Hi all,
Michael Penn just answered a bunch of questions posed by the
members of the MP mailing list (
michaelpennlist@yahoogroups.com).
For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he is a
singer/songwriter/musician who has always used lots Chamberlin M1
in a large percentage of his work (like most all of it). He had a
reasonably big hit in the US Ca. 1989 called 'No Myth'.
One of the question hit close to us, and it seemed appropriate to
post it here:
> Q - When did you first learn of the Chamberlin? How did you discover
> it? Are there any Chamberlin recordings you would recommend? Is
> there any chance of you and Patrick recording an instrumental album?
>
> A - I first heard about it when I was in high school. I was never a
> fan of synthesizers imitating acoustic instruments and at that time
> samplers were low on memory and expensive. A friend of mine had heard
> about an eccentric inventor out in Upland (50 miles east of L.A.) who
> had invented these great keyboards in the 40s. Later when I was
> looking for sounds that would work with some of the music I was
> writing I remembered Harry Chamberlin and I made a trek out to Upland
> and tracked him down. He was still making them out of a small
> warehouse near his home and I got to know Harry and bought one of his
> M1s. There are many records that make great use of the Chamberlin.
> Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me" Bowie/Eno "Low", Leon Russel "Carney"
>
The refernece to Patrick is Patrick Warren who plays it on all
MPs albums and uses the cool technique of pitch bending the
Chamberlin by slowing the flywheel with his hand..
The rest of the interview in unrelated to the Chamberlin but if
anyone wants it let me know.
Bob S.