Famous synth sounds of The Who

[hardLeft]

These Mellotron threads have reminded me that I've looked for but never found any good info on the synths used by The Who on Baba and Who Are You. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

[black mariah]

http://www.synthmuseum.com/arp/arp260001.html

[AstroDan]

Yet another reason why ARP kicks Moog's ass all over the place!

Speaking of which, did anyone see, on The Osbournes, the 2600 that Ozzy Osbourne had from the Black Sabbath tours? Man, I would hate to have that.

[bobbydj]

Why?? Cos it would be clogged up with bat's blood, Geezer vom and groupy drool? Or what?

[tactics]

Check out the episode of Classic Albums on their 1971 album 'Who's Next'.Some great old home studio/synth/keys footage etc.Worth a look.

[Rodgre]

In my town, I am involved in what we call the Green Street Music Series. Long story short, we assemble a band of the who's who of original bands, and learn 50 songs by an artist/band, and arrange for over 30 different singers from the local scene, folkies to rappers to metal screamers, to come up and do a song. It's become quite a happening and a great showcase for the scene (which has a self-defeating prophecy, by the way)

Well the last one we just did was The Who. It was incredible. We even managed to get backing tracks for Baba, Won't Get Fooled, Who Are You and You Better You Bet. I will have to investigate to find out exactly where we got them, but this guy in Europe somewhere who plays in a Who tribute, I think, has made complete replicas of these tracks using the same gear. It's as if he stole their reels that they used to play live to. It's uncanny.

Roger

[jdsowa]

Lowery TBO-1. Honestly, I don't think you do too accurate of a replica on an ARP or any monophonic synth with just the 2 basic waveforms. It takes an organ type of waveform with a more bell-like tone to achieve this. Black Mariah's link said The Who used the ARP 2600 on "Who Are You" which sounds accurate given that it's a more synth-y kind of sawtooth kind of a sound. As for "Eminence Front" I'm guessing he went back to the TBO-1 given the way the patterns arpeggiate in that song.

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equip-baba.htm

[friendlybunny]

If you're looking to recreate sounds (on the cheap) check out this Alesis Ion mp3 demo. It's a keyboard that is supposed to emulate vintage synths.

http://alesis.com/products/Ion/Demos/Io ... Synths.mp3

[cgarges]

In my town, I am involved in what we call the Green Street Music Series. Long story short, we assemble a band of the who's who of original bands, and learn 50 songs by an artist/band, and arrange for over 30 different singers from the local scene, folkies to rappers to metal screamers, to come up and do a song. It's become quite a happening and a great showcase for the scene (which has a self-defeating prophecy, by the way)

Man, that's so cool. A friend of mine and I have been talking about doing that around here. Do you have a website with any information about it at all or is there some sort of link to any publicity (a local entertainment paper or anything)? I think that's great idea.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Rodgre]

From listening to Who Are You, but not seeing that DVD yet, it sounds to me like a guitar played through a triggered filter, possibly the filter section of a synth. That's just me.

As for the Green Street Music series, I'm glad you're intrigued. So far, we've done the Stones, the Beatles, The Police, The Clash and the Who. The next one is on Feb 28 and it will be Tom Petty/Bruce Springsteen.... we decided to go American for this one.

You can read the press release for it here:

http://www.luckydogmusic.com/gsms/press.htm

Roger

[Scodiddly]

Dig up Townshend's "Who Came First" compilation/demos CD... it has some of the synthesizer compositions in fairly original form.

[Scodiddly]

In my town, I am involved in what we call the Green Street Music Series. Long story short, we assemble a band of the who's who of original bands, and learn 50 songs by an artist/band, and arrange for over 30 different singers from the local scene, folkies to rappers to metal screamers, to come up and do a song.

I've had the idea to assemble a band to cover entire albums, maybe a different lineup for each different album. Never did get around to it, though.

[stevemoss]

Ahh... you guys play the Lucky Dog? I'm up in Saratoga Springs, NY, now, but Woostah's my hometown.

[stevemoss]

By the way - this guy seems to have figured out Townsend's processes very well. In addition to describing the settings/gear you'd need for each of the songs, he's got illustrative MP3s up where he recreated backing tracks for each (the MIDI drums are weak, but no machine can fairly replicate Keith Moon): http://members.madasafish.com/~r_rowley/page3.html

[soundguy]

that guys got a cool webpage, you can build yourself up a simple repeater, farfisa, kay, vox all made repeat boxes that are pretty easy to build. The kay trem as its called, is simple and easy, and the schematic floating around is accurate. the widely publised vox repat percussion schem is totally wrong...

dave