Manipulated Voices

In the song Die Stimme der Energie, Kraftwerk use vocoders so that who sings isn't a human being but technology itself. Front 242 did a similar thing in their track Red Team, where the impossibly low-pitched voice might be the voice of the Cold War, or the state, or something similar.

Right now I have an idea for a "pop" track with vocals about the virtues of Haussmannian planning. And I wonder what kinds of techniques would let one have a human voice sound not like some guy singing about what he likes, but as the voice of an individual instance of a collective ideal. I wonder if some manipulation is actually needed... maybe a cold, loud delivery should be enough, but I don't know. I'd like to make it sound both human and inhuman at the same time, a bit like the voice of Jacobin ruthlessness. There are examples of untreated, "inhuman" vocals in early British synthpop and in Dopplereffektian electro, but they sound alienated and paranoid, and sometimes menacing, rather than positive.

So, do you have any examples of manipulated vocals or of inhuman delivery you particularly like? Also, feel free to disregard my question and just post about vocoders and stuff.

I've always had a soft spot for vocals ran through rotary speakers. This is he only example I could think of at the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O63COyZlTyU

The Books' line "I feel a collective rumbling in America" always gives me chills.

[YouTube]kZ9W_JZp4EE[/YouTube]

  On 8/2/2014 at 2:46 PM, Gocab said:

I've always had a soft spot for vocals ran through rotary speakers. This is he only example I could think of at the moment.

You'd probably like this track.

(wish i had something to add pobs... i am a huge sucker for all sorts of manipulated vocals though.)

http://youtu.be/y0LF6WA9rxI

http://youtu.be/SigwULfpW-I?t=3m42s

@ 3:42 is this just good use of pitch shifting or what

This right here

from the movie Scanners (where it's already manipulated).

Not too manipulated as such, but 3:55 onwards creeps me out like nothing else

Pretty standard vocoding but I really dig this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzstD9U6lvU

whoops, fucked up the youtubes (books - be good to them always)

also stockhausen duh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XfeWp2y1Lk

ethnopoetics are a great source for all kind of vocal manipulations..check out those throats..like autechre unplugged

http://ubu.com/ethno/soundings/inuit.html

Can't beat the EMS 2000: https://soundcloud.com/splitradix/spookyspansnippet

it's a cool thread in the end isn't it! lots of great examples. stockhausen is fucking awesome, hadn't listened to that one since i was like 17...

i think maybe a good way would be to make the voice sound like a sample of someone speaking, not as a direct sung presence. i think this is what film samples on industrial records do sometimes, and probably why kraftwerk speak rhythmically rather than sing. i'll share any findings if i don't give up and sell my synths and drop out and go back to my parents'.

  On 8/4/2014 at 5:46 AM, jmbf44 said:

Pretty standard vocoding but I really dig this track:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzstD9U6lvU

This is mostly vocals:

https://soundcloud.com/william-s-braintree/bodily-functions