 Historys
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KEYBOARDS - THE CLASSICS
Reproduced from Article in Australian
Musician Magazine1996 by Brad Coates (www.melmusic.com.au)
Hammond & Leslies: A
Beginners Overview
As a long time
Hammond & Leslie player, I was asked to write a basic
introduction to using these instruments which are now
enjoying a massive renaissance in all facets of modern
music. In the following article, I will attempt to give
the new user a basic understanding of the instrument and
some tips and suggestions on how to go about getting the
most out of it. As there are very good informative books
on Hammond & Leslies, I will not delve into the history
of the instrument, rather, a hands-on description of how
to get a sound out of the sucker!
Although discontinued
in 1974, the Hammond Organ has remained popular in modern
music and has now achieved the status of a Les Paul or
Stratocaster in guitar terms. With the advent of digital
electronics, and in particular, multisampling, there are
now several units on the market that will give a reasonable
emulation of the tone wheel Hammond, particularly in a
live situation where amplification tends to be more important
than actual tonal qualities. However, this said, nothing,
BUT NOTHING can equal the sound of a real genuine tone
wheel Hammond.
For the purpose
of this article I will ignore the smaller L's and m's
etc, and concentrate on the B3 and similar 5 octave organs
such as the C3, A105, RT3 and D152, which are essentially
all the same basic model, differing in cabinet size, design,
pedalboard, etc. The B3 has been the most popular in contemporary
music due to its smaller size and weight ( still 400 plus
pounds ).
In your first encounter,
you will be faced with the initial problem of how to get
it going. Much like a car, the B3 has a starter motor
and main, or "run" motor. With the "run"
switch in the "off" position, push the "start"
switch forward and hold for approximately 15 seconds.
While keeping it there, push the "run" switch
forward and hold for approximately 5 seconds, then release.
The start switch will go back to the "off" position,
whereas the "run" switch will stay where it
is. After about 30 seconds, the organ will be ready for
use. ( As it is valve based, a warm up period is required
). To switch off, simply return the "run" switch
to the "off" position.
Now that we're
up and running, let's look at the console. The B3 has
two 61 note keyboards, ( or manuals ), with 12 reverse
colour keys at the left hand end of each keyboard. These
are called "resets" ( which are similar to memories
but are mechanically arrived at ), except for the bottom
"C", which releases any preset key or keys that
have been engaged. These presets are actually user-definable,
but you'll need a screwdriver and lots of patience.
The B and Bb
preset keys access the two different sets of drawbars
for each manual. Four complete sets of drawbars are located
above the top manual. Two for the top manual and two for
the bottom manual. These can be utilised as presets, both
being alterable in real time, however, only the B preset
accesses the percussion stops. Now, assuming the organ
is factory standard, the lower keyboard has no percussion
facility available, and just to make things more confusing,
the two brown drawbars between the second and third sets
of drawbars are exclusively for the pedalboard tone and
level.
The drawbars
on a Hammond work similarly to the stops on a pipe organ,
introducing harmonics in varying degrees from 1 to 8.
This allows the player an almost infinite number of tonal
choices. There are 9 drawbars in each set, referred to
in pipe organ terms as different footages. These are 16',
5-1/3', 8', 4', 2-2/3', 2', 1-3/5', 1-1/3' and 1'. I guess
you could also loosely consider them similar to sliders
on a graphic equalizer. The 4 rocker switch tabs above
the right hand end of the top keyboard control the percussion
effects available. From left to right, these are: Perc.
On / Off, Perc. Soft / Normal, Perc. Decay
Slow / Fast, and finally, the 2nd and 3rd harmonic selector. The 2nd harmonic pertains to the
4' drawbar and the 3rd harmonic to the 2-2/3 drawbar. When the 2nd harmonic is engaged, you
lose the 1' drawbar as that tone wheel generator is used
to produce the percussion. Similarly, with the 3rd harmonic, you lose the 1' drawbar - remember this is an electromechanical
keyboard, no clever electronics here.
On the left
hand side of the keyboard above the preset keys are 3
further tabs and a large rotary switch pot. The first
tab from left is an organ overall normal / soft switch
which is self explanatory, then an upper manual vibrato/chorus
on / off and lower manual vibrato on / off. The rotary
switch pot accesses 3 different modes of vibrato and 3
different modes of chorus, or in "Hamospeak",
scanning vibrato. The effect of, say, the C3 chorus setting
on a classic 18,8,5-1/2 with 2-2/3 percussion slow leslie
and a smidge of 1-1/3 drawbar is unduplicatable with anything
other than the real thing!
There are many
other features, some intentional, some originally undesirable
that have become a vital component of the "Hamos"
sound - Hammond Organ Co. spent thousands of dollars trying
to eradicate the key click ( caused by having so many
key contacts per key ), an upward contact noise which
has now become an essential ingredient in the "Hamos"
sound. The actual keyboard is also part of the overall
package - try doing a double handed palming on a conventional
keyboard - Hammond's chop edge keys make all the difference.
That about concludes
it for the basic introduction. In next months' column,
I will present an introduction to the Leslie cabinet -
in my opinion, 50% of "THAT" sound.
KEYBOARDS
- THE CLASSICS
Reproduced from Article
in Australian Musician Magazine1996 by Brad Coates (www.melmusic.com.au)
The Hammond & Leslie
Legend (Part II)
Yes folks!,
its finally here - part 2 of our Hammond special presented
by Brad Coates. Brad Coates is a long term Hammond / Leslie
player from the days when Jesus Christ held pole at the
Jerusalem Grand Prix. He is also owner of Melbourne Music
Centre and Unique Audio Hire and Sales. Brad can be contacted
on (03) 9578 2426.
In my last article
on Hammond organs, I mentioned the Leslie cabinet as being,
in my opinion, responsible for 50% or more of 'that' sound
( the Hammond and Leslie ). In actual fact, I believe
that if it's that particular sound you're after, you'd
really be better off buying the Leslie cabinet first and
worrying about the Hammond organ later.
There are quite
a few keyboards that when played through a Leslie cabinet,
will come respectably close to that sound, especially
when used within a band framework. Some of these keyboards,
such as the Korg B/CX series, the Roland VK series and
the Crumar Organizers were actually manufactured with
the express purpose of simulating the Hammond organ (
even down to physical appearance in Korg's case ), but
some of the others - Jennings, Viscount, Acetone, Yamaha
SK, Jansen C100 and the Farfisa Professional ( check Sly
Stone performing Take You Higher on the original
Woodstock movie ) - sound pretty damn good when played
through a Leslie. Even the trusty old Yamaha DX7 can sound
pretty acceptable if set up correctly ( try algorithm
32 using each operator as a drawbar, assigning harmonic
footage values to each one - you can even get percussion
- great until you need more than 6 drawbars!! ).
The word Leslie is synonymous
with rotating speaker systems as it is used to describe
any type of these systems. The first came about in 1940
when a 29 year old organist and amateur inventor by the
name of Don Leslie wrote to the Hammond Organ Company
and told them that he had something they should be interested
in and asked if they'd like to hear it. ( In 1937, Don
Leslie bought his first Hammond organ only to be disappointed
with its acoustic sound when he got it home ). The Hammond
Organ Co., in particular, Laurens Hammond and sales representative
Paul Owsley were definitely not too keen and basically
ignored Don's invention instead of taking up his offer
to manufacture it as an optional speaker system for Hammond
purchasers. This was Hammond's biggest mistake!
Don Leslie went
on to found Electro Music and began manufacturing rotating
speaker cabinets under the mane of 'Leslie'. The first
one rolled off the assembly line in 1940 and are still
being manufactured to this day. The first Leslies were
what is now called 'Rotosonic' models - utilising a small
speaker enclosed in a rotating drum spinning on a commutator
arrangement. Later on, Don used stationary speaker components
and rotated the baffles. Although not as efficient in
his opinion, it's the rotating baffle models that have
endured and are the most sought after by the rock and
roll and contemporary jazz fraternity. I really can't
speak for the domestic, theatre and church players, but
as the 'Rotosonic' models are still manufactured, I guess
they too are popular.
The popularity
of the Leslie speaker also extends to other instruments
- guitarists in particular. Jimi Hendrix often used a
Leslie in the studio as did the Beatles and many others.
Check out Hendrix's Little Wing, Eric Clapton's
solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, George Harrison's
guitar on Here Comes The Sun and even the Beatles
vocals on Sun King among hundreds of others.
Many have tried
to electronically duplicate the Leslie effect. Probably
the best of these is the Roland Revo System. This is because
it not only uses an electronic simulator, but the top
end signal pans left to right through high frequency speakers
arranged in a semi-circular configuration. This gives
the aural impression of a rotating speaker but as there
are no actual moving components, it is also able to simultaneously
carry a straight nil effect signal. This is handy for
the musician who needs a Leslie effect on organ, and say,
a straight channel for piano or synth. The revo is also
LOUD and does not require an outboard combo preamp as
do Leslie cabs.
Apart from the
Revo, some pretenders to the throne set out as signal
processing devices, such as the Dynachord CLS 222 and
its successor the Electro Voice DLS 223, are reasonably
acceptable in a live sound reinforcement application,
while others like the Schaller Rotorsound, Rotovibe and
Resly Tone are downright woeful!! ( Korg's onboard CX3
Leslie effect is dismal, as is Roland's early VK series
).
Ultimately,
NOTHING truly replaces a real Leslie - it's virtually
an acoustical impossibility. So … if that is the sound
you're after - get the real thing!
KEYBOARDS
- THE CLASSICS
Reproduced from Article
in Australian Musician Magazine1996 by Brad Coates (www.melmusic.com.au)
The Hammond & Leslie
Legend (Part III)
In last month's
article I detailed how the Leslie cabinet came into being.
In this article I will describe the internal workings
of a Leslie cabinet and discuss various models and their
ideal usage starting with the most famous, - the model
122.
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As you can see in the
diagram, the internals consist of a 15" speaker
facing down into a plywood rotating baffle. This
baffle is rotated by a two speed motor, (actually
2 separate motors, - I'll go into that later), to
produce a chorus effect on slow and a tremulant
on fast. At the top of the cabinet are a pair of
rotating horns, (actually only one horn - the other
is a dummy for balancing purposes), once again driven
by another two speed motor arrangement. Audio signal
is fed into the cabinet and split by a passive crossover
at around 800 Hz. All frequencies from 800 Hz. up
are channeled to the horns while the mid / bass
frequencies are sent to the bottom rotor. They are then revolved through 360 degrees.
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Sounds simple, but many
different factors are sonically responsible for "that"
Leslie sound. The size, shape and configuration of the
actual cabinet, the louvre - type openings in the cabinet,
the choice of an extremely inefficient pair of transducers,
(the horn starts rolling off at 6000Hz. and is basically
out by 8000Hz.), the crossover point, the deflectors on
the horn mouths, the plywood lower baffle, the direction
of movement in both rotors, the valve amplifier, the loading
of both treble horns and bass rotors - all
contributing factors.
It's difficult to describe
exactly what a Leslie does to the sound - It's a tremulant,
(as it passes your spatial point it's louder), it's a
Doppler, (it comes towards you then passes away from you
subtly creating changes in pitch, ...... witness a train
passing a level crossing: as you pass on the train the
pitch of the crossing bells fall away). It also incorporates
principles of vibrato, phasing, reverberation and time
delay. I look at it somewhat more simplistically, - we
have two ears with which to orient ourselves aurally and
the Leslie creates movement as the components are continually
moving spatially. This makes it sound BIG, even at low
volume levels. It's this combination of factors that makes
it virtually impossible to duplicate electronically, although
I guess if you utilize pitch and time delay signal processors
with a full quadraphonic amplification system you'll probably
come close. (You'll also end up a pauper !!!)
Although the 122/ 147 are
undoubtedly the most popular models, they may not necessarily
be the correct units for your particular purpose. the
122 and 147 are basically the same unit, with the main
difference being balanced line in, in the 122, and a different
motor switching system - 122 being matched with the A,
B, C etc models, and the 147 matched to the L / M etc
spinet series. This is, however, somewhat of a generalisation
because the switching systems seem to be mixed and matched
in most of the units I've seen. I recommend these woodgrain
models for home use, studio use, church and low volume
jazz type usage. At a power rating of only 40 watts, (and
that feeding into an inefficient passive crossover ),
they are only just able to keep up with a guitarist using
a 10 - watt practice amp! ( Personally, I believe even
the 40 watt rating is a bit ambitious…. The best one we've
had through only managed 36 watts after re-tubing and
servicing ).
If you're looking at playing
live, I would recommend the vinyl - covered combo models,
- they are much louder and far more roadworthy. Remember
that once miked up, a lot of "that" sound is
lost. It's better to have a combo model producing the
acoustic effect off the stage at volume, than having a
close-miked valve model chopping away like a helicopter
rotor. There is a lot of popular mythology surrounding
the valve models - yes, they do sound better in a studio
or small room, but the combo models are really far better
in an on-stage environment. However, if you really want
to sound like Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild, then
get yourself a 147 / 122 and close-mike it!!
That said, I'll run through
a few different models and their usage. The 147, 47, 145,
142, 122, 22 etc. are all basically the same - Horn rotor
and 15" rotor in a woodgrain cabinet with valve amplification,
6 pin. Ideal for home, studio, church or international-level
touring bands (I'll get back to that in miking techniques
).
The 900, 910, 925 are all
similar - 2 piece cabinets for ease of transportation
, high powered and rugged, 15" speaker and horns,
bi-amped with electronic (active) cross-overs for clarity
and volume (tri-amped for reverb models), 9 pin. Suitable
for loud rock bands, etc.
The 760, 770 series, 1 piece
cabinet, same internals as 900 series, 9 pin. Suitable
for loud rock bands, etc.
The 330 Proline series,
1 piece cabinet, single amplifier with passive cross-over,
otherwise same internals as 900 / 700 series, 11 pin.
Suitable for smaller live bands.
The 820, 825 models. 1 piece
cabinet, single amp and single 12" speaker running
full range on bottom rotor, 9 and 11 pin. Generally suitable
for domestic or cabaret use, beginners etc.
These are the models most
often seen in live music. There is a whole host of domestic
models - 60, 70, 110, 112, 720, 247, 251 etc, including
the rotosonic (rotating speaker in a sealed drum) models
600, 700, 710 etc.
Finally, my personal favourite
for live use, of which I have several in the Unique Audio
Hire stock , is the screaming little Leslie 860 - the
smallest, loudest little mother with the University model
horn driver and 12" speaker shoe horned into a tiny
635 x 635 x 480mm cabinet, weighing in at just 43 kgs.
To get it down to this size, the horns have been arranged
on a 30 degree angle with the horn driver sitting along
side the speaker magnet. Once fitted with a better, more
compliant, bass speaker for improved bottom end response
and power handling, this is the ideal unit for today's
learner, more stripped-down bands. These are extremely
rare as not many were manufactured and even less were
imported into Australia. They generally fetch quite high
prices, if you can get to them before the hire companies
do!
Sounds daunting, but remember,
the guitarist in your band will probably fall over himself
to pay out larger amounts of money to buy a Fender, Marshall,
Hi-Watt etc… amp of this vintage. Leslies are of a similar
vintage, generally cheaper, a damm sight cleverer and
they spin!! With new Leslies topping the $4000.00 mark
in Australia, even the dearest second hand models seem
cheap in comparison. Also, as more and more vintage equipment
is sent overseas to buyers paying well above Australian
prices, the reserves of older equipment are rapidly drying
up. Get 'em now - while you still can!!
KEYBOARDS
- THE CLASSICS
Reproduced from Article
in Australian Musician Magazine1996 by Brad Coates (www.melmusic.com.au)
The Hammond & Leslie
Legend (Part IV)
For this final
article on Hammond & Leslies, I will go into detail
on how to mike up and up-power Leslies.
This is more applicable to the lower powered valve Leslies
(122 / 147 etc ) as the solid state combo models are reasonably
loud to start with, although I generally upgrade the speaker
if it's a bit tired from old age. My speaker of choice
for the 15" models is a Lorantz 390X/PA, although
the RCF P200, Electrovoice 15L, and, to a lesser degree
, the JBL 2225, all make reasonably good replacements.
I prefer the Lorantz option mainly because of their high
efficiency rating ( more acoustic volume for power put
in ), their massive power handling ability, and the quick
availability of recones - something the other brands seem
to have difficulty in maintaining. Also - hey! - They're
Australian made!
The
horn driver is a different story entirely. Where possible,
I still prefer to use the existing factory - supplied
driver, ( made by Jensen ), which responds very well to
higher rated power amps. One way to give better power
handling is to change the crossover point from 800Hz up
slightly to around 1KHz - this, however, does sacrifice
some sonic "quality". If this is not loud enough,
you can change the drivers to something like an EV 1823M,
a Unipex P100, or even the trusty old RCF TW101 or N580.
If you use the RCF, further mods have
to be made to the crossover - the others are mid range
drivers - remember the top end operates roughly from 800
Hz to 8Khz - mid range. It is possible to use something
like an old JBL 2482 mid - range phenolic driver - massive
power handling. However, because the 2482 is a 2"
throat driver, loading it into a 1" throat can cause
further compression problems resulting in a possible impedance
mismatch, skewing frequency response undesirably. It is
also possible to load 2 drivers into a "Y" coupling
- this, once again, is a bit hit and miss if the units
aren't specifically matched. In the 12" models (
assuming horns and speaker ), I usually use one of our
"Hammer" speakers ( manufactured by Lorantz
), a high compliance extended excursion model. This tends
to give a longer throw and therefore better bottom end
response ( the 12" models are somewhat lacking in
bass ). Other options would be the RCF L12568, EV12S and
JBL 2202… in that order. Once again, the high efficiency
rating of the Hammer speaker wins out in the superior
volume for power in stakes. Considerable work has to be
done to achieve this sort of upgrading. Unless you have
the knowledge and tools to do it, I'd recommend going
to one of the professional companies.
Upgrading the power amp
doesn't give a whole lot more acoustic volume. The standard
tubes are 2 x 6550's in the output stage and 2 x 12AU7's
on the input side ( the OC3 tube is used as a rectifier
only ). Re-tubing and buying optimised tubes ( Groove
Tubes have higher-rated models), say, 6550A's will improve
the amp somewhat but it's still only a 40 Watt amp, and
because of the limitations of the power supply, you're
really not going to get a lot more out of it.
Probably the quickest, easiest way
to get more acoustic level is to use another amp to drive
the speaker system. This entails setting the internal
amp selector switch to "console load resistor"
( dummy load ) and using it merely for motor switching
control, then putting direct inputs into the bass and
treble speakers and running an outboard amp. A lot of
musicians use a standard Marshall 100 Watt head or similar,
or a preamp / stereo power amp w/Xover combination this
is definitely the loudest but is probably a little too
clean for most. In the Melbourne Music Centre's Unique
Audio Hire department, they have the choice of the preamp
/ poweramp combination but usually use an old '70's HiWatt
400 Watt valve amp and run their Leslie passively crossed.
( A 122 completely gutted with a Lorantz 390X bottom end
and 2 x Unipex P100 Drivers in the top end ).
There are also acoustic
methods of gaining more volume - raising the unit up off
the floor, turning it backwards and removing the louvre
panels, removing the deflectors from the treble horns
and even placing the cabinet squarely into a corner, thereby
utilising the walls themselves as a type of horn flare!
Apart from raising it up off the floor, I really don't
recommend the other methods - they tend to accentuate
the choppiness of the sound. For the purist, the old adage,
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" holds
true. This leaves our final option - miking up a Leslie.
For recording purposes, putting the cabinet in a "live"
room ( smooth shiny walls, floor and ceiling ), such as
bathrooms or toilet area with distance miking works well.
I'd suggest a pair of Neumann U87's mounted on the ceiling
opposite each other, or, two Shure SM91 small boundary
mikes on opposing walls are great. Even a Crown P2M is
quite acceptable in this situation. If you're feeling
clever, a mike facing into the apex of each corner of
the room is another suggestion. This is a situation in
which you have plenty of choices, and experimentation
is the rule. The idea in recording is to try and get away
from close-miking methods thereby alleviating rotor chop.
The live music situation
is a different story. Earlier in this series of articles,
I mentioned that certain techniques are only viable for
large touring bands. This is because only at that level
can you really afford to utilise a back room ( usually
the band room ), exclusively to mike up the Leslie and
monitor it on stage through the foldback.. The rest of
us have to make the best of our resources. This usually
means close-miking a Leslie on-stage and using the cabinet
itself as a monitor. If you're limited to one channel
on the desk, ( it happens ), try and place the mike between
the bass and treble rotors between the cabinet and the
wall - the reflections will help. If the sound guy says,
"I've only got one mike and it's going right in
front of the horns, nobody's ever complained before",
then just go home - your gig is going to sound like shit
anyway. At least you can use the time ringing around looking
for a decent sound guy!
A better option is to carry
you own two mikes and the ubiquitous "Y" cable.
It is essential to use two identical mikes for this purpose
as it's extremely difficult to match two mikes electronically
and sonically. Usually, however, two channels are available
and this gives you the choice of using whatever mikes
you wish. The mikes should be placed facing toward the
direction in which the individual rotors are traveling,
ideally in the cabinet corners following the motion (
this allows the mikes to pick up secondary reflections
from the corner wall, helping to get rid of the chop from
the passing rotor ). You'll have to move the mikes around
a bit to find the optimum "sweet spot"
and angle. Remember, most 122 / 147 Leslie rotors travel
in opposite direction to each other.
A further option is to mount
your mikes permanently inside the cabinet - great for
emergency situations when there aren't enough mikes and
stands to go around. After much experimentation with our
own 860 hire Leslie trying all sorts of expensive mikes,
we ended up using a pair of $150.00 cardioid vocal dynamic
mikes. In the high sound pressure situation involved,
those turned out to be, surprisingly, the best for the
job. It is, however, still much better to mike up from
outside the cabinet as too much mechanical noise is evident
with internal miking. For external miking, I'd recommend
for the bass rotor: EV RE20, Sennheiser 441 & 421,
Beyer M88 ; for the treble rotor: Sennheiser 441, Shure
Beta 57/ SM57. Pressure Zone Microphones (PZM's) are not
suitable in this situation. In discussion with sound engineer
Wolf Franke, he suggested trying a Schoeps MS stereo mike
in the studio for slightly different effect.
Well, that's about it for Hammond &
Leslies, apart from some drawbar setting suggestions which
I'll put in next month's article, Classic Analog Synthesizers,
in which I'll review some of these old, and now extremely
valuable beasts. Till then, good luck.
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