If you've listened to pop music in the past 40 years, you've probably heard more than a few songs with a robotic sound. That's thanks to the vocoder, a device invented by Bell Labs, the research ...

The vocoder—code name Special Customer, the Green Hornet, Project X-61753, X-Ray, and SIGSALY—started distorting human speech in earnest during World War II, in response to the excellence of German ...

A few weeks ago, the music writer Dave Tompkins took a podium in one of NYU’s many windowless annexes to promote his upcoming book, How To Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II To Hip-Hop.

A scientific tool for those lacking a voice, a means for encrypting voices during WWII and a way to drop the funk, the vocoder has had many exhale its praises. Here are five essential vocoder tracks.

Stop Smiling Books/ Melville House; 335 pp. The room contains two turntables and a microphone. Hulking consoles line the walls, covered in dials and gauges and blinking lights, like the bridge of ...

Sweet, art pop from Matt Pond PA; The vocoder voice of Imogen Heap; Canada's power pop New Pornographers; Concert for Bangladesh: George Harrison; A 1971 psychedelic reissue from The Move; The ambient ...

Knowing where to use vocal processing could make or break your track. We take a look at where you might choose to add some electronic vocal colour When you purchase through links on our site, we may ...