Other famous Rhodes sounds besides Stevie's.

[LarsHarner2]

My favorites are the phaser ones on Still Crazy After All These Years, and Billy Joel's Rosalinda's eyes.

I also like Peg by Steely Dan and James from Billy Joel's turnstiles album.

 

OT- my favorite Rhodes sound I had was the Sweetness one on the Motif6; these days I use Addictive Keys Rhodes and Arturia's 

[Jazz+]

I asked Joe Sample about his Rhodes and he said he owned two that he kept in his garage, but that for recording he'd use the nicer ones in the studios. He hit the keys relatively harder than most other players.

[hurricane hugo]

Not famous, but loved Ross' Rhodes and KeyBass sound:

 

as for famous...

 

[jazzpiano88]

Minute by Minute is tough to beat as possibly the peak multiplier of composition/musicianship, prominence of the instrument, and popularity of the song in the Rhodes department.   

[K K]

Thanks jazzpiano88 for Deodato, indeed a legendary version back then. I remember playing the 45 rpm (shorter version) over and over. 

[jerrythek]

19 hours ago, tapes said:

But a few others:

Chick’s slightly overdriven Mark II, like on the RtF outtake, the Rhodes version of ”Matrix” (what a solo, by the way!) 

 

 

Wow, thanks for this - I never knew of this outtake. I too love the distorted edge of Chick's Rhodes as recorded on this album.

 

But...

 

No way that it's a MKII. The album was recorded in 1972, and the MKII came out in 1979.

[CyberGene]

For something more unorthodox, I used to be crazy about the Rhodes sound Herbie used in the following track after 2:46

 

 

Although it sounds like a chorus, it's not actually a chorus effect. A guitarist I used to play with at the time this record was released, owned a real Rhodes and a digital effect rack by Yamaha (not sure if it was the FX-700 guitar effect rack or some studio effects) and he had managed to recreate that sound through one of the effects there. I am not sure about the effect name but it might have been named "harmonizer" although in effect (no pun intended) it didn't sound like a harmonizer. As far as I remember, the effect would create one copy of the incoming signal that was slightly pitch raised and one that was pitch lowered and replay all of them together. In contrast to chorus which would layer phase-shifted copies of the same signal.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

A few folks have mentioned Chick Corea's Rhodes tones with Return to Forever; I was particularly grabbed by his overdriven wah-pedal Rhodes on the second RtF record. I especially liked how it blended with the more overall acoustic sound of that lineup of the band, with Stanley Clarke on upright and Joe Farrell on sax/flute instead of the full-on fusion that the band would become with the later "classic" lineup.

 

I like a gritty EP, which is probably why I wound up being more of a Wurli guy overall. There's room for all of it in my book, though.

[Ivan May]

Richard Tee used a Fender Rhodes on some of the albums he cut with Stuff. He mostly played it through an Electro Harmonix phase shifter, you can espeically hear it on this song, Do You Want Some Of This.

 

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

Good Rhodes, but one of the best keyboard-centric pieces ever on the Billboard.

Ambrosia - Biggest Part of Me.

 

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

A good Rhodes defining piece from the 70's.  10CC.   I'm Not in Love.

 

 

[dazzjazz]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:34 AM, 16251 said:

I wasn't in love with Rhodes sound on Red Clay when it first came out, but it has grown on me over the years. Less bell tone, less sustain. IMHO, has a more organic, almost acoustic instrument sound rather than most. 

 

Anyone ever try to get this sound?

 

 

That’s a very nice sound. I think it’s probably from a very early Rhodes, probably a sparkle top. 

[The Real MC]

The "model E" Rhodes on Al Jarreau's "Breaking Away"

[AROIOS]

4 hours ago, The Real MC said:

The "model E" Rhodes on Al Jerreau's "Breaking Away"

The two albums "Jarreau" and "Breakin' Away" were full of beautiful Rhodes sounds. David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock really made it sing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[AROIOS]

15 hours ago, CyberGene said:

...Although it sounds like a chorus, it's not actually a chorus effect...As far as I remember, the effect would create one copy of the incoming signal that was slightly pitch raised and one that was pitch lowered and replay all of them together. In contrast to chorus which would layer phase-shifted copies of the same signal...

No need to split hair there, detuning is as common as phase shifting in Chorus designs.

[AROIOS]

A few more usual suspects:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CyberGene]

17 minutes ago, AROIOS said:

No need to split hair there, detuning is as common as phase shifting in Chorus designs.

 

Well, OK, so to still split hair, chorus is usually an LFO that modulates the phase (the most common design) or the pitch (less common) of the separate signals. So, there's the perception of constant movement.

 

And the effect that I mentioned and I believe is used by Herbie on that record doesn't use an LFO, there's no movement, it's just a few separate signals that have a constant degree of detuning up/down. It creates a slightly different feeling than chorus which is easily audible. And achieving it is not straightforward because it's different than pitch LFO on an audio signal which is an easy process with a slight lookahead buffer/window where you can replay the signal faster to achieve the pitch up and then slow it down to make up. You can't do this if you want to have a signal that is pitched up without being faster, it requires heavier DSP processing.

[AROIOS]

11 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

...Well, OK, so to still split hair, chorus is usually an LFO that modulates the phase (the most common design) or the pitch (less common) of the separate signals. So, there's the perception of constant movement.

 

And the effect that I mentioned and I believe is used by Herbie on that record doesn't use an LFO, there's no movement, it's just a few separate signals that have a constant degree of detuning up/down. It creates a slightly different feeling than chorus which is easily audible. And achieving it is not straightforward because pitch LFO on an audio signal is an easy process with a slight lookahead window where you can replay the signal faster to achieve the pitch up and then slow it down to make up. You can't do this if you want to have s signal that is pitched up without being faster, it requires heavier DSP processing.

😃 Chorus isn't "usually" done through phase-shifting, nor is phase-shifting "more common" than detuning. If anything, detuning was used way before phase-shifting for Chorus effects. All you need is to record the same instrument twice ("overdubbing"), or trigger two sound sources with tiny variation in tuning. For instruments with natural "drifts", like guitar or old synths, you can even skip the detuning.

And pitch shifting is not hard as you imagined. This is fairly old tech that existed even in the 70's.

[Bobshaw78]

Needs more Billy Preston  🤌

[CyberGene]

39 minutes ago, AROIOS said:

All you need is to record the same instrument twice ("overdubbing"), or trigger two sound sources with tiny variation in tuning. For instruments with natural "drifts", like guitar or old synths, you can even skip the detuning.

You are describing the studio technique to achieve chorus by overdubbing. That's probably the best and most natural way 🙂 But I meant an external effect box that provides chorusing. Those use LFO that modulates phase-shifting and more rarely pitch-shifting but as I said pitch-shifting is a DSP effect. I just read that the first one was the Eventide H910 (it's digital) and it's called "harmonizer" as was called the effect in that Yamaha rack. I'm not sure if that was very common effect. BTW it was patented by Eventide so maybe other effect manufacturers couldn't easily use it at the time, I'm really not very familiar with vintage DSP effects, so someone with more experience can share more info.

[Baldwin Funster]

Detuning via adding another voice or two + or -  one or 2 centavos is a digital effect. Usually on vocals or synth. I hear it rarely or never on electro mechanical KBs. Sometimes on drums, The Edward used it on his guitars from the post Templeman period.

 

I don't like it and find it irritating except in a few cases like the guitars in Mahogany Rush Dragonfly.

[The Real MC]

9 hours ago, CyberGene said:

 

Well, OK, so to still split hair, chorus is usually an LFO that modulates the phase (the most common design) or the pitch (less common)

 

No.

Chorus is a delay-based effect.  It modulates the delay time of a signal but the LFO shifts the pitch by a small amount.  The phase shift of a signal delayed by a fixed amount is not consistent with frequency.  Delay processing can only do a crude approximation of pitch shift in the analog domain, it requires a ramp waveform LFO with tricky ramp reset design and the pitch change is small.  Large pitch shifts are much easier and more effective in the digital domain.

Phasers modulate the phase shift of a signal, the phase of the processed signal is consistent across the frequency bandwidth of the processor but the time delay is not.  Phasers produce a comb filter effect when swept with an LFO, but they do not alter the pitch.

[CyberGene]

@The Real MC thanks, that’s very interesting 👍🏻

 

Anyway, what I wanted to say is, the Rhodes in that Herbie record uses a “harmonizer” effect which is a non-moving effect, it’s just a few pitch-shifted copies of the signal at the same time. Whereas chorus/flanger/phaser are all moving effects that use an LFO. 

[Motif88]

11 hours ago, AROIOS said:

The two albums "Jarreau" and "Breakin' Away" were full of beautiful Rhodes sounds. David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock really made it sing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need to acknowledge Tom Canning...one heck of a player.

[jerrythek]

3 hours ago, The Real MC said:

 

No.

Chorus is a delay-based effect.  It modulates the delay time of a signal but the LFO shifts the pitch by a small amount.  The phase shift of a signal delayed by a fixed amount is not consistent with frequency.  Delay processing can only do a crude approximation of pitch shift in the analog domain, it requires a ramp waveform LFO with tricky ramp reset design and the pitch change is small.  Large pitch shifts are much easier and more effective in the digital domain.

Phasers modulate the phase shift of a signal, the phase of the processed signal is consistent across the frequency bandwidth of the processor but the time delay is not.  Phasers produce a comb filter effect when swept with an LFO, but they do not alter the pitch.

Right. This article is a good read:

https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/understanding-chorus-flangers-and-phasers-in-audio-production.html#:~:text=Simply put%2C delay time is,without using delays at all.

 

[jerrythek]

2 hours ago, CyberGene said:

@The Real MC thanks, that’s very interesting 👍🏻

 

Anyway, what I wanted to say is, the Rhodes in that Herbie record uses a “harmonizer” effect which is a non-moving effect, it’s just a few pitch-shifted copies of the signal at the same time. Whereas chorus/flanger/phaser are all moving effects that use an LFO. 

I certainly hear some  delay effect on the Rhodes (or Rhodes patch, whatever he is using). Do you have a source that confirms he used a harmonizer on that track? I'm not arguing, just curious...

[kpl1228]

How has no one mentioned this band or this man or this song (or a couple dozen others by them/him)??

I was going to chime in with "New Kid in Town" by the Eagles till I did a quick skim-through and realized unbelievably no one had mentioned Fagen.

 

 

[RABid]

I might as well ask and get it over with. Which Stevie has "the" famous Rhodes sound?

[K K]

Oh and I forgot to mention, the Kurzweil K250 / K1000 / K1200 series Rhodes from Sound Block A (KXA). It had a very lovely high register. Still use it from my K1200 from time to time.

[jazzpiano88]

5 hours ago, RABid said:

I might as well ask and get it over with. Which Stevie has "the" famous Rhodes sound?

 

Oh you must have missed the other thread on this.   It's "I Wish".