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Watkins Copicat
The Watkins Copicat is an audio effects unit that produces delay and reverb effects. One of the first commercially available tape delay units, the original Copicat model was produced by Watkins Electric Music beginning in 1958. The Copicat became one of Watkins' most successful products, and the company produced various Copicat models and versions over the following decades. History In 1960, inspired by the tape echo unit used on Marino Marini Quartet's song "Come prima", Charlie Watkins, co-founder of London music shop Watkins Electric Music, had the idea for a simple, affordable, portable tape echo unit. With the help of engineer Bill Purkis, Watkins designed the Watkins Copicat, a compact (12-inch by 8-inch) valve-based tape echo unit with three replay heads and selector switch, and a feedback loop for a variable echo-repeat effect. Watkins' shop sold the entire first production run of 100 Copicats on the first day, including the very first Copicat sold to Johnny Kidd of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Effects Unit
An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in electric blues and rock music; dynamic effects such as volume pedals and compressors, which affect loudness; filters such as wah-wah pedals and graphic equalizers, which modify frequency ranges; modulation effects, such as chorus, flangers and phasers; pitch effects such as pitch shifters; and time effects, such as reverb and delay, which create echoing sounds and emulate the sound of different spaces. Most modern effects use solid-state electronics or digital signal processors. Some effects, particularly older ones such as Leslie speakers and spring reverbs, use mechanical components or vacuum tubes. Effects are often used as stompboxes, typically placed on the floor and controlled with footswitches. They may also be built into guita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delay (audio Effect)
Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effect, whereby the original audio is heard followed by the delayed audio. The delayed signal may be played back multiple times, or fed back into the recording, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo. Delay effects range from a subtle echo effect to a pronounced blending of previous sounds with new sounds. Delay effects can be created using tape loops, an approach developed in the 1940s and 1950s and used by artists including Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Analog effects units were introduced in the 1970s; digital effects pedals in 1984; and audio plug-in software in the 2000s. History The first delay effects were achieved using tape loops improvised on reel-to-reel audio tape recording systems. By shortening or lengthening the loop of tape and adj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reverb Effect
A reverb effect, or reverb, is an audio effect applied to a sound signal to simulate reverberation. It may be created through physical means, such as echo chambers, or electronically through audio signal processing. Echo chambers The first reverb effects, introduced in the 1930s, were created by playing recordings through loudspeakers in reverberating spaces and recording the sound. American Producer Bill Putnam is credited for the first artistic use of artificial reverb in music, on the 1947 song "Peg o' My Heart" by the Harmonicats. Putnam placed a microphone and loudspeaker in the studio bathroom to create a natural echo chamber, adding an "eerie dimension". Plate reverb A plate reverb system uses an electromechanical transducer, similar to the driver in a loudspeaker, to create vibrations in a large plate of sheet metal. The plate's motion is picked up by one or more contact microphones whose output is an audio signal which may be added to the original "dry" signal. Plat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watkins Electric Music
Watkins Electric Music (WEM) is a British company known for manufacturing PA systems, the Copicat tape echo unit, guitar amplifiers, and electric guitars. History The company was co-founded by musician Charlie Watkins and his brother Reg Watkins in 1949, initially as a record shop in Tooting Market, London. Two years later the brothers moved to a small shop in Balham and began selling accordions and guitars. Watkins Electric Music was one of the first to manufacture and sell guitar amplifiers in England, introducing the Watkins Westminster in 1954, followed up by the V-fronted Dominator. In 1958, Watkins Electric Music introduced the Copicat, one of the first-ever portable tape echo units. The shop sold the entire first production run of 100 Copicats on the first day, including the very first Copicat sold to Johnny Kidd of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, whose guitarist used it on the group's UK hit song "Shakin' All Over". The Copicat would become one of the company's most succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tape Echo
Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effect, whereby the original audio is heard followed by the delayed audio. The delayed signal may be played back multiple times, or fed back into the recording, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo. Delay effects range from a subtle echo effect to a pronounced blending of previous sounds with new sounds. Delay effects can be created using tape loops, an approach developed in the 1940s and 1950s and used by artists including Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Analog effects units were introduced in the 1970s; digital effects pedals in 1984; and audio plug-in software in the 2000s. History The first delay effects were achieved using tape loops improvised on reel-to-reel audio tape recording systems. By shortening or lengthening the loop of tape and adj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marino Marini (musician)
Marino Marini (11 May 1924 – 20 March 1997) was an Italian musician who achieved international success in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography He was born into a family of musicians in Seggiano in the province of Grosseto to parents originally from Montecelio, Lazio. After briefly studying electronics, he studied piano, violin and composition at the Conservatorio Rossini at Bologna, teaching music on his graduation. In 1947, after military service, he was appointed artistic director of the Metropolitan music hall in Naples, where he developed a liking for Neapolitan music. In 1948 he visited the United States for six months, meeting Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton and Charlie Ventura. American jazz was also a formative influence. On his return, Marini wrote music for films and revues and played in cabaret in Rome and Naples. In 1954, he placed a newspaper advert seeking “young musicians without experience, singing in tune. If not cheerful, don't apply." From the many applic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Come Prima
"Come prima" (English: "As Before") is an Italian song, with lyrics by Mario Panzeri and music by Vincenzo Di Paola and Sandro Taccani. First made popular by Tony Dallara in Italy in 1957, a version by the Marino Marini Quartet was a hit in the United Kingdom in 1958. Versions The first and most popular version of "Come prima" in Italy was released by Tony Dallara (Antonio Lardera) in 1957. "Come prima" was Tony Dallara's first and breakthrough single. Although it was rejected for admission to the Sanremo Festival, it was an instant success and sold 300,000 copies, becoming the biggest selling single in Italy up to that point. In 1958 Tony Renis and the Combos also recorded the 45 rpm piece (Combo Record, 5057), also published in Germany, as a soloist (Polydor, 23 815). In 1958, a version of the song recorded by the Marino Marini Quartet made the United Kingdom charts. That same year, the song was also recorded by Domenico Modugno, Nicola Arigliano and Armando Trovajoli's o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Watkins (audio Engineer)
Charlie Watkins (28 June 1923 - 28 October 2014) was a British musician, inventor, and entrepreneur best known as the founder of Watkins Electric Music and a pioneer of sound reinforcement systems for rock concerts. Watkins was the first to build PA systems with multiple slaved solid state amplifiers driving various loudspeaker stacks, beginning with the Windsor Festival in 1967. Early life Watkins was born in London in 1923. He enlisted in the Merchant Navy with his brother Reg, serving during the Battle of the Atlantic. While serving in the Merchant Navy, Watkins began playing accordion, and after returning home following World War II, Watkins played professionally for several years. Career In 1949, Watkins and his brother Reg opened Watkins Electric Music, a record shop in Tooting Market, London. Two years later the brothers relocated the shop to Balham and began selling accordions and guitars. Realizing the increasing need for guitarists to be able to amplify their inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Kidd (singer)
Frederick Albert Heath (23 December 1935 – 8 October 1966), known professionally as Johnny Kidd, was an English singer-songwriter, best remembered as the lead vocalist for the rock and roll band Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. He was one of the few pre-Beatles British rockers to achieve worldwide fame, mainly for his 1960 hit, "Shakin' All Over". Biography Frederick Albert "Freddie" Heath was born in 1935 in Willesden, North London, England. He began playing guitar in a skiffle group in about 1956. The group, known as "The Frantic Four" and later as "The Nutters", covered primarily skiffle, pop and rockabilly. Simultaneously Heath was proving to be a prolific writer; penning most of 30 songs in over three months. Heath's 31st song would prove to be the group's break. In 1959, Heath and his band were given a recording test for their first single, a rocker titled " Please Don't Touch". A contract with HMV quickly followed and the group were then informed during the session that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakin' All Over
"Shakin' All Over" is a song originally performed by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. It was written by leader Johnny Kidd, and his original recording reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1960. The song is sometimes credited to Frederick Albert Heath, which is Kidd's real name. Kidd's recording was not a hit outside Europe. In other parts of the world the song is better known by recordings from other artists. A version by Chad Allan and the Expressions, later known as The Guess Who, was recorded in December 1964. It reached #1 in Canada in the spring of 1965, #22 in the US and #27 in Australia. Another famous recording by The Who was featured on their 1970 album ''Live at Leeds''. Normie Rowe's 1965 version reached No. 1 in Australia as a double A-side with "Que Sera Sera". History Johnny Kidd version The musicians who performed on the original recording were Johnny Kidd (vocals), Alan Caddy (rhythm guitar), Brian Gregg ( bass), Clem Cattini (drums) and Joe Moretti (lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Binson Echorec
The Binson Echorec is an echo machine produced by Italian (Milan) company Binson founded by Dr. Bonfiglio Bini, an early manufacturer of such devices. Unlike most other analog echo machines, they used an analog magnetic drum recorder instead of a tape loop. After using Meazzi Echomatic machines successfully to establish his signature sound, Hank Marvin of The Shadows began using Binson echoes. He used various Binson units on record and stage for much of the mid-to-late 1960s, in conjunction with Vox AC30 amplifiers and Burns London guitars. Marvin continued to use Binsons until c.1979/1980, when he began using the Roland RE-201 echo. Binson units were used to great effect by Pink Floyd's original frontman Syd Barrett and then guitarist David Gilmour, but also by keyboardist Richard Wright. The classic Binson delay effect can be heard on songs such as "Interstellar Overdrive", " Astronomy Domine", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Time". Engineer Andy Johns used a Binson ec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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