| Rhodes stage piano [message #341344] |
Wed, 14 May 2008 10:47  |
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 C.Cash
Messages: 643
Registered: September 2007
Location: Bahamas |
Gold Member |
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I have finally purchased a Rhodes stage piano off e-bay.
I have never used or recorded one so I would love to know what techniques you guys use to record one.
What kind of amp do you run it through?
Do you mic it or run it direct?
If you mic it , what kind of mic?
Effects,tremolo,reverb......?
Anything would be helpful, even maintenance.
Thanks,
Clifford.
" Yellow is the new Red " T.Manning
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| Re: Rhodes stage piano [message #341515 is a reply to message #341344 ] |
Wed, 14 May 2008 19:35  |
Duhduh
Messages: 75
Registered: October 2004
Location: Costa Mesa, CA |
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I found the Rhodes to be one of the easiest things to record.
Basically, put it through any tube guitar amp or solid-state bass amp and slap a mic in front of it and it just sounds great.
But, through a 60's Fender Super Reverb with a C414 is just delicious!
"Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." - Zakk Wylde
Costa Mesa, CA
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| Re: Rhodes stage piano [message #341788 is a reply to message #341344 ] |
Thu, 15 May 2008 16:53 |
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Enth
Messages: 122
Registered: May 2008
Location: Norway/France |
Active Member |
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Well, one important question here is, is it a suitcase model?
If so, all you need to do, is to place a mic on each speaker.
The suitcase sounds quite good and it's no problem to get the low end, and
a nice tremo/pan comes with it.
But the other model, I agree, needs a closed speaker to get the right body.
Be aware of that you have many possibilities for the sound, by adjusting
the pickup position on each key.The distance and angel from the metal tone stick.
Make your self familiar with what's inside the piano, and you can improve the sound as you like it.
I've been working with many Rhodes, and some had this problem by being quit dead and without dynamic.
The principe is simple, the closer you adjust the pickup, the harder and brighter sound you get.
You can almost get a distorted sound if you go close enough.
It's a time consuming operation to do this on each key the first time, but when you get it as you like it, it will be easy to maintain in the future.
Good luck!
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| Re: Rhodes stage piano [message #342121 is a reply to message #341788 ] |
Fri, 16 May 2008 16:37 |
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 Tomas Danko
Messages: 3272
Registered: May 2004
Location: Stockholm, Sweden |
Platinum Member |
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By moving the pickup magnet closer or more far away from the tine, you're mainly adjusting the volume and output. Naturally a hotter output may overdrive the input stage of your amplifier, and this to your liking or not.
But by adjusting the angle/tilt of the tine (you do this using the two philips screws that holds the whole piece onto the frame) you can adjust the amount of early harmonics.
In other words, the tine aimed towards the pickup in a straight line will give you as much as possible of the fundamental. This can sound very jazzy and round, with lots of low end, but this can also sometimes sound very boring with no bite.
By tilting the tine upwards or such, you will hear how the fundamental goes down in level and other harmonics will start to be accentuated. By finding the sweet spot that you like, you can get a more nasty and edgy sound. You can even make your Rhodes roar at times.
It's pretty much similar to plucking a guitar string exactly above the 12th fret. And then you start plucking the string on other places, making you hear how different harmonics will be excited.
Once you've found the tone you're looking for, you can adjust all adjacent tines to be a match. And as said already, with this done it's not very hard to maintain over the years as long as you don't take the Rhodes out giggin' every weekend or something.
"T(Z)= (n1+n2*Z^-1+n2*Z^-2)/(1+d1*z^-1+d2*z^-2)" - Mr. Dan Lavry
"Shaw baa laa raaw, sidle' yaa doot in dee splaa" . Mr Shooby Taylor
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