5 Essential Songs Using the Vocoder
We explore five landmark songs that feature the vocoder, and how you can achieve similar results using VocalSynth. Follow along with audio examples.
The vocoder has a strange history. Today we associate it with robotic vocals in music, but it was originally designed as a speech coding tool by Bell Labs in the 1920s to reduce the bandwidth and improve the travel distance of voice messages.
A vocoder works by splitting an incoming audio signal (a human voice) into multiple frequency bands, then creating a signature of this signal based on it’s frequency and amplitude content. The speech is electronically recreated by modulating a carrier signal (white noise or a synth tone) with a filter based on the incoming voice’s tonal characteristics.
The voice encryption possibilities offered by the vocoder were used to conceal messages sent by the US military to their soldiers and allies during World War II.
Decades later, Robert Moog and Wendy Carlos built a vocoder coupled with a Moog synthesizer that introduced a new voice into music. Carlos’ soundtrack for “A Clockwork Orange” in 1971 is one the earliest known uses of the vocoder in a musical setting. Within a few years of this soundtrack, pop and electronic groups (who we’ll discuss below) made the vocoder a central part of their act, representing the beginning of a mainstream embrace of electronically made music.
In this article, we’ll take a look at five landmark songs using the vocoder, how they came about, and how you can use
VocalSynth 2