[HKC]

I just heard Here Come The Nice by The Small Faces and I noticed the final
chord (which sounds like an organ) bends way down (1 octave or more) much
like a pitchbend these days.
That is what puzzles me, how did they do that? Was there a way to pitchbend
in 1967, I can't remember hearing anything similar on any other songs from
that period.

[John Williamson]

HKC wrote:
I just heard Here Come The Nice by The Small Faces and I noticed the final
chord (which sounds like an organ) bends way down (1 octave or more) much
like a pitchbend these days.
That is what puzzles me, how did they do that? Was there a way to pitchbend
in 1967, I can't remember hearing anything similar on any other songs from
that period.


One easy way would have been, as they made the final master mix, to just
cut power to the capstan motor on the playback deck or change playback
speed on the fly if the machine would let you.

Failing that, you could do wondrous things with a finger on the flange
of the feed reel.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Scott Dorsey]

HKC wrote:
I just heard Here Come The Nice by The Small Faces and I noticed the final
chord (which sounds like an organ) bends way down (1 octave or more) much
like a pitchbend these days.
That is what puzzles me, how did they do that? Was there a way to pitchbend
in 1967, I can't remember hearing anything similar on any other songs from
that period.

My guess was that they turned the motor on the organ off.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[HKC]

John Williamson wrote:
One easy way would have been, as they made the final master mix, to just
cut power to the capstan motor on the playback deck or change playback
speed on the fly if the machine would let you.

Failing that, you could do wondrous things with a finger on the flange
of the feed reel.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
My guess was that they turned the motor on the organ off.


All good bets although the organ does perfectly clean and I would think that
cutting power would cause a degradation of the sound and wouldn't the organ
give some kind of "pop" when turning the motor off (and would it really drop
like that , very slowly, in pitch).

[Scott Dorsey]

HKC wrote:
John Williamson wrote:
One easy way would have been, as they made the final master mix, to just
cut power to the capstan motor on the playback deck or change playback
speed on the fly if the machine would let you.

Failing that, you could do wondrous things with a finger on the flange
of the feed reel.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
My guess was that they turned the motor on the organ off.


All good bets although the organ does perfectly clean and I would think that
cutting power would cause a degradation of the sound and wouldn't the organ
give some kind of "pop" when turning the motor off (and would it really drop
like that , very slowly, in pitch).

The Hammonds have a switch on them with three positions, to turn the motor
on, off, or momentarily into start mode. That switch controls only the
motor, not any of the electronics.

You can also put a glove on your left hand and use it to slow down the
motor by gripping the shaft, while using your right hand to play the notes.
This doesn't sound like that, but it was a popular way to bend pitch.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[HKC]

Scott Dorsey:
The Hammonds have a switch on them with three positions, to turn the motor
on, off, or momentarily into start mode. That switch controls only the
motor, not any of the electronics.
You can also put a glove on your left hand and use it to slow down the
motor by gripping the shaft, while using your right hand to play the notes.
This doesn't sound like that, but it was a popular way to bend pitch.


I had no idea about that, thanks a lot. I will ask around if any of my
younger Hammond friends know about this. I haven't heard much pitch-bending
from them.