Autotune vs. Talkbox, T-Pain vs. Snoop Dogg.
Ok, so I’ve had about enough of people out there talking about how Snoop Dogg is trying to be like T-Pain with the vocal sound in his new single, Sensual Seduction [Sexual Eruption]. Yeah right, like Snoop needs to be anybody but himself! There are so many people out there that think that what Snoop and T-Pain are doing with their voices is the exact same thing, so I felt compelled to write an entry to clear up any confusion.
Both the talkbox and autotuner perform a similar function in that they cause the voice to be heard in steps—single notes without any transition in between. The tones jump directly from one to the next like steps instead of a gradual progression like a person’s normal singing voice. The way this function is accomplished is what is important—all you have to do to use an autotuner is sing into it and the computer determines what note you’re trying to hit. There’s no skill involved. This is what T-Pain is using. He uses an audioprocessor called Auto-Tune.
The talkbox, on the other hand, requires some skill to use (not to mention it sounds way better). You have to use it through an instrument, generally a keyboard, although players like Peter Frampton (and his device called the Framptone) use theirs through the guitar. Basically, you whisper into a tube (you are not singing) and you have to PLAY the notes that you want your voice to make on the keyboard/guitar. It requires some skill. This is what you see Snoop doing in the video for Sensual Seduction—that’s what the tube is and that’s why he’s holding a keyboard.
This is not new! The talkbox has existed since the 60’s and was pioneered by Roger Troutman—he was the master at the talkbox (was unfortunately murdered by his own brother over a business dispute). Look up Roger and Zapp and pick up some of their albums—you will quickly discover that many of the rap artists of today are sampling their songs like crazy. They’re truly awesome and I only just discovered them about a month ago—you’ve never heard “California Love” sound so incredible until you’ve heard them do it. Here’s a good live version of “More Bounce to the Ounce” on Youtube. Stevie Wonder is also known to use the talkbox. I totally want one now.
Check out this awesome live video from 1989 of Roger and Zapp. He’s playing guitar for the first few minutes and then he switches to the talkbox.
Nah man, I’m pretty sure that Snoop SAID he used a talkbox but he actually used auto-tune…. If you go compare talkbox vs. autotune in other videos you’ll see that snoop’s sounds like auto-tune
Auto Tune:
Cher – Do you believe
T-Pain – any song
Snoop Dogg – Sensual Seduction
Talk Box:
2pac – california love
roger troutman – so ruff so tuff
also search “peter frampton talk box” on youtube.
if you actually _listen_ to it snoop is using auto tune not a talkbox like he claims… He just said that to prevent people from saying he’s biting T-Pain. Apparently he justifies it by saying that because a talkbox is popular in 80s funk it’s different from what T-Pain is doing… but he actually uses auto-tune.
Very true reply. The effect used by Snoop was Auto-Tune a keyboard based one if you do enough research u’ll come to find some do need to be used with a keyboard. I mean i’m not denying that talkbox does sound better for the simple fact that it’s an art in itself as a talkboxer myself but i’ve also done some work with Auto-Tune. Now They both require skill cause if you can hold a single not for more than 1 second Auto-Tune is gonna sound crappy, but yea Snoop is using Auto-Tune.
Auto-Tune
Twista-Don’t Get It Twisted
Brown Boy-Superman
Snoop-Sensual Seduction
Talkbox
Roger Troutman-I Wanna Be Your Man
DJ Quik-Safe and Sound
Lil Cuete-Real Love
You should really listen to the difference as a matter of fact i have Songs and some have Auto-Tune some Talkbox u can take a listen to them and let me know if you hear a difference
http://www.myspace.com/krazyconflict
I thnk T-Pain can rule over anybody!
Very true. Snoop Dog is using auto tune. The difference is you can still hear the voice of the person singing when using auto tune. Vocoding is the one someone else was thinking of which requires a keyboard. It sounds very similar to talkboxing except there is a settle sound difference that I can’t really put into words between vocoding and talkboxing. Autotune does not require a keyboard.
The settle difference you hear in talkbox and vocoding is more of a natural sound with the talkbox seeing how you can shape the sound in many ways with your mouth versus on vocoding you will have to do it with messing with the effects of the sound being used for the voice sound.
Ya SNOOPY used 2 b T.PAIN
U need skill for AUTOTUNE!!
NAW!