'm not sure there’s a single serious
musician out there that hasn’t
experienced the feeling of not having
the correct gear for a certain part.
The band gets together, rehearses a
killer new part, and after everything
is said and done, crickets chirp in the
rehearsal space.
i
“Wouldn’t
that part
sound great
with a
flanger?”
Crickets
chirp louder.
The fact is, that part probably would
sound great with a flanger. However,
for some musicians without access to
such frivolities or those with limited
cash flow, such a thing simply isn’t
possible. The fact of the matter is that
many effects can be produced from
things that players may have lying
around a practice space or makeshift
studio. Keep in mind that before pedals
existed, many effects existed only in
the minds and able hands of visionary
recording engineers. For example,
consider the case of John Lennon’s
impatience coupled with the genius
of one Ken Townshend to create the
first chorus effect, the roots of which
is Townshend’s baby, the automatic
double tracker.
The process of double tracking wasn’t
brand new before Townshend created
it, double tracking other instruments
was an easy way to fatten up a track.
Double tracking is exactly what it
sounded like, two tracks of the same
part layered on top of one another,
often slightly out of timbre. However,
performing such a feat with vocals
was exceptionally tedious. Enter:
Ken Townshend. He discovered an
intricate routing of tape reels that
would slow down the vocal track and
combine the two at the mixer. Presto:
double tracking was born. Years later,
Electro-Harmonix would release the
Full Double Tracking Effect, which
attempted to emulate this effect.
It’s this type of genius that spawned
entire effects categories.
Just like Ken Townshend used the
tools that were immediately available
to create new effects with seemingly
nothing, so can you.
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