Re: [Harp-L] Echo

[MARK BURNESS <markwjburness@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill Putnam was the first to creatively apply reverb to a recording in '47 (Peg o'my Heart, the Harmonicats). The Universal reverb is mentioned by Malcolm Chisholm (an engineer who worked for both Universal & Chess) - a 'washing line' type pulley system to change the relationship between the speaker & mic in the chamber, Louis Myers also mentions an "echo chamber" (reverb - both reverb & delay are echo effects) in the Living Blues interview, Putnam consulted on Chess's stereo reverb chamber at 2120 (only one side ever worked apparently). Motown in Detroit had 3 such chambers, Capitol also had an echo chamber. Chisholm even suggested in his lectures that engineers use telephone wires to enable them to use chambers some distance away from the studio.
 
 Little Walter's recordings feature both tape delay and reverb chamber (typically not at the same time), as well as dry recordings, as do in-house Chess & Universal (also recorded Cobra, JOB Vee-Jay) recordings by other artists.
 
Tape delay seems to have mostly (but not always) been added across the whole mix & is heard on all instruments (could be brought in & out), reverb was often (but not always) on one channel. "Juke" features tape delay (initially dry of effect, which comes in around 24sec), "Rollercoaster" reverb until 1:24 then dry, for example.
 
The tape echo at the time was typically not a stand alone, in line, device between instrument & amp, but facilitated by the use of 2 studio tape recorders.
 
There was the Echo-sonic amp built by Ray Butts (used by Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, Luther Perkins etc.) but there isn't anything that seems to connect this small, handmade, run of amps to Chess/Universal in Chicago directly.
 

________________________________
 From: "tommyespo57@xxxxxxxxx" <tommyespo57@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, 5 January 2015, 22:13
Subject: [Harp-L] Echo
  

There where tape echoes way before the echoplex I bet that's where little Walter got it in the early 50s cause it is not reverb

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