Do you remeber the robot voice of Darth Vader.
Or some of these songs:
...Daft punk "Around the world"
...Kayne West " Love lockdown"
...Cher " Believe"
...Kraftwerk ( many songs )
...Stevie Wonder"I just called you to say I love you"
...Beastie boys " Intergalactic"
...Snoop Dogg,Britney Spears,Lil Wayne,Rihanna
The list is really endless.
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Lots of people heard strange human voices in various songs.
How this is done?
All those voices are made with electronic vocal modulations effects.There are few types of electronic equipment for this kind of effects.Over the years,the vocal modulation possibilities become bigger and better,and many musicians tried how it works and even record their songs in different versions.
Vocoder is one of the most used vocal modulation effect.In the late 70 ies ,it was a big electronic device and it was very expensive.Very few musicians bought the vocoder in those days.It was still in experimental stage of development.The signal to noise ratio was high,and there was no commercial use.It was used only in some science fiction films,and thats how we all heard it for the first time.
This device is capable to transform human voice by adding synthesized harmonics to it,which result in strange robotic sound.The level of vocal modulation can be adjusted with parameters called channels.All you need to do is to plug microphone and synthesizer into vocoder and start play accords and sing.As the technolgy become better,those robust vocoder unit were fit into smaller devices.The price become cheaper and major music eqipment brands like Roland and Korg released the first vocoders for wide audience.
The musicians were overjoyed with transformation of their vocals.Many of them experimented not only with vocal transformation.They used a various sound sources to transform it into different sounds.As a years passed,the vocoder sound was very popular at market.The manufacturers now fit vocoders directly into synthesizers,and even put a small microphone on the front panel of synthesizers.
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Auto tune is another type of vocal modulation effect.As the name implies,this devices change the tune of vocal.It was originally produced to correct the slightly detuned vocal parts and set it into correct pitch.But musicians turn these correction option into modulation effect.They set the vocal tuning very high and transform their vocals.The sound become very high like mix of robot and childs voice with synthetic touch.Also this device allows many others tuning options.
This device was originally producer by Antares in rack mounted case,but most of these effects nowdays are plug in software versions.Many musicians and sound experts criticized popularity of this effect.
Is there are anyone here on the stage to sing at right pitch,or everyone needs a correction?
With this effect, it is easy to mask your bad vocal.In the last ten years ,auto tune vocal modulation effect is explored to maximum.I just wonder what is the next vocal modulation effect to hit the music industry.It has been a while,and nothing new has occured.The technology is moving away,but it stopped in this area.Musicians are waiting for a new vocal effect that will turn the music upside down.
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Harmonizer is a device which allows you to make backvocals effect,or thicken your sound.In other words,it add harmony to your vocal to make it bigger and wider.Sing a one note,and three or four notes come out.It is like you have three or four back vocals while you sing.Now you have a chance to sound like your favorite band.Harmonizer are used for broadcating,you can hear it on radio every day .Harmonizers are not used only for vocals,but also for guitars or drums.Processing signal is carried with various subharmonics and this devices can make a lot of fun.
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Nowdays, all these vocal effects unit are available as plug ins for computer.
Download plug ins,connect the microphone to your computer,call your childen and friends and robot party is guaranteed.
start the art exclusive for steemit
@ MUSIC FUTUROLOGY
