "novelty" attraction, but was not developed further. Rey also created a somewhat similar-sounding "talking" effect by manipulating the tone controls of his Fender electric guitar, but the vocal effect was less pronounced. Another early voice effect using the same principle of the throat as a filter was the Sonovox , invented by Gilbert Wright in 1939. Instead of

4897-462: The musician create multiple effect chains, so they can select one or several chains by tapping a single switch. The switches are usually organized in a row or a simple grid. It is common to put compression , wah and overdrive pedals at the start of the chain; modulation ( chorus , flanger , phase shifter ) in the middle; and time-based units ( delay /echo, reverb at the end. When using many effects, unwanted noise and hum can be introduced into

4980-638: The odd phase shift and chorus effects of the Leslie rotating speakers used in Hammond organs . The pedals soon became favorite effects of guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower . In 1976, Roland subsidiary Boss Corporation released the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, the first chorus pedal , created by taking a chorus circuit from an amplifier and putting it into a stompbox . By the mid-1970s

5063-440: The pedals on a guitar pedalboard , to reduce set-up and tear-down time and, for pedalboards with lids, protect the pedals during transportation. When a musician has multiple effects in a rack mounted road case , this case may be called an effects rack or rig . When rackmounted effects are mounted in a roadcase, this also speeds up a musician's set-up and tear-down time, because all of the effects can be connected together inside

SECTION 60

#1732782935211

5146-588: The power supply in early tube amplifiers . In the 1950s, guitarists began deliberately increasing gain beyond its intended levels to achieve warm distorted sounds. Among the first musicians to experiment with distortion were Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf , Goree Carter , Joe Hill Louis , Ike Turner , Guitar Slim , and Chuck Berry . In 1954, Pat Hare produced heavily distorted power chords for several recordings (including James Cotton 's "Cotton Crop Blues"), creating "a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound," accomplished by turning

5229-413: The rack case. Effects units are available in a variety of form factors . Stompboxes are used in both live performance and studio recording. Rackmount devices saw a heavy usage during the later 20th century, due to their superior processing power and desirable tones as compared to pedal-style units. However, by the 21st century, with the advent of digital plugins and more powerful stompboxes for live usage,

5312-463: The shape of its waveform by flattening its peaks, creating warm sounds by adding harmonics or gritty sounds by adding inharmonic overtones. Distortion effects are sometimes called gain effects, as distorted guitar sounds were first achieved by increasing the gain of tube amplifiers . While distortion effects units produce perfectly flattened peaks or hard clipping, overdrive effects units produce soft tube-like distortion by compressing

5395-501: The signal and mixing it with the unaltered portion. Jingle The first radio commercial jingle aired in December 1926, for Wheaties cereal. Have you tried Wheaties ? They're whole wheat with all of the bran. Won't you try Wheaties? For wheat is the best food of man. They're crispy and crunchy the whole year through, The kiddies never tire of them and neither will you. So just try Wheaties, The best breakfast food in

5478-421: The sound of different spaces. Most modern effects use solid-state electronics or digital signal processors . Some effects, particularly older ones such as Leslie speakers and spring reverbs , use mechanical components or vacuum tubes . Effects are often used as stompboxes , typically placed on the floor and controlled with footswitches. They may also be built into guitar amplifiers , instruments (such as

5561-649: The sound. Some performers use a noise gate pedal at the end of a chain to reduce unwanted noise and hum introduced by overdrive units or vintage gear. Rackmount effects units are typically built in a thin metal chassis with rack ears designed to be screw-mounted into the rack rails of a 19-inch rack that is standard to the music technology industry. Rackmount effects have a standardized 19-inch width, and height of 1 or more rack unit(s) . Devices that are less than 19 inches wide can sometimes be made rackmount-compatible via special rackmount adapters. A rackmount effects unit may contain electronic circuitry identical to

5644-456: The talk box for him in a 2006 interview with Howard Stern. Pete Townshend , in his 2012 autobiography Who I Am , claimed to have invented a version of the talk box during a Who tour of the US in 1976. "I built a speaker in a small box, attached a tube and put the tube in my mouth, allowing me to speak music." In 1988, Heil sold the manufacturing rights to Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. , which built

5727-655: The units can be placed alongside a DJ mixer , turntables and scratching gear. Effects are often incorporated into instrument amplifiers and even some types of instruments. Electric guitar amplifiers often have built-in reverb, chorus and distortion , while acoustic guitar and keyboard amplifiers tend to only have built-in reverb. Some acoustic instrument amplifiers have reverb, chorus, compression and equalization (bass and treble) effects. Vintage guitar amps typically have tremolo and vibrato effects, and sometimes reverb. The Fender Bandmaster Reverb amp, for example, had built-in reverb and vibrato. Built-in effects may offer

5810-712: The use of fuzz effects. Fuzz bass (also called bass overdrive) is a style of playing the electric bass that produces a buzzy, overdriven sound via a tube or transistor amp or by using a fuzz or overdrive pedal. Notable examples of fuzz effect units include the: Arbiter Fuzz Face , Electro-Harmonix Big Muff , Shin-ei Companion FY-2 , Univox Super-Fuzz , Vox Tone Bender , Z.Vex Fuzz Factory . While distortion effect units are most associated with electric and bass guitar, they are also commonly used on keyboard instruments (i.e. synthesizers , combo and tonewheel organs , electric piano ), as well as drums and vocals. Also called volume and amplitude effects, dynamics effects modify

5893-399: The use of rack-mounted effect units has declined. An effects unit can consist of analog or digital electronics or a combination of the two. During a live performance, the effect is plugged into the electrical signal path of the instrument. In the studio, an instrument or another sound source — possibly an auxiliary output of a mixer or a DAW — is patched into the effect. Whatever

5976-401: The user less control than standalone pedals or rackmounted units. For example, on some lower- to mid-priced bass amplifiers , the only control on the audio compression effect is a button or switch to turn it on or off, or a single knob. In contrast, a pedal or rackmounted unit would typically provide ratio, threshold and attack controls or other options to allow the user additional control over

6059-531: 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. The first high-powered talk box was developed by Bob Heil . The device was the first that could be reliable when used on high-level rock stages. His first Heil talk box

6142-528: The volume knob on his amplifier "all the way to the right until the speaker was screaming." Link Wray's 1958 recording " Rumble " inspired young musicians such as Pete Townshend of The Who , Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin , Jeff Beck , Dave Davies of The Kinks , and Neil Young to explore distortion by various means. In 1966, the British company Marshall Amplification began producing the Marshall 1963,

6225-442: The volume of an instrument. Dynamics effects were among the first effects introduced to guitarists. Boost/volume pedal : When activated, a boost or clean boost pedal amplifies the volume of an instrument by increasing the amplitude of its audio signal . These units are generally used for boosting volume during solos and preventing signal loss in long effects chains. A guitarist switching from rhythm guitar to lead guitar for

6308-465: The volume when the signal falls below a set threshold. Noise gates are expanders —meaning that, unlike compressors, they increase the dynamic range of an audio signal to make quiet sounds even quieter. If used with extreme settings and combined with reverb, they can create unusual sounds, such as the gated drum effect used in 1980s pop songs, a style popularized by the Phil Collins song In

6391-487: The waveform without completely flattening it. Much like guitar tube amplifiers, overdrive effects units are capable of producing clean sounds at lower volumes and distorted warm sounds at higher volumes. Notable examples of distortion and overdrive pedals include the Boss DS-1 Distortion, Ibanez Tube Screamer , Marshall ShredMaster , MXR Distortion + , and Pro Co RAT . A fuzz pedal, or fuzzbox,

6474-533: Was also used for the "talking piano" in a children's record issued on Capitol Records entitled Sparky's Magic Piano . Pete Drake , a Nashville-based player of the pedal steel guitar , used a talk box on his 1964 album Forever , in what came to be called his "talking steel guitar". The following year Gallant released three albums with the box, Pete Drake & His Talking Guitar , Talking Steel and Singing Strings , and Talking Steel Guitar . Drake's device consisted of an 8-inch paper cone speaker driver attached to

6557-438: Was built for Joe Walsh 's Barnstorm tour. Heil and Walsh, both avid ham radio operators (K9EID and WB6ACU, respectively), along with Walsh's guitar tech "Krinkle", combined a 250-watt JBL driver and suitable hi-pass filter which was used for Walsh's single " Rocky Mountain Way ". Walsh gives credit to Bill West, an electrical engineer, Nashville steel guitarist and first husband of country-music legend Dottie West , for inventing

6640-485: Was the 1958 Watkins Copicat , a relatively portable tape echo effect made famous by the British band, The Shadows . Effects built into tube-powered guitar amplifiers were the first effects that musicians used regularly outside the studio. From the late 1940s onward, the Gibson began including vibrato circuits in combo amplifiers that incorporated one or more speakers with the amp. The 1950 Ray Butts EchoSonic amp

6723-557: Was the Heil talk box used for the Frampton Comes Alive tour and album. He then promptly locked himself away in a practice space for two weeks, and came out with some mastery of it. The success of the albums Frampton and Frampton Comes Alive! , and particularly the hit singles " Do You Feel Like We Do " and " Show Me the Way ", made Frampton's music somewhat synonymous with the talk box. Frampton also now sells his own line of custom-designed "Framptone" products, including

6806-409: Was the first mass market talk box and was housed in a decorative bag slung over the shoulder like a wine bottle. 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, who states that exactly the same concept (speaker attached to a plastic tube and inserted into

6889-461: Was the first to feature a tape echo , which quickly became popular with guitarists such as Chet Atkins , Carl Perkins , Scotty Moore , Luther Perkins , and Roy Orbison . Both Premier and Gibson built amplifiers with spring reverb . Fender began manufacturing the tremolo amps Tremolux in 1955 and Vibrolux in 1956. Distortion was not an effect originally intended by amplifier manufacturers, but could often easily be achieved by overdriving

#210789