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Topic: What effect is this? |
Daniel McKee
From:
Corinth Mississippi
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Posted 26 Jul 2018 5:13 pm |
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So first I am just assuming this is a steel guitar, it may not be. In this song By Ray Sanders around 48 seconds in the background something that sounds like a string section comes in, possibly with a slight distortion. I've heard this in a lot of recordings around the late 60's and early 70's. Can anyone tell me what they are doing to get this sound. I've wondered for a long time what it was.
https://youtu.be/BjAodrWyjAE
Something kinda similar can be heard in this song. Its not quite the same though. I'm fairly certain it is a steel guitar with some sort of effect here.
https://youtu.be/qLmp9oh_7iI |
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Mike Schwartzman
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2018 7:19 pm
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Daniel...It could be an instrument that was invented in the mid-60's called a "Mellotron". It was an keyboard/ organ that did orchestral sounds and other stuff in pre-digital keyboard days. If it was a PSG, I'd be interested to know about it too.
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2018 9:23 pm What effect is this
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I do not believe the first link is a steel Guitar, The second link sounds like a steel to me, I am not sure of the effect they used, The first thing that hit me was The Wreck of The Edmond Fitzgerald it sounds very similar to me.
There was a Leslie Unit back at the time that gave a steel an organ like sound. And a Boss Unit that would give a steel a violin like sound on 2 strings at a time. A steel player I knew had them back in late 60's early 70's |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2018 10:35 pm
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The first link sounds like a Mellotron to me. I have an Electro Harmonix Mel9 and it pretty much nails that sound.
The don't know what the second one is.
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Daniel McKee
From:
Corinth Mississippi
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Posted 26 Jul 2018 11:45 pm
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| Thanks guys, I had no idea but it intrigued me. This record, On the K-ARK label as well has some similar sounds going on starting about halfway through the song. https://youtu.be/lyueyQOsrUw |
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Danny Letz
From:
Old Glory,Texas, USA 79540
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Posted 27 Jul 2018 5:55 am
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| Could some of it be the string section thing that Bobby Seymour & others did with the Boss Tone & DD3? |
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Billy Carr
From:
Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)
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Posted 30 Jul 2018 2:34 pm Psg
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| Boss Tone? |
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Danny Letz
From:
Old Glory,Texas, USA 79540
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Posted 31 Jul 2018 4:23 am
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| Billy, hope I have that name right. It’s a fuzz tone that plugs into the jack on your guitar. Bobby Seymour had a video on YouTube showing how he & others used a Boss Tone & a Dd3 to simulate strings. I tryed it & it sounded like crap to me, musta not done it right. The Boss tone was fairly popular, I still see folks using them. |
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Daniel McKee
From:
Corinth Mississippi
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Posted 31 Jul 2018 5:12 pm
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| I recall seeing a video somewhere on youtube where Bobbe Seymour did a demo of something like that. I'll have to see if I can locate that for comparison to the sounds in the songs I posted. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 1 Aug 2018 7:53 am
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In the 70s when I used the Boss Tone for strings, we didn't use delays. Jeff Newman taught this technique using the Boss Tone, turning your treble way down (off), bass up, and reverb way up. With the picking technique he taught, you could get string and cello sounds. I'm not sure that delay PEDALS were available, or priced within reach of the average consumer, in the mid-70s.
The technique worked, but with all the adjustments needed, it was impractical to use onstage, unless you have your amp close enough to adjust without having to get up and walk back to your amp. Not ideal for mixing steel and strings in the same song.
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 1 Aug 2018 6:27 pm
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I learned the technique like Richard did, from Jeff Newman. Listening to the first cut, I'd say it was steel with distortion+reverb. The second isn't as clear, and could be a Mellotron or synth. But with the vocal backgrounds that are there, it could be the same EFX as above being mixed with the voices.
(Country music fans need not read the following, or visit the link.)
Layering tracks lets you do a lot with relatively simple things. I always found the following story of "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc to be a primer in spacey sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oxe4mlsQos
* |
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Danny Letz
From:
Old Glory,Texas, USA 79540
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Posted 2 Aug 2018 4:30 am
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| I went to watch a friend of mine play Saturday night . He was using a Bosstone to help him tune by ear. I had never heard of that. It seemed to be imphasising the beats. I could hear them very well. He’s really country like me & I don’t think he used in for anything else. |
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Randy Schneider
From:
SW New Mexico, USA
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Posted 2 Aug 2018 7:21 am
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
Layering tracks lets you do a lot with relatively simple things. I always found the following story of "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc to be a primer in spacey sounds:
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Not trying to derail the thread, but thanks for posting that Donny. I found it quite fascinating -- seems like those guys pretty much moved the mellotron idea from the keyboard to the mixing desk. |
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Daniel McKee
From:
Corinth Mississippi
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Posted 6 Dec 2018 4:35 pm
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| I found another example of the effect in question. It can be heard some in the background of this song. https://youtu.be/vDQUKGc3eao |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 6 Dec 2018 5:31 pm
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| I am waiting for Electro Harmonix to invent a polyphonic string machine pedal. That would be nifty to use as fills in slow songs. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 6 Dec 2018 5:34 pm
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| Len Amaral wrote: |
| I am waiting for Electro Harmonix to invent a polyphonic string machine pedal. That would be nifty to use as fills in slow songs. |
The Mel9 has a pretty good string patch that I use.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, NV400, NV112 . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Godfrey Arthur
From:
3rd Rock
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 2:05 am
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Although it could be a Mellotron on the track by Ray Sanders posted, it might be a Chamberlin which was the predecessor of the Mellotron dating from the late 1940's.
The Sanders track sounds to my ears like the Chamberlin.
By 1970, Chamberlin had done away with the tape-warble "Strawberry Fields" 60-ish hippie effect associated with the Mellotron.
Many hits used the Chamberlin, songs such as Honey by Bobby Goldsboro. And would've been a popular unit in major production facilities in the 1970's before synthesizers killed the tape based units later in the decade.
The Chamberlin M-1. This particular unit sold for $13,000 in 2017.
The Chamberlin Company out of Upland California, stopped production in the 1980's.
According to information, the Mellotron came about when former sales rep from Chamberlin, Bill Franson took off with Chamberlin units for England and started unauthorized production on a rebadged Chamberlin under the "Franson" label unit without Chamberlin's knowledge, forcing inventor Harry Chamberlin to confront Franson and the "Mellotron" company to come to an agreement on royalties after American Mellotron dealers told Chamberlin what was afoot.
Comedian Jerry Lewis demoing a Chamberlin model @2:52-58:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwMm3tiN10
Mellotron M400
1959 NAMM photo of Harry Chamberlin and his son Richard showing the Chamberlin M400
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Last edited by Godfrey Arthur on 7 Dec 2018 10:40 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 5:50 am
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| I have heard a few keyboard modules sound very realistic with string samples. Some of the samples had a piano that had strings in the background. That's the effect I would like. EH has come a long way with their non-MIDI pedals. Just a matter of time for Mike Mathews to come up with another gem. |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 6:34 am
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| I bought a Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man around 1975 or 76 that was a great delay for that period and it turned a lot of heads. With a Twin Reverb amp you could get some crazy stuff. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 8:40 am
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| Len Amaral wrote: |
| I have heard a few keyboard modules sound very realistic with string samples. Some of the samples had a piano that had strings in the background. That's the effect I would like. EH has come a long way with their non-MIDI pedals. Just a matter of time for Mike Mathews to come up with another gem. |
With the Mel9, you can have strings fade in behind your steel. It's very nice when playing chords on slow songs. I wish they'd do an Orch9 - plain orchestral sounds without the Mellotron wobble.
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ajm
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 9:00 am
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Regarding the Electro Harmonix pedals.......
The C9 organ machine has an effect called Shimmer which also give a "strings" like sound.
It can also be blended with the straight guitar and/or split to different amps. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Daniel McKee
From:
Corinth Mississippi
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Posted 12 Dec 2018 6:34 pm
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| Godfrey, thanks for uploading those images of the actual units. A lot of that is new to me. Definitely some interesting looking machines. |
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