
A vocoder works in the same way, by affecting the carrier signal according to the characteristics of the modulator signal. Next, the rest of your vocal tract shapes the vibrating air as it leaves your body you can think of this as a modulator. Your lungs produce air, vibrating your vocal cords this is a carrier signal of sorts. If the above description didn’t quite process for you, think about how the sound of your voice works for a simplified analogy. …Got all that? Carrier and modulator signals can admittedly be quite difficult to grasp on an abstract level. Finally, once the carrier signal is sent through the filters, the vocoder raises or lowers the level of each filter according to the harmonics of the modulator signal. The filters are tuned automatically to the center frequency of each band present in the modulator signal. This is achieved through the use of a “filter bank,” which analyzes the modulator signal, divides it into frequency bands, and applies a band-pass filter to each one. Vocoders require two audio sources to function: a carrier, which acts as the initial sound source, and a modulator, whose harmonic characteristics shape the sound of the carrier. By synthesizing human speech into a codec, Homer Dudley of Bell Labs enabled phone conversations to occur over longer distances by preserving precious bandwidth.

We’ll then apply this knowledge in the DAW to explore how we can use some common vocoder parameters to their fullest.Īs alluded to above, a vocoder is a type of speech coding technique (or the hardware that applies it) that was originally developed a century ago for telecommunication purposes.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what exactly a vocoder really is, and how it works on the audio processing level. For example, you’ve heard their lush textures on smash hits including Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey’s “The Middle” and Ginuwine’s “Pony.” But despite their intuitively appealing sound, it can be difficult to understand exactly how a vocoder modifies your audio. In modern popular music, vocoded sounds remain as popular as ever.

Although they were originally developed in the 1920s for communications purposes, the vocoder found a niche within electronic music as an instrument for creating “robotic” vocal sounds.
