The Vocoder and the Drumkit

I was so excited to do this post that I started laying it out a couple of weeks before.  I have used vocoders in some different ways in the past, but folks don't always know what exactly they are hearing.  So, for this post, I have sound clips!  We went over vocoder basics in the first post (here), so if you are unfamiliar with modulators and carriers, I suggest reading that first.  As always, definitions are included at the end for anything not covered here.

For this post, I'm going to walk you through a few applications of a drum kit used as a modulator.  I'm including several different carriers, all being used as a bass line, since I want to show multiple possibilities with this technique.

While I highly suggest reading up on vocoders, I want to remind everyone that the modulator is what most people associate with the vocal.  The carrier is the synth sound.  In this particular application, I'm using my drums as the modulator and a simple bass line as a carrier.  In this way, I get a very cool effect on the bass line.

This is the drum loop on the Addictive Drums 2 drum kit Linndie.  A moderately tight (but not too tight) techno drum kit is used in this particular case.


This is carrier one, which I have named "Bell Rhodes"  This is a preset I have designed in the AAS Lounge Lizard, which is meant to stand in as a low, full, thumping lead (using as bass instead here)...

So when this Bell Rhodes is used as a carrier and the drum kit as shown previously is the modulator, you get this...

Now here comes a much buzzier sounding bass that I designed called "Broken Toy" (named more for how it sounds as a lead)...  (straight no vocoder here)

Here's the drum kit as the modulator and my "Broken Toy" as the carrier...



Now finally, here what happens when I pull this vocoded "Broken Toy" into a mix (with synth and extra drums) that I'm affectionately calling "Glacier Dive"...



As with any post with several sound clips, I'm keeping my reading material to a minimum.  I want you to soak in the sounds.  In later posts, I'll further address some different applications of vocoders, such as bolstering a main vocal line, adding background vocals, and coloring held notes.  If there are any questions or even suggestions anyone has relating to this topic, please send them to me by way of the comments and I'll address those as well.  Other later posts will discuss different plugins, effects, tips, tricks, etc for electronic and other music recordings.  Please send me your suggestions for posts in the comments, via my website, or to my twitter account sarahschonert@sarahschonert.

Visit www.sarahschonertmusic.com to learn more about my music.

Suggested resource for further learning:  http://www.innovativesynthesis.com/introduction-to-vocoders/
AAS Lounge Lizard:  https://www.applied-acoustics.com/lounge-lizard-ep-4/