Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) Electra-Piano

I love finding out what certain instruments I hear on recordings actually are. For instance, long ago, I remember hearing a lot of songs that featured organ, but on some of these very same songs the organ would take on two different personalities in terms of sound. On quiet passages it would be that smooth, pure electric organ sound. But during louder passages it was a shaky, warbling sound and I had no idea how that was attained. After all, I had only had some cheap synthesizers with solely that clear organ sound. It wasn't until I talked with a more experienced fellow musician about it that I learned the warbling tone came from using a Leslie Speaker with the organ. From that point I did a ton of research on Leslie speakers and found out that basically there were rotating speakers inside a wooden cabinet that when turned on applied the scientific principle of the Doppler effect in order to create that unique sound. OK, so I guess it's not just instruments but also effects that are meant to be used with instruments. Anyway it's exciting to learn new things such as this and today I learned one more thing.

There was a musical instrument that was used in several songs that I really like from the early 1970s. It was clearly a keyboard-type instrument and I kept thinking it was some kind of electric harpsichord. It was certainly not a Fender Rhodes nor a Wurlitzer nor an electric clavinet. As I researched videos for vintage electric harpsichords online and listened to their sounds I was not fully convinced I was on the right track.

Here is one of the songs I first heard this instrument on. It is right at the start of the song and plays throughout. The song is not in English, as it is a Brazilian song from 1972. Check it out:




Interesting sound, right? Well, today I decided to play one of the many LP's I have which I will be selling. It happened to be Bread's debut album from 1969 which I bought during my sole visit to the now-defunct, annual Mammoth Music Mart. I picked up 4 LP's and several cd's that day. But as I played the Bread album I pulled out the sheet with lyrics and credits and looked over the instruments each member of the band played. There was one called RMI electric piano. I had never heard of that before. I'm sure I looked at that sheet dozens of times before but I never sought out to discover exactly what an RMI electric piano was. Today I did, though, and I found a video of a dude playing one on YouTube. And it was exactly that sound in those songs!! I can't really pick out where it was used on any of the Bread songs on that album but I will have to listen again more carefully.

The interesting thing about this instrument is that it was fully electronic, using transistors instead of any electro-mechanical parts to generate the sound. The 300 series (which were probably used in these songs) came out in 1970 so the timing is definitely right.

Check out this video of someone playing this instrument:





And now one more of the songs that had the RMI in it:



It's not as prominent throughout this song as it was in the first song. It starts to come in during the latter part of the solo in the middle of the song. It is not to be confused with the Fender Rhodes which plays throughout the song.

So I'm pretty pleased to have learned something accidentally today, especially considering it was something I've been trying to figure out for quite some time!

Ambient, Mood & Movie Music

If I should not make it for any reason as a recording artist in my own rite, I would be more than satisfied making music for films or broadcast programs or even commercials. I enjoy writing lyrics and singing even though I find it incredibly difficult to sing on pitch, but I also enjoy creating mood music and letting the instruments do the 'singing.' I am particularly interested in foreboding or suspenseful type music, like the great sounds that can be heard on many if not all the crime drama movies and TV shows of the late 60's through the mid 70's. That stuff is classic. SWAT, Kojak, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad, The Mechanic, Death Wish and so many others featured such amazing mood music soundtracks. But I don't want to limit myself to just that era, even the sounds created during that time sets the bar in my opinion.

I have here 2 pieces of original work I created. This first one is more modern sounding and could be used in a variety of applications. It's just a 2 track recording and completely recorded on my Yamaha S90 synthesizer. It could best be described as New Age or Ambient. I'm not sure what other classification I could put this song under. Perhaps Soundtrack. I think Ambient fits best.

This is a short 2 minute piece that I made in 2011. It's different from anything I created up to that point and anything I've done since. It's just a synthesizer track plus a piano track. I call it "Open Sky."




I was going for a simplistic yet foreboding feel. I just completely improvised on the piano part.

This next track has a more 70s feel to it. No wonder with the Wurlitzer and Rhodes electric piano parts! But that's what I was going for. I think it is more than just background music when compared to "Open Sky." It does have more movement to it and a fuller sound thanks to the electric piano parts, electric guitar, electric bass and drumstick beat.

I don't usually start recording any song with drums or percussion but this one did begin with the drumsticks. I was working on another song at the time--probably "Blow Your Mind"--and took a break. I had the vocal mic hooked up to some serious delay and reverb and just started messing around with some drumsticks. I came up with the idea for the cool beat you will hear in this song. I tried playing it in time for about 2 and a half minutes so I could have a decent length recording. After I had that track down I just started layering the other parts on top. The parts on this song were more planned out than on "Open Sky." At least the first half of the song could definitely be used during an on-foot chase or pursuit scene and the second half during some suspenseful or revealing scene. But you listen and decide for yourself.




This is one of my newer projects having been recording just last year in 2012. Would love to make a whole album of just this 70's tinged mood/movie music. The good thing is the songs don't have to be long. They can be 2 minutes and under. Consider this a preview of an album to come then. Perhaps you'll hear this stuff in the theatre or on TV in the near future.

(Edit: I forgot to mention that on 'Coming Apart' there are a few additional percussion instruments I added on there courtesy of my Yamaha S90.)