Incredible Sonovox - Kay Kyser - 1940 film "You'll Find Out"

Amazing device that gives voice to musical instruments. The Sonovox consists of one or two louspeakers placed on the throat that play the source sound. The performer whispers the words while the speakers stand in for the voice box. Used for the talking train in Disney's Dumbo, uncountable radio promos, a tube-in-the-mouth version "Talk Box" was used by Frampton to make his guitar sing, and all-electronic "Vocoder" versions are still used in current pop music.

[@FrozonePvP]

Can you imagine hearing this shit in 1940? So ahead of it's time it's honestly ridiculous.

[@rgglick]

This would've mystified 1940 audiences.

[@MrSammyD91]

Jeez, the Sonovox was both a weird piece of machinery.....and yet at the same time it was definitely a work of art for voice acting if I ever saw it. Not only that, but this thing was used almost everywhere. It not only gave an orchestra of instruments a voice, but it also did this with a piano in Sparky's Magic Piano, an airplane with Whizzer the Talking Plane, and more famously, the engine that pulled the WDP Circus, Casey Junior from the Disney classic, Dumbo.

[@Thefunnicaseyjr]

"All aboard! Let’s go!"

[@user-rp8qp1yi3s]

(Attempts and succeeds at pulling 12 train cars)

[@zadigthejasp]

The Daftpunk of the 40s !

[@zadigthejasp]

Aubaid Jafari ptdr

[@ewkalt4770]

ayy

[@IO_Stesso]

:(

[@staspastukh2005]

Why?

[@zdralozord25]

True xD

[@DimensionsofChange]

I watch this at least once a week.

[@DirkIronside]

A vocoder without transistors. This is as electro swing as heck.

[@ladyrachel13]

She has a beautiful voice.

[@movementent]

It actually sounds like a women's chorus, except there's only one person singing. It's really amazing what you can make yourself sound like with the Sonovox! I wish I had one!

[@nathanjoerndt8804]

i wish i had one too!

[@tamaram55]

I didn't know they could do things like that back in the 40's!! They were making music history! The electronic manipulation of voice is used everywhere now. It had to start somewhere! ;)

[@td3993]

Vocoder was a completely elevtronic speech synthesizer invented by AT&T in the 1930s. Technology was far more advanced back then than you'd imagine.

[@NostalgiCrazy]

I KNOW it's blowing my mind because I thought it had to be at least the 70s when these kinda instruments were made. It sounds totally odd hearing it with Big Band/Swing style music!

[@vittoriostoraro]

Yes except this was technology combined with actual musical talent.

[@coolelectronics1759]

but this made use of a combination of acoustics, amps and transducers mainly correct?

[@hestheMaster]

The grandfather machine of the talk box used in Rock and Roll.

[@vap-chan]

One of my favorite moments in a 40s musical. I particularly like the dog's giant "hero" medal.

[@LorenIpsum75]

PAMS regularly used the Sonovox in their jingles they created for local radio stations. C&C Television bought the syndication rights to the RKO film library. The C&C Movietime logo replaced the original RKO Tower/Radio Pictures logos.

[@Dilzik]

She has such a beautiful voice. You don't see that often nowadays.

[@brustdiesel]

Jo Stafford is the best, but Ginny is close

[@jackoshaw]

Remember seeing this movie when I was young. It was a movie the antenna channels would show on New Years eve, back when TV was TV!

[@Dellcarmody]

Genius knows how to introduce us to music we missed

[@groovechaser]

Roger Zapp was watching this film, I bet. I want one of these, I mean one from the 30's. I bet the sound on it was earth shattering in the studio, I can only imagine how one of these would sound on a big system.

[@rommix0]

> Roger Zapp lol. Roger Troutman is his actual name while Zapp is the band and also the first name of one of his brothers.

[@hootinouts]

Excellent movie. I used to have a copy of it and watched is several times. The Sonovox it a classic device. Ish Kabibble is a riot and Ginny is a real fox.

[@mrmaxell222]

This is pretty cool! I always found old videos like this to be very interesting.

[@garyfrancis6193]

Except they’re films not videos.

[@josefwallberg1631]

I really love old old music! Cool that talkbox was even used so long ago

[@Musicradio77Network]

This predates the Vocaloid voice synthesizer. This sounded like a robot.

[@tartertime89]

MTN Productions I've never used vocoloid but that uses sample sets of phonics I think.

[@vittoriostoraro]

Yes, except these people actually had musical talent.

[@exoticcar5482]

It may have sounded robotic but believe it or not with the exception of the speakers on the throat the effect itself is all acoustic.

[@NcalBiker]

@MisterScott99 Thank you very much. Mom and I watched it again, and she remembered her name later. Pretty good memory for 80! Ginny's video with the Freddy Martin Band is another good one. Thanks again.

[@callmealx]

They look like they're having so much fun, this is absolutely wonderful :D

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

So the sonovox is basically artificial vocal chords were they are a mechanism that vibrates your throat like your vocal chords and your mouth bends the tones to fit to speech

[@exoticcar5482]

Exactly.

[@danielarick2105]

This device is I think the same was used by people suffering throat cancer

[@nathanjoerndt8804]

@@danielarick2105 Daniel the device that you are thinking of is called an electro or artificial larynx the person puts the unit up to their neck to speak with while pressing a button and the button makes a robotic humming sound and the person uses that robotic humming sound to speak with

[@exoticcar5482]

@@nathanjoerndt8804 The Sonovox is basically a version of that but with loudspeakers instead off just a single hum. That way they can play the sounds of the instruments in this case through the speakers held over the larynx and in the same way as using the Electrolarynx Harry can make the instruments in the band sound like they're singing

[@Oestba]

Thank you for putting the Sonovox vido on youtube. I love the Sonovox. I would love to use one. I remember seeing is movie for the first time about 20 yrs ago. Great Movie!!!!

[@louisb5563]

Crazy man...if this technology was available back then who's to say there were not other things around but have been undisclosed and/or kept hidden or maybe just forgotten about and shelved for some other time?

[@andyhowlett2231]

I made my own version of this using an old headphone element. By holding it against my cheek I could get exactly this effect. I'd heard it on the pirate radio jingles of the 60's and always liked it.

[@Glinkaism1]

Ok. Thanks for posting this. I've never seen this demonstrated till now. I recall the device was used in the Bromo Selzer commercials on radio. :)

[@RonaldVaughan]

One of my 3 favorite KARLOFF movies (this was a unique murder-comedy-musical!), The others were Frankenstein;and The Devil Commands.

[@racookster]

Creepy in a REALLY GOOD way, yeah. It makes me feel all warm and giggly inside. I love these dead people.

[@manofmanyinterests]

Great movie and songs. Kay and his group are great!!

[@Wyrehedd242]

fabulous!!! i wish i had this on a CD!!! what amazing music!!! i love vocoders!!!

[@Shipwright1918]

Pretty amazing for the time, considering vacuum tubes and relays were the state-of-the-art when it came to electronics then. Technically speaking, the sonovox is still with us in the form of the vocoder, although I haven't seen anybody do a live performance like this with one, although I'm sure you could do it if so desired. Usually, say for a movie these days, the dialog is recorded normally, then put through the vocoder to be tied to a sound/tone and given further tweaking to achieve the final effect. (Much of the robots' dialog in WALL-E was done using a vocoder) The nice thing about the sonovox was that you could have the effect whenever you needed it, convenient for recording sound for animated films like Dumbo, for at the time all the sound effects and music for those sorts of features were recorded live on soundstages in time to the film. Recording equipment at the time was cumbersome, power hungry, and didn't travel well, so if you wanted, let's say the sounds of a steam train, for your cartoon, you had to make all the sounds yourself, often using magnificent and wonderful contraptions to duplicate the real thing, and the sonovox was handy because it could be performed on-demand.

[@Saxy64]

+Shipwright1918 Didn't Peter Frampton have a song in the 1970's that used the Sonovox? I can't recall the name.

[@exoticcar5482]

That was a talk box actually

[@keesgelder8133]

It's called:"Show me the way".

[@Holobrine]

Actually he's just holding speakers up to his throat. No computers here!

[@exoticcar5482]

Holobrine Yup. The only thing the speakers do is act as a larynx as they play back the sounds of the instruments and as Harry silently mimes the lyrics the sound waves traveling up the throat are formed into words just like regular speech. The only difference is that the sounds being formed into the speech are the tones of the instruments as opposed to Harry's own voice

[@midorimations8156]

Rare production of Tomodachi Life, (non-colorized, 1940)

[@lordecsunta2738]

This is absolutely beautiful, I didn't know that It came from the sonovox before

[@schmoyoho]

YTTM SENT ME HERE.

[@metaphysichien]

schmoyoho wtf schmoyoho 7 years later

[@user-rp8qp1yi3s]

I was sent here by Casey Jr

[@scootron2000]

THANK YOU for downloading this video. It is one of the coolest Kay Kyser videos. I would posted this myself but DSL is STILL not available in my area!!

[@PictureHouseCinema]

What a cool sound!

[@callmealx]

Ginny Simms is a beautiful singer!

[@IBetYouWill]

No idea it existed this far back-awesome stuff. :-)

[@mootbooxle]

Good grief! Amazing! Wow! I'm completely blown away! Coolest use of Sonovox ever!! And yes, the Sonovox is ultra creepy. I'm a talkboxer, and I don't find it creepy, but for some reason the Sonovox creeps me out a little. But I STILL want one. For good examples of 'creepy' Sonovox - check out "Sparky's Magic Piano" and Bruce Haack's 1970 album The Electric Lucifer - especially the first track.

[@exoticcar5482]

That album actually uses a prototype Moog vocoder, not a sonovox

[@Dez_The_Fox]

Kraftwerk used one on "Die Roboter" on the 1981 tour.

[@daizer7377]

Merci , Seb

[@kweetiz_2756]

Daïzer 😂

[@panpaii7996]

Wow, quelle coïncidence j'ai vue plus d'une vingtaine de commentaire comme le tien parlant de seb, Génial. Les commentaire Yt sont vraiment originaux...

[@daizer7377]

Panpaii Waw j'ai vraiment fait exprès copier les autres, Ah mais c'est vrai chaque commentaire est unique.1 Quand je suis arrivé sur la vidéo j'étais le seul. 2 Je vois pas en quoi un commentaire mis 20 fois est dérangeant passe à côté c'est tout.

[@youkokololo1564]

Seb

[@SamReyRamSey]

Dude could you imagine hearing that shit back in 1940?? Disturbingly ahead of its time. Imagine seeing this, and then going to tell someone that you saw this guy singing but he wasn't actually singing, he was just forming the worlds and instruments played the melody. Nobody would believe you!! They'd just think you're crazy, since there'd be no cell phones to record with, no KZbin to pull the video up for them to see. Pretty nuts when you think about it.

[@KRhetor]

The Sonovox was also used to create the voice of the slot machine in the classic Twilight Zone episode "The Fever."

[@hestheMaster]

Franklin ! Franklin!

[@AlexPractical]

Fascinating!

[@sharonsalazar8137]

this video if gold

[@attizzoso]

now I want a sonovox transplant in my throat

[@Musicradio77Network]

+Attizzoso Dissaldato This was way before Autotune came into existence.

[@Holobrine]

He's holding speakers up to his throat. If you implanted speakers into your throat (far too risky if you ask me) you could theoretically have a permanent sonovox.

[@an0malyops59]

You'd need instruments to make the tones

[@blind_t2]

any of you guys remember listening to such sonovox cuts on radio? fun! had it on WABC and others!

[@melek1412]

I love the sound of the sonovox. autotune just sounds so...electronic..used in the way that it is. but this has a nice sound to it you won't hear anywhere else and cannot be immitated. I love old things anyway so.. :)

[@rnbsteenstar]

The results are pretty trippy sounding for a vintage device! And now we have the talk box that can do the very same thing except now your hands are freed up so you can play an instrument because there's a tube in your mouth rather than having to hold those special speakers next to your throat all the time or strap them there.

[@MeatLazer]

I know this is the same basic technology as the talkbox but I find this much more pleasant to listen to. I'm looking everywhere to find a real old Sonovox or plans on how to make one. They sound cool.

[@ellaxwhite]

So rad.

[@hippiechik95]

That is really creepy. And fascinating.

[@avzarathustra6164]

Legendary.

[@LucidLetters]

That's incredible. *shares*

[@ihalloway]

1:49 such a funny moment in her expression :D

[@fgldnglbs]

A couple years back, I mentioned this film when requesting Frampton's song over Debbi Calton's noontime request show on WMGK. I'm not sure how I'd find out if there was a bump in orders for "You'll Find Out" on Netflix.

[@LuvStruckMess]

Mind=blown!

[@SteveCarras]

Kay Kyser's biggest rival apparently was Sammy Kaye, both of whom used the "sung title lyrics (or random lyrics", like "The goldne years, I spend with you" in things like "Sept. Song", which would be heard in a number of major mid-1970s disco songs), and then announcing the singer du jour..yet Kaye was definitely a straight sounding "sweet msuic" big band specalizier, with much less funny stuff, though Kaye's big hits included the surprisingly medium up tempo "Daddy".

[@ALXXMaXX]

@mootbooxle I just realized that that was, in fact, a sonovox that Bruce used. He claimed that "Farad" (as he called it) was "programmed by touch and by proximity relays", but whatever the case may be it definitely has the same core to it as the sonovox. I don't think Bruce is a fraud because of this, by the way. It was a low-tech means of modulating sounds with speech, sure, but it sounded AMAZING! I want to make one now. :P

[@CarlosAnimax]

Woah. ❤️

[@kweetiz_2756]

SEB LA FRITE

[@youkokololo1564]

Yes

[@wiiiwiiiwiiiwiiiw6766]

KweetiZ_ yes

[@maestroredal]

From the Sonovox of Wright, they developed the Aurex Neovox artificial Larynx....

[@benoitm1585]

Merci Seb La Frite !

[@youkokololo1564]

Yep

[@Yotonin]

Bah de rien écoutez c'est un plaisir

[@pratherat]

I thought Peter Frampton was using something like this, but he was using a tube in his mouth, A "Talk Box" which is far less elegant imho.

[@stevenrowin]

Dope!

[@Pulsar77]

Gotye has just added videos like this to his playlist. I wonder what his next song will sound like :-)

[@Npeo]

They used this in Sparky's Magic Piano. Amazing

[@ALXXMaXX]

@mootbooxle You'd think that you could just go to any old radio shack and get a pair of speakers to put up to your throat but nooooo. You need special flat disks or something, because the source in question has to actually vibrate against your throat. You'd need to hack an electrolarynx or something. Closet I've ever gotten to this sound was putting an electric toothbrush up against my neck, which, as you could imagine, was rather unmelodic. :P

[@bergenehrlich8309]

The predecessor for daft punks talk box

[@omeromagana3942]

So this was out before electro spit...intresting foundation of all current music right here

[@badawy9886]

Stylé

[@AntFactoryMusic]

I know, I wasn't talking about the vocoder =P, I mean the sonovox is more related to the talk box rather than the vocoder because of what you said, they both make use of the mouth to modulate a sound coming out of a speaker

[@Anonymos25]

Sonovox - Just like a talkbox but with acoustic instruments instead of an electric one(and 2 loud speakers going on the throat instead of a tube going in the mouth).

[@midguardz]

This was probably used in 'letter to 3 wifes' in the intervals the flute in the sky 'why are you wearing the blue suit' the dripping tap 'maybe you dont have everything after all' The train tracks 'is it brad'

[@Glinkaism1]

That was really good! Could you post the whole movie? Thanks for sharing.

[@jonnyflash]

YAY!!!

[@ALXXMaXX]

@mootbooxle Wait a minute, I think I've found a lead. There are certain electronic components one can buy for about $5 which are called "surface transducers", which have the ability of attaching to surfaces and "turning them into speakers". This sounds like the basic core of a sonovox to me. Also when I listen to this again, I think the sonovox guy's lipsyncing, and the voice you hear is of a female operator, which is not very surprising, because most users of the sonovox then were "girls".

[@amayas4946]

BORDEL TELLEMENT STYLÉ !

[@rondamon6641]

Since 0:42 Menn This sounds like today's reggaeton electro trap voices ! Amazing

[@RmonSP]

@n64wilbert come to think of it, sometimes the singing in this video ACTUALLY sounds like Auto-Tune lol

[@headstrument7657]

Make it wireless, stereo, and wearable- that'd be a cool product; especially these days. So, we did it. Help spread the word, taking preorders now, what an amazing device! Now Sound Talks™

[@rnbsteenstar]

Hey the sonovox man really does that thing he's got a good singing voice without that!!!

[@exoticcar5482]

Harry Babbitt had a wonderful voice. This is just him demonstrating the device. Most other times his performances were him actually singing. You can hear him in many of the Kay Kyser Orchestra's hit singles

[@Muswell]

Sparky the Magic Piano. And Radio London's Big Lil, of course.

[@Musicradio77Network]

+bootsamou They also used Sonovox for radio station jingles from PAMS.

[@mr.emaaejae6058]

Can any find the video where he performs: 🎶 "Alvino Rey, I'm your singing guitar"🎵?

[@Tonzura11]

The dog is like get me out of here

[@feline1973]

Brilliant! Only took Kraftwerk about 25 years to copy this :)

[@lhumaniteauraitbesoinduneb8172]

Seb la frite ganggggg 💪💪💪

[@irmacommentsalot7380]

This reminds me of: Daft Punk Tomochi Life Music Twenty øne piløts Mickey Mouse Black Eyed Peas

[@EnRiCo45100]

its an essential piece that will help create these group s

[@ricefarmer5246]

holy shit I wonder what they will make in 79 years...

[@CalvinCarter1989]

Electrospit is the same thing. Its being released this year. I just brlight a talk box too only to find out this is released later this year. Fuck

[@n64wilbert]

@chkjns Yellow Magic Orchestra is the most revolutionary band in the development of electronic music in my sentimental perception.

[@stephancadieu3317]

Qui est la grâce à la vidéo de Seb la frite ?? 😂😂

[@youkokololo1564]

Moi

[@svnkyz9692]

Moi ;-;

[@kevin-bl4fx]

Moi ;)

[@francoisblanchet588]

Wesh

[@Whisker93]

i was just wondering the same thing. hmmm... we shall see

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

They should redo all this but with a '70s-'80s-style vocoder (by EMS or Korg).

[@td3993]

Vocoders were invented in the 1930s by AT&T. They are not 'from the 70s and 80s.'

[@musicom67]

Interesting how the Film Distributor on the 'end page' was the C&C Television Corp. - Yet, TV really wasn't mainstream until 1947.... unless this was added on in later years.

[@td3993]

The film was pruced by RKO for theater. It was later bought up by C&C, and was played on television.

[@Smorfty]

Sonovox the News!

[@c0rv377]

I do. So I'm not hesitating to contact.

[@91Bear]

That's the lovely Ginny Simms from San Antonio, Texas singing "One Track Mind."

[@Staplegun]

This shiz is cool

[@michaelkolai4288]

0:22 Creepy…

[@NcalBiker]

Can anyone tell me who Jenny in this video is? Beautiful voice, and looks pretty good too!