Voicing a Fender Rhodes - Which position sounds the best?
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- I have been asked by a few people about voicing.
So I thought I would create a short video showing the concept and how it works.
Voicing is an entire art, but the key is to find a sound you enjoy and create a smooth even sound across the piano. There is no right answer, one tech will not voice a piano the same as another tech.
I hope this helps explain what is physically moving and how the sound actually changes.
For a bit of fun I would love to know which sound you enjoy for this one key.
It will be interesting is everyone agrees with the same sound?
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Position 4!
Based purely on sound, I liked position 4 best. Seeing the waveforms was really interesting. I think I might set that up when I re-voice my Rhodes so that I can keep better consistency between the relative amounts of fundamental and overtones.
The ear is the best tool...but it is good to have a second opinion too haha
I agree, 4 is the best
I also picked 4
same here, 4 best
Levels 6 or 7 backgrounds really bring out the sound of a bell.
I liked 6-7 the most. It's really interesting how the octave takes over at the middle position, it reminds me a wavefolder.
Yes I did expect the wave to change shape when it did. Very interesting.
4
I don't think you really want to voice it below the middle of the pickup (position 11) beyond the pure overtone because you're essentially going to get the same voicing as the ones above but you are also affecting escapement and strikeline at this point. The hammer tip is going to hit the tine at a much lower (vertical) point and not in the sweet spot.
Some good points - You are right one small change does change other parameters of the piano, with the action being so simple. My logic going beyond the centre point of the pickup was that we are only adjusting one screw, we are introducing angle of the tine into the equation.
Sounds so beautiful! Gotta love the Rhodes. Why not mount the pickups onto a piece that slides back and forth and then install a lever to adjust the distance? I think that's what vintage vibes does
Its tempting, but i don't think VV would like that. I hope they release a kit for it.
4-7 is best and it's about where I think my MK1 is voiced! Position 1, 2 & 3 are basically just a sine wave, smooth but no character, 4, 5 , 6 & 7 have a bit more character and you can start to hear the attack of the tine which is pretty much the sweet spot in my opinion. I like a pretty pure sounding Rhodes without too much harmonic or bark, but I still want a bit of character and tine noise as well!
7 position is closer to the timbre of the piano. But in all positions when the damper dampens the vibrations, there is an unpleasant rattle, I think this is due to the rigid damper, if it is made softer, the damping wakes up not sharp and will become more pleasant to the ear.
3 or 4
Moi j'aime beaucoup quand cela fait bien le son de cloche. C'est tellement beau ce son.
Merci beaucoup, ravie que la vidéo vous ait plu !
Hard to choose! But I think positions 4 and 5 have a beautifull twang to them
Have you tried adjusting the strike line?
Yes the strike line is very important - I have a video where i a build a giant tine and you can feel the spot where it should be struck. I believe its 1/3 along, and this creates equal angular moment in both directions so all the energy is absorbed into the correct tine motion!
7 or 8 for me. I'm having my MKII suitcase voiced at some point.
4 or 5
7 or 8 and then it gets back to a good tone again around 15/16.
Thank you - I really should run a pole of which is the most popular, there is a lot more variance in this than I expected.
Position Four has the most "bite." I like it the most.
I need to graph these!
Position 9
Thank you, it is interesting how people pick different positions.
they all side really nice exepct 9 thru 12 sound like some kind of hipass filter is on it or something. It seems like theres a lot of positions that get a good tone, and then a few that get a really ugly phase-cancelly sound
By changing the ratio of the sensor and the vibrator, you achieve reading only part of the vibrations, the top of the harmonics, so the timbre practically loses the main harmonic and the middle harmonics begin to prevail, but it's strange why the 17th position gives out the timbre of the 7th position!?
Изменяя соотношение датчика и вибратора, вы добиваетесь считывание только части колебаний, верха гармоник, таким образом тембр практически лишается основной гармоники и начинают преобладать средние гармоники, но вот странно, почему 17 позиция выдает тембр 7 позиции!?
It did what I expected, just not quite when I expected.
What about the strikeline?
Good idea - I have shown strikeline in other videos, but it would be good to get an idea of what others think.
Hmm, I find it hard to choose, I think you'd need to play actual music on your EP to be sure, but maybe somewhere in the middle makes sense (not too pure, not too barky)
That is a good point! A note in isolation is hard to judge.
4, 6 and 7 for me.
Interesting you picked a few, I do agree though the usual range if much more than one position.
4 is my favorite because of the bright bell-ish tone. It might be the most important part of that rhodes sound for me, so I couldn't do without it. 6 was the perfect, high-end mute version of 4. And then 7 for me added some warm low-end to 6.
Now that I say this, I'm going to rewatch the video and none of this is gonna be right😅
@deancoyle Can you explain what sofware (and how) did you use to create these graphs?
I just recorded the note and zoomed in with my daw. I was using reaper. But any daw should be able to show the wave shape. I have the gave some time to stabilize before zooming. It can be a little chaotic at the initial strike. Good luck
4
How is the tine being vibrated?
There is a hammer that hits the tine, please check my diy electric piano video for a clearer view.
6 thru 8 really bring out the bell like attack, almost all are useful with the exception of 10 to 14.
I find it interesting that there is useable range and no solid consensus on which sounds the best.
I think position 5-6 sounds best on your Rhodes. Honestly I think I spend more time tweaking my Rhodes than recording/playing it haha
That is part of the fun of playing Fender Rhodes, you get to be a technician also haha. TBF I do enjoy working on my piano.
100% subjective to taste. Do you want that up octave overtone, clear, loud and ringing with no octave, very muted and subdued or something in between? What is "your" sound? This is why some pro players had two or 3 or 10 of these. You can adjust the whole board too.
Fully agree. The important part is that the voicing is what you enjoy and it's consistent across the piano. I find the comments interesting though that there is such a range in what people enjoy .
This instrument would torture me on every job. First of all the action never felt right.
I mean you REALLY had to work to play this keyboard.
But worst of all, These Tines would break quite frequently, and they would usually be the ones you used a lot ...
While other guys in the band were on a break, I would have to sit there with my screwdriver and super heavy wire cutter putting a replacement tine in and tuning it.
I literally had a bag of Tines with me all the time.
The best thing that ever happened was they sampled and digitized the thing so you could get the sound and modify it on any MIDI Keyboard !!! 🤬
Did you ever play a Wurlitzer?
@deancoyle Yes I Did ..... and it was seriously easier and more fun to play ... , but once Billy Joel released Just the Way You Are ....we were clammering for that Rhodes sound and the MXR Phaser ....lol
Had I heard a Wurlitzer with a phaser I might have went in that direction ...
I think Richard Carpenter put the Wurlitzer all over the airwaves but it wasn't a Rhodes and you know how desperate keyboard players would get for a certain sound ...!?
I couldn't wait to get back to a breakdown Hammond X5 which showed up around 1975.
And the Discs in my back will show you that the split Hammond was lighter than the Rhodes Suitcase....lol.... 😣😣😣