History Main / RadioVoice

* ''Film/{{THX 1138}}''.

This may be simply to serve the RuleOfPerception, because otherwise we might get confused as to who's where. It also has a good technical reason: transmitting only 3 kHz worth of audio is far easier than transmitting 20 kHz regardless of what transmission medium or method is being used, and it's OK to do this when the only thing that matters is the speech itself and not so much the audio quality. This may also be explainable in-Verse as a user interface feature; the fictional designers of the fictional system may have felt it was useful to be able to distinguish radio voices from the voices of people present in the room.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' may be an instance in which [[JustifiedTrope this trope is justified]]; except for having artificial gravity and the jump drive (which is, admittedly, a ''big'' "except"), their tech isn't any more advanced than real life.
** The old BSG (iirc) and ''Franchise/StarWars''' Rebel Alliance fighters (definitely) had the same effect for their military radio comms. It's a close simulation of the actual sound of single sideband radio, as still used by ham operators today, and military voice comms a few decades ago. Besides the "telephone filter" there is a slight, and changing, pitch shift. Note too that the new BSG calls it "wireless," not "radio," and that their "civilian" radio does not have the SSB effect. Speaking of new BSG tech, while they have computers (with image enhancement software) they don't seem to have television. Hm, maybe the latter explains how they had time to invent jump drives and artificial gravity!
*** Hmm. It seems that in Series/{{Caprica}}'s time, when they invented the Cylons, they ''did'' have television. "'Curiouser and curiouser,' said Alice."
*** Television was present on the twelve colonies (Baltar did an interview just before the original attack). Its likely that after the attack and while on the run, there were just no adequate facilities for a TV production and/or there weren't a lot of [=TVs=] that were brought along anyway.
*** They did have televisions in the fleet. An entire episode is devoted to the making of a documentary about the Galactica's pilots. We just don't ever see people sitting around watching television, justified in that all of the characters in that show were routinely pretty busy.
* Used in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", when Charlotte watches what's going on on the TV. Particularly notable because [[SorryILeftTheBGMOn the background music]] is similarly treated, suggesting her observation of the library comes with its own chase-scene music.
** This may be justified since [[spoiler: she is the main computer in the library and she is subconsciously controlling everything]] and since it's a chase seen on the TV it should have chase music.

* Used in the ''StarWars'' movies, in particular the first movie with the attack on the Death Star, where the distortion was filtered through what sounded like a single sideband transmitter. The StarWarsExpandedUniverse suggested that this was at least somewhat deliberate on the part of the Rebellion, as it naturally disguised their voices (and being rebels, they would prefer to keep their identities unknown or at least plausibly deniable) and they'd rather use their limited bandwidth for things like better encryption, frequency hopping, etc than high fidelity. Though they say very little, the Imperial pilots' voices are significantly less distorted.

* Played straight in TheKingsSpeech, TruthInTelevision for its day.

* Several of Music/DoctorSteel's songs have epigraphs, some sampled from old Public Service Announcements such as "Duck and Cover", others deliberately done as a parody of such announcements.

* Parodied in ''Film/HighAnxiety'', when Mel Brooks asks his secretary to repeat her intercom message without holding her nose. She replies in a perfectly normal voice.
** Mel Books also parodied this trope in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''; specifically, the "jammed radar" scene featuring Creator/MichaelWinslow as the Spaceball manning the radar station. Dark Helmet also talks this way whenever his visor is down.

'''Technician''': [[AC: Can I talk to you for a minute, sir?]]\\

* Musical example; on Pink Floyd's ''Music/WishYouWereHere'' album, the end of the song "Have A Cigar" is distorted to sound as though it's playing on the radio. This leads into a sequence where the radio is tuned through several channels rapidly before settling on the opening riff of the title track. Eventually, a second guitar joins in undistorted, symbolising the listener (ex-frontman Music/SydBarrett) playing his own guitar along with the radio.

* In the song "Patterns" by Simon and Garfunkel. After "The pattern never alters, until..", "The rat dies" is heard in Radio Voice.
* Several of DoctorSteel's songs have epigraphs, some sampled from old Public Service Announcements such as "Duck and Cover", others deliberately done as a parody of such announcements.

->'''[[Creator/MichaelWinslow Radar Technician]]''': ''(screen goes to hash)'' [[AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit!]] ''(talks into the communicator in a high staticky voice)'' [[AC:Sir?]]\\

->'''[[Creator/MichaelWinslow Radar Technician]]''': ''(screen goes to hash)'' Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit! ''(talks into the communicator in a high staticky voice)'' [[AC:Sir?]]\\

* ''Videogame/MarvelHeroes'' uses this with IronMan, DoctorDoom, and [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} Ghost]].

* Virtually all communication in ''RedVsBlue'' is conducted over radio, even when the characters speaking are standing in front of each other. Rooster Teeth tried to remove the effect at one point, but [[TheCoconutEffect fans expected it there]], so they put it back in.

* Particularly bad in the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' featured movie ''Film/MonsterAGoGo'', prompting Crow to riff "take the kazoo out of your mouth!" and "They're talking to Charlie Brown's mom!".

* The in-head cyber-telepathy used in all ''GhostInTheShell'' media (except manga, obviously) recycles a distinctive filter set from TheMovie. It's basically just a spatializer, designed to make the sound seem far away, in a way different from a standard reverb or echo.
* Used in ''{{Pretear}}'' for all of the scenes that allow us to listen to [[ShowWithinAShow Sasame's "Words Gate" radio show]]. Particularly notable is when Mawata is listening to a recording of his show, only for her player to run out of batteries as Sasame's voice comes in loud and clear to repeat what he said on the show--in person.

* Used subtly in the ''ModernWarfare'' games. Your team mates voices pick up the RadioVoice effect if they happen to be farther than a short distance from you when they are talking.

* Used in the ''StarWars'' movies, in particular the first movie with the attack on the Death Star, where the distortion was [[strike: heavy]] filtered through what sounded like a single sideband transmitter. The StarWarsExpandedUniverse noted that this was deliberate on the part of the Rebellion, as it helped disguise who was talking (being rebels, it was rather useful for their identities to remain unknown to the Empire). And while they say very little, the Imperial pilots' voices are significantly less distorted.

*** The Rebellion's reasons extended past just disguising the voice into security concerns, putting more effort into encryption than fidelity (and one would assume that keeping transmissions short would help keep enemy sensors from getting too accurate a fix).

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'' may be an instance in which [[JustifiedTrope this trope is justified]]; except for having artificial gravity and the jump drive (which is, admittedly, a ''big'' "except"), their tech isn't any more advanced than real life.

* The ''{{Halo}}'' series. When Cortana is in her [[VirtualGhost holographic form]] or in your helmet and talking to you, her voice is perfectly natural, but when she's speaking to someone else through your radio, her voice distorts--even though you're hearing her through the ''same set of speakers''.

* Most characters in ''TheOldRepublic'' who wear full helmets have more or less modulated voices to go with their headgear, including players and their companions.
* ''MarvelHeroes'' uses this with IronMan, DoctorDoom, and [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} Ghost]].

* Helmeted {{Space Marine}}s in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar'' series have a distinct metallic ring in their voices. Talk into a metal mixing bowl for the best Astartes impression.

'''Examples:'''