What's that horrible harpsichord sound

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:46 pm

...on The Band's "Music From Big Pink"? Man, it's really a rotten sound...though I love that album of course. I figure it has to be a Rock-si-chord or something or maybe an actual synthsizer judging from the filter sweeps on "I Shall Be Released."

Anybody know?

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:44 pm

Somebody knows. But they're not telling.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:53 pm

SHit, we should just get penrithmatt to ask Garth next time he's over for fuckin dinner

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:18 pm

Better yet--get Matt to invite us... and WE'LL ask.

I mean who could trust he would get it right, second hand, after all that drinking?

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:58 am

inverseroom wrote: I figure it has to be a Rock-si-chord or something or maybe an actual synthsizer judging from the filter sweeps on "I Shall Be Released."

Anybody know?

Liner notes say "Released" used a Roxocord (or however you spell it) through a wah-wah pedal.

A lot of things are badly recorded on that album, if you ask me. Which is funny, because it was done in various "real" studios in New York and LA, unlike the Basement Tapes or most of what followed. The second album and NORTHERN LIGHTS, SOUTHERN CROSS both seem much better, engineeringwise.

toothpastefordinner · Post by **toothpastefordinner** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:21 am

roxichord - a polyphonic "electric piano"-style instrument made by RMI

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:08 am

toothpastefordinner wrote:roxichord - a polyphonic "electric piano"-style instrument made by RMI

Weird how I kind of "knew" that even though I never heard the thing before.

I suppose it just has that analog-approximation-of-plucked-strings sound. But there's more on "Released" than the RMI...there's definitely some synth on there, too.

It's funny, listening to that record now, I agree that it isn't exactly great-sounding...yet the kind of airy, upper-mid-heavy clackiness seems so "right" to me after listening to it for all these years...in my mind it's gotten all tied up with the picture of them looking like they're about to ship off to the Civil War. The whole record feels like a horse-drawn cart filled with old bones.

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:55 am

inverseroom wrote: The whole record feels like a horse-drawn cart filled with old bones.

I never got the Band at all. I always felt like it was all an inside joke, based on playing that was constantly referring to something else--the whole maw of American folk music, maybe. Or, I'm just easily bored. And they were the guys to do it.

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:40 pm

inverseroom wrote:But there's more on "Released" than the RMI...there's definitely some synth on there, too.

The filter-swept thing sounds likes a synth but probably isn't -- there simply weren't polyphonic synths available to them in 1968.

If you don't believe it's the RMI, could be a clav or Garth's Lowrey organ (which sounds analog-synthish as hell the way he used it) through some kind of effect; wah-wah makes sense, that basically is a filter being swept manually . . . Garth also used a telegraph key as an effect on that album (e.g., intro to "Wheel's on Fire"), so maybe that's where the weird tremolo is coming from.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:30 pm

percussion boy wrote:
inverseroom wrote:But there's more on "Released" than the RMI...there's definitely some synth on there, too.
The filter-swept thing sounds likes a synth but probably isn't -- there simply weren't polyphonic synths available to them in 1968.

If you don't believe it's the RMI, could be a clav or Garth's Lowrey organ (which sounds analog-synthish as hell the way he used it) through some kind of effect; wah-wah makes sense, that basically is a filter being swept manually . . . Garth also used a telegraph key as an effect on that album (e.g., intro to "Wheel's on Fire"), so maybe that's where the weird tremolo is coming from.

No, I totally believe it's an RMI. Hell, that was my guess! But I know that "Lucy in the Sky" was supposedly done on a Lowery, and that also sounds plausible. Though I like the "Lucy" sound quite a bit better.

You must be right about the polyphony.

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:01 pm

Well, being as there's an RMI sitting about 3 feet to my left, and being that i've been on a huge Band bender for the last two weeks, i really should be able to contribute, but I've been paying attention to Danko pretty closely. Personally, i use the RMI on every record i make at some point or other. I don't think it's a bad sound, just very peculiar. i'd love to buy the Baldwin glass top electric harpsichord that's on ebay (just like Mitch Easter's, i believe), but I can't quite swing that dough until I start using my thumbs to play keyboards. the RMI is idiosyncratic enough to be very effective when used sparngly.

Now, exactly where on what song are you hearing this bad harpsichord?

lyman · Post by **lyman** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:25 am

actually, my least favorite element of The Band was the some of those keyboard sounds. maybe it was more prevelent in later years, but the example that comes to mind is all over Dylan and The Band's "Before the Flood." You know, that circusy accordion/fake organ sound that Garth used. Just use a freakin' Hammond for god's sake. That electronic sound always just seemed out of step with their organic vibe. Ah well, nobody's perfect.

incedently, Before the Flood has some great versions on it. Dylan is somebody who I don't think of as being a dynamic solo performer, but his acoustic version of "It's Alright Ma" is awesome. Great vocals.

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:51 am

Update: Levon Helm's book says that the wind-like sound on "Released" is an organ, with the drawbars being manipulated in real time.

Just to muddy the waters further . . .

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:33 am

the brill bedroom wrote:i'd love to buy the Baldwin glass top electric harpsichord that's on ebay (just like Mitch Easter's, i believe), but I can't quite swing that dough

Wow, I'm gonna check that out...isn't the Baldwin an actual electromechanical instrument, like a Wurli or Rhodes? I've never heard one...

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:27 pm

yes you have, actually. Because the world is round, it turns me on----be- cause, the world, is ro ow ow ow ow ound. God, i want one of those.

And may i slightly disagree on the cheese factor of Garth's keyboards? Just use a Hammond? Yeah, but there were A LOT of people just using a Hammond. Still are. i find some fo those sounds very appealing in their strangeness. Not on the particular Dylan song you mentioned, and things surely got more hirsute later on, but his early experiments were pretty cool- "Chest Fever" era.

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What's that horrible harpsichord sound

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