The Mellotron Group

 

I build plate reverbs for studios. Wood is not dense enough. I use stainless steel under high tension which gets a long decay time and a bright sound without huge resonant peaks.

Bill

From: Sean <fourtytwominds@yahoo.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, January 29, 2013 6:41:55 PM
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall

 

The strangest thoughts come on the shitter....

We all love the plate reverb right?

What if one was made with a gigantic sheet of wooden ply instead? Like the top of a violin? What on earth would that sound like as a reverb?

Thought I'd share.

-Sean

On Jan 31, 2013, at 10:06 AM, william Beith wrote:

 

Thinking about this at greater length, the wood plate would act more like a filter than a reverberation device.

 

I try to get the plate (metal) to deliver as flat a response as possible with maximum decay. The 3X7 foot plate gives a solid 3.5 seconds of decay, more if you compress the output. And low frequency rumble becomes a problem in the larger ones. A plate sitting on a concrete floor picks up the vibration of nearby foot steps. Maybe I can make a long one as a seismic monitor!

 

 

 Bill

 

From: Jack Younger <e4103s@yahoo.com>
To: "newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com" <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, January 31, 2013 6:23:22 AM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall

 

Since most pickup systems are magnetic, a wood plate would probably be more effort than it's worth....

That's not to say you can't use the resonant qualities of wood in the process. The strings are the integral part of the equation. Wood works on an instrument because the strings resonate the surface.  We've used our piano for reverb effects on a few occasions. The idea of a dedicated "string reverb" has been on my mind for quite some time.....tried it with a few old beater acoustic guitars, but with very little return.  

But something's currently in the works....details when something actually functions.  Ha!

From: william Beith <wbeith@sbcglobal.net>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall

 

Thanks for the plate acknowledgment. One issue I did not address is the process of exciting the plate to create the reverb then the mechanism to pick up the reverberated sounds. Inducing vibration in metal, then picking up the results of that induction is reasonably easy. Trying the same thing with wood seems to be more of an acoustical mechanical process. Maybe excite the wood with a loudspeaker (or one of those wall mount hi-fi speaker - subwoofer units) then use a Barcus Berry pick up for the return signal.

 

Bill

From: Tom Doncourt <tomdcour@amnh.org>
To: "newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com" <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, January 30, 2013 7:44:38 AM
Subject: RE: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall

 

Though it may seem ridiculous your idea makes some sense. I've gotten some sympathetic tone ringing out of large marimba notes that I've built. I tried miking them up and it added a warmth to the sound if not an actual reverberation. I wouldn't use a sheet of ply though- the way it is laminated prevents it from resonating. If you glued some 1/2 thick cedar lengths together on edge ( and better if they are quarter sawn), hung the "plate" from its nodal points and plcaed a speaker and a mike close by you might get an interesting tone, if not an actual reverb. I've seen Mr. Beith's lovely plate units-this is something of a wholly other order!

From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] on behalf of Sean [fourtytwominds@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:41 PM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall

 

The strangest thoughts come on the shitter....

We all love the plate reverb right?

What if one was made with a gigantic sheet of wooden ply instead? Like the top of a violin? What on earth would that sound like as a reverb?

Thought I'd share.

-Sean

On Jan 31, 2013, at 3:01 PM, Sean wrote:

 

I imagine you'd have to have an incredibly soundproof room to get away with the amplification levels needed.

I also imagine the resonant peaks of the wood would give a bizarrely colored reverb sound, and probably a pretty short reverb time overall.

Tom, why quarter sawn?

-Sean

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, william Beith wrote:
>
> Thanks for the plate acknowledgment. One issue I did not address is the process
> of exciting the plate to create the reverb then the mechanism to pick up the
> reverberated sounds. Inducing vibration in metal, then picking up the results of
> that induction is reasonably easy. Trying the same thing with wood seems to be
> more of an acoustical mechanical process. Maybe excite the wood with a
> loudspeaker (or one of those wall mount hi-fi speaker - subwoofer units) then
> use a Barcus Berry pick up for the return signal.
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Tom Doncourt
> To: "newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com"
> Sent: Wed, January 30, 2013 7:44:38 AM
> Subject: RE: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall
>
>  
> Though it may seem ridiculous your idea makes some sense. I've gotten some
> sympathetic tone ringing out of large marimba notes that I've built. I tried
> miking them up and it added a warmth to the sound if not an actual
> reverberation. I wouldn't use a sheet of ply though- the way it is laminated
> prevents it from resonating. If you glued some 1/2 thick cedar lengths together
> on edge ( and better if they are quarter sawn), hung the "plate" from its nodal
> points and plcaed a speaker and a mike close by you might get an interesting
> tone, if not an actual reverb. I've seen Mr. Beith's lovely plate units-this is
> something of a wholly other order!
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] on
> behalf of Sean [fourtytwominds@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:41 PM
> To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Off topic AND off-the wall
>
>
>  
> The strangest thoughts come on the shitter....
>
> We all love the plate reverb right?
>
> What if one was made with a gigantic sheet of wooden ply instead? Like the top
> of a violin? What on earth would that sound like as a reverb?
>
> Thought I'd share.
>
> -Sean
>