Uploaded April 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Roger Troutman, musical genius from Hamilton, Ohio killed by his brother in a family feud. Those were the headlines in the fatal year of 1999. His incredibly versatile composing, producing and singing style and of course his ingenious use of the talk box, a voice modulation instrument originally designed for guitar players made him one of the most recognizable pop music artist of all time and one of my personal musical heroes.
Here is my tribute to the legendary bandleader and mastermind of Zapp with a step-by-step reproduction of his masterpiece "I Want To Be Your Man" from 1987. The vocoder I used to try to emulate the unique talk box sound is the TC Helicon VoiceLive 2 "Kanye Lockdown" preset with suppressed lead vocals.
Despite the heavy green screen post-production every clip is a one-take shot.
The electronic beats were recorded in the drum chamber of Musikhaus Taunus, Oberursel. My special thanks to Anton Fischer and Ralph Ehlers for letting me shoot the footage during their lunch break.
musikhaus-taunus.de
Feel free to rate and comment below.
NEO c/o NeoMusic
pianogesang.de
PS: The piano is a Wurlitzer with a smooth chorus and the background footage was recorded at Käfer'S Bistro, Wiesbaden
Roger Troutman, musical genius from Hamilton, Ohio killed by his brother in a family feud. Those were the headlines in the fatal year of 1999. His incredibly versatile composing, producing and singing style and of course his ingenious use of the talk box, a voice modulation instrument originally designed for guitar players made him one of the most recognizable pop music artist of all time and one of my personal musical heroes.
Here is my tribute to the legendary bandleader and mastermind of Zapp with a step-by-step reproduction of his masterpiece "I Want To Be Your Man" from 1987. The vocoder I used to try to emulate the unique talk box sound is the TC Helicon VoiceLive 2 "Kanye Lockdown" preset with suppressed lead vocals.
Despite the heavy green screen post-production every clip is a one-take shot.
The electronic beats were recorded in the drum chamber of Musikhaus Taunus, Oberursel. My special thanks to Anton Fischer and Ralph Ehlers for letting me shoot the footage during their lunch break.
musikhaus-taunus.de
Feel free to rate and comment below.
NEO c/o NeoMusic
pianogesang.de
PS: The piano is a Wurlitzer with a smooth chorus and the background footage was recorded at Käfer'S Bistro, Wiesbaden
