[Dec [Cluskey]]

On Mar 26, 3:43*am, Romeo Rondeau wrote:

The first Eventide Harmonizer came out in the mid 70's. It wasn't until
the H3000 that it was totally abused, a crime that I'm guilty of as
well. :-)

Romeo

That comes as a shock!

I am sure I can remember using the unit as the Industry Standard for
ADT [Automatic Double Tracking] in the mid Sixties and then through
the seventies, Eighties. Perhaps Decca Studios in the UK [West
Hampstead, London] had a pre launch version ..... or it was on test?

Roy Wood etc. were all into that ADT thing. We used it for unisons
and harmonies.

Roy Wood then invented a unit which looked for all the world like a
turntable, about two inches high which had record and replay heads
on. By varying the speed ever so slightly and constantly it got a
very authentic double tracking sound ... that was at Keith Prowse
Studios in London, just off Bond Street. I should own up and say that
my band used it without his knowing ... but then again Moody Blues
used a phase shift pedal which I had built for my guitar ... first
ever! The designer [Mick Hinton responsible for the first Betamax
digital recording at Decca] left it in Decca Number One studio for me
to pick up ... the Moody Blues had a 'lock out' situation [probably
the first band to ever do that] and they found my pedal ... yep, all
over 'Threshold of a Dream'.

I play golf a lot with John Lodge [writer and bass player with the
band] .. so we laugh about those days.

Eventide? Yes, a mighty tool in the dim and distant past. They have
now outpriced themselves. If I remember rightly we had the left side
of the stereo chorus/harmoniser .03% sharp and the left .03% flat ....
from memory, but I could be wrong.

I used the H3000 on a dance project about 15-20 years ago ... the
track had good success in the USA but the cost of hiring was
horrendous!

Dec [Cluskey]