I could be wrong, but isn't the keyboard on Dream On by Aerosmith an RMI Piano?

[Ivan May]

 

 

A few nights ago I decided to spin some Aerosmith, and after debating for a while, I was going to ask if that buzzing keyboard noise on Dream On is an RMI electric piano? It has that very soggy tone that the RMI piano was known for, so I would have to admit it is an RMI. To my ears it sounds like one...I know that Steven bought the RMI and composed the song Dream On on it. I do also know that the string noises on the song are a Mellotron.

 

But if anyone can confirm that that keyboard is an RMI then please let me know.

[Ed A.]

Very soggy tone...that's funny! 😁

[Mighty Motif Max]

I think it sounds like an RMI as well...but to me it fits the song just fine, and sounds good in context.

[Tom Williams]

I always thought it sounded like a slightly processed / EQ'd Yamaha Electric Grand.

[timwat]

The story bandied about on the interwebz is Tyler "found" a bag of money and used it purchase...an RMI keyboard which was used for Dream On. The "found" bag purportedly belonged to some "connected guys" who came looking for it, and Tyler played dumb.

 

If you can believe the interwebz.

[Baldwin Funster]

Tyler's parents had money. I bet he begged mom for a new piano. Then came up with the other story to sound Boston tough.

[apple]

Anybody believe this story? 

 

[Delaware Dave]

9 hours ago, timwat said:

".. The story bandied about on the interwebz is Tyler "found" a bag of money coke and used it purchase...an RMI keyboard ..."

 

Fixed......

[Bobbo Fett]

A big bag of money and/or coke was found and the best they could do with it was buy......an RMI?

[Bill H.]

16 hours ago, Tom Williams said:

I always thought it sounded like a slightly processed / EQ'd Yamaha Electric Grand.

Dream On (1973) predated the CP-70 (1976). My guess is RMI as well. I used to play one at the Lynwood Music showroom in North Seattle whenever I could back then. Funny what one can get obsessed with. 

[David Emm]

RMI occupies a fun space in my memory, because I got to play several of them at a friendly local keyboard dealer. Remember those? "Soggy" is a fun way to describe that sound. I image it as ancient animation, where workers shovel coal into a steampunk synth engine whose reach is far greater than its grasp. That's why the sound was often either soggy or shrill: too early in tech progress. Still, their pianos occupy an interesting spot, which I think deserve to share shoulder space with a Rhodes. They were great for ballads. I believe this is an Electra-Piano. Praise Alan Price!👍

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK3P97RfVaI  

[Reezekeys]

RMIs were not touch-sensitive, right? I can't fathom how any piano player could stand to play one of these. Having said that, there's recordings of Keith Jarrett playing one with Miles. Notwithstanding the fact he's on record as hating EPs in general, he sure know how to turn lemons into lemonade, and the sound of that band (the "lost quintet") with those distorted EPs is quite iconic now.

 

For more RMI played by a jazz guy, there's also this:

 

 

[16251]

Remember this ancient thread?

 

 

[Reezekeys]

39 minutes ago, Dave Ferris said:

I bought one literally right after having front row seats and seeing Steve Winwood with Blind Faith playing one on June 29th 1969, at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

 

Yeah it was a major pos but I figured if Winwood was playing it, it had to be cool. Plus I was not at any kind of a serious player level at 16 years old.

 

No need to be ashamed, below was the keyboard I had when I was 14! My first real EP was a Wurly, don't remember exactly when I got it. Probably mid to late 70s, couldn't afford a Rhodes.

 

I was in a band with A. Nussbaum in Junior High School playing songs by Cream and Grand Funk Railroad on this beast - me on LH bass too! Adam was the lead singer!

 

What I don't get is that Rhodes were being made at the same time – I just wonder, was the sound of the RMI that distinctive that pianists preferred it to the Rhodes and overlooked its lack of touch sensitivity? If you had guys like WInwood and Horace Silver playing RMIs, these keyboards must have had something going for them - something I'm not getting, that's for sure!

 

[Baldwin Funster]

Winwood may have been as cash poor as the kids in the audience. 

Rockstars who signed bad record deals often made less than minimum wage in those days. And later too.

[Reezekeys]

12 minutes ago, Jr. Deluxe said:

Winwood may have been as cash poor as the kids in the audience. 

Rockstars who signed bad record deals often made less than minimum wage in those days. And later too.

 

Maybe... but I'm pretty sure Steve WInwood was well-established by the time he was in Blind Faith. Also, it's entirely possible they were just making do with whatever the backline companies of those days were providing.

 

Chick Corea once answered a question on his website regarding the iconic overdriven Rhodes sound he got while playing with Miles - his answer was that the amps provided for them had blown speakers!

 

Of course record deals weren't always kind to the artists. Nothing new there!

[cassdad]

Personally, I like the acoustic piano Tyler used in the Howard Stern Birthday Bash.  

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GilzbcZOcHU

 

And yes, I know my post here is not about the “RMI’.  My point is that it’s not always about the sound.  Sometimes the song itself is good enough that it stands if played via other instrumentation.

 

[AnotherScott]

1 hour ago, Reezekeys said:

What I don't get is that Rhodes were being made at the same time – I just wonder, was the sound of the RMI that distinctive that pianists preferred it to the Rhodes and overlooked its lack of touch sensitivity? If you had guys like WInwood and Horace Silver playing RMIs, these keyboards must have had something going for them - something I'm not getting, that's for sure!

A few possibilities come to mind... a Rhodes gave you one sound, the RMI gave you some more variety... the Rhodes probably sounded even less like a piano than the RMI did... many Rhodes had awful actions that were unsatisfying to play (this may have been based on what year you were shopping for your keyboard)... a Rhodes probably weighed a good 50 lbs more than an RMI and would have typically needed two people to move... I think the Rhodes may have been more expensive as well, but I'm not sure.

[Legatoboy]

I had one, gigged it for a about 3 years... I fabricated a wooden frame so I could it could sit on top of my Hammond C3... had to for a 2nd tier rig with the C because the output was on the bottom of the instrument... I had made a notch for wires out the front right corner of the brace or was it left .. it was about a 2 in high frame exactly the perimeter of the C's folded back top. We had a good soundman and realized if you ran the piano into the PA FOH with effects/EQ, it sounded much better as a rock piano. Just miked my cabinet which in those days was a Marshall 100 single cab for it, 2 12 I think?!?  Some reverb and slap back echo gave it a lot of breath ... I always think of the opening to 'My God' (Tull) and Locomotive Breath and using the it's clav. with a Voxx Wa Wa for Rocky Mountain Way .. it worked well FOH ... Larry McGowen (RIP) from Rat Race Choir really was the inspiration for us on using the RMI for myself and the band... Larry proved how effective an instrument it could be along with their soundman Allen ...when run w/effects properly...of course the action was very shallow on it, organ tech basically... my biggest grip about it almost more than it's  tone ... but it would cut in a heavy rock mix as a piano better than a Wurly 200..with had velocity sensitive keybed .. which I preferred... but went with the RMI..worked out well...playing piano on it you had to stay on top of your fingering, it was not very forgiving action wise...  in about '71 or '72!    

[o0Ampy0o]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:49 PM, timwat said:

The story bandied about on the interwebz is Tyler "found" a bag of money and used it purchase...an RMI keyboard which was used for Dream On. The "found" bag purportedly belonged to some "connected guys" who came looking for it, and Tyler played dumb.

 

If you can believe the interwebz.

If it was connected money that would be a bag of robbed diniros.

[Polychrest]

On 10/16/2022 at 9:52 AM, Legatoboy said:

 . . . the action was very shallow on it, organ tech basically . . .

It’s been half a century, but I vaguely recall that using a volume pedal judiciously could help instill some dynamics control over its binary blunt-instrument piano articulation.

[Legatoboy]

On 10/15/2022 at 6:58 PM, Reezekeys said:

 

No need to be ashamed, below was the keyboard I had when I was 14! My first real EP was a Wurly, don't remember exactly when I got it. Probably mid to late 70s, couldn't afford a Rhodes.

 

I was in a band with A. Nussbaum in Junior High School playing songs by Cream and Grand Funk Railroad on this beast - me on LH bass too! Adam was the lead singer!

 

What I don't get is that Rhodes were being made at the same time – I just wonder, was the sound of the RMI that distinctive that pianists preferred it to the Rhodes and overlooked its lack of touch sensitivity? If you had guys like WInwood and Horace Silver playing RMIs, these keyboards must have had something going for them - something I'm not getting, that's for sure!

 

I had a Whitehall also and gigged it for a little less than a year with a brand new Leslie 145 and Combo preamp in 1969 ... 

[obxa]

I always liked Wakeman's use of it.  First starting out, I  had a horrible knock off with one of those Hohner-Univox Italian piano thingies.