Nod to The Legend · The techniques · 1980s
Roger Troutman's Talk Box
Zapp
A talk box pipes the sound into the player's mouth through a tube, and the mouth shapes it into words. Troutman made it the voice of funk with Zapp, and sang the hook on 2Pac and Dr. Dre's "California Love" (1995).
Still heard: Talk box hooks still say West Coast in one bar.
Related legends
- The 1176 Limiter: FET limiter by Bill Putnam
- The Pultec EQP-1A: Passive tube EQ by Pulse Techniques
- The SSL 4000 Console: Solid State Logic, founded by Colin Sanders
- Bob Moog: Synthesizer pioneer
- Bruce Swedien: Engineer for Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson
- Dave Pensado: Mix engineer and teacher