[Harp-L] RE: effects

[tom ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

In response to my post of a couple days ago regarding LW's effects, I 
have just received the following message from Scott Dirks.  With his 
permission I'm forwarding it to the list.  As always, most 
informative -- thank you, Scott!  -TB
_____________________________
Hi Tom,
A couple of updates to the whole echo/reverb thing that I've come
across since we first corresponded on the subject.

First, some confirmation that the Echoplex first became commercially
available in c. '63 or '64.  An interesting article can be found
here:

http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=163

There were a few earlier attempts at portable echo, but none that
were widely available, and none earlier than 1959 it appears.

Second, thanks to the work of Nadine Cohodas, author of "Turning
Blues Into Gold", we know that Chess didn't move into the famous
building at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. until 1957.

Also, as for LW's comments about how the reverb/delay was added in
the studio: I'm not sure if I sent you the wrong quote, or if it's
this way in the version published in Living Blues, but according to
both my own and Jim O'Neal's transcriptions of the LW interview
tape, what Walter said was "He doin' it with his hand", as opposed
to "MY hand".  The only interpretation I can think of for his
comment is, the studio engineer is turning the echo effect up and
down manually in the control room.

He does make another comment that I think is relevant and DOES make
the same point you brought up though.  A few seconds earlier when
he's first asked about the effects on his records, and Louis
mentions an echo chamber, he says: "Uh-uh, I was doing that.  That
was before they started making them things."  First point, he's
acknowledging that yes, his sound IS coming from him.  Second, I
know for a fact that Universal Recorders, where he made most of his
great records, had an echo chamber in the late '40s, and outboard
reverb and tape delay by '52/'53.  And seconds later he's
acknowledging that the studio DID use these things on his records.
So I think this has to be interpreted as meaning that HE himself
didn't use these things, and that it was before they started "making
them things" *for use by musicians*.

All of this of course comes back to the original point: LW didn't
utilize any special effects or special equipment to get his sound.
Some may have been applied by the studio, but the what and how of it
was not only beyond his control, it was apparently also beyond his
area of interest.

All the best,
Scott Dirks