Effectology Vol: 8
Telstar (The Clavioline)

“Telstar” is a 1962 instrumental written and produced by the legendary Joe Meek.

The record was performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach Number One on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a Number One hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in July 1962.

The record featured a Clavioline, a very early analog synthesizer keyboard built with vacuum tubes.

The Clavioline has a unmistakable sound all its own.

Joe Meek’s Telstar was one of the first pop hits to feature a synthesizer.

Our track starts with a rocket lift-off. The sound was produced by slapping the strings of a compressed guitar near the bridge. This creates a huge explosive impulse within the Cathedral reverb.

The reverb was held in the infinite mode and processed by a MicroSynth. The MicroSynth distorted the reverb with a slow rising fliter sweep to give the sound a VERY loud rumble like a real rocket passing a microphone.

The outer space sounds and Morse code were done with a Poly Chorus in self-oscillation by turning the feedback up to 100%.

The Clavioline chain and settings are below:

The backing rhythm drum-like track was done using the white noise of a big Muff into a square wave tremolo of a Pulsar. The Big Muff uses a dummy plug in the input jack to turn the unit on without a guitar connected to it.
Pure noise!

The IBM random note generator at the end of the video was done by hitting random notes on the guitar neck with the right hand.

The chain and settings are below:

The bass sound was the MicoSynth with the Sub Octave up and the stop Freq slider up a very small amount.
All other faders are down.

All sounds were done recording direct without a guitar amp. Adjust your amp and its tone controls for a clean flat or neutral sound when using the settings above.

Thanks for listening,
Bill Ruppert

I was wondering… What guitar are you using? It’s got a very unique design.

And why do you record direct (versus through an amp). Does it help when creating the sounds, not having the amp get in the way? Do you ever play direct live? And What kind of D.I. would you recommend for recording?

A lot of question I know, sorry… I’ve become a fan

Thanks guys!
Jack the guitar I use on a daily basis in an old Ibanez JEM guitar.
It about 22 years old now and just sounds and plays great in any style.

I have been a studio musician for many years now and for me the best way to get great sound is by going direct.
I am called to get every sound imaginable and to get them very,very fast.
Going direct and using amp sims is the most consistent way for me to get a great repeatable sound.
Use an amp with a mic is great but the sound changes from room to room, mic to mic, engineer to engineer ect.
I have a great set of Genelec monitors here in my studio and when I create a sound here direct, I know I can plug into any studio anywhere and get the same sound.
Many less variables and more control.
Going direct also give you the ability to have a greater high end response which helps in the more synthy sounds.

For the EHX things I have done its all been direct with ether no amp sims or a very clean Fender Twin amp simulator found in the Roland/Boss units.
You can hear the clean amp sim at the beginning of the reveb show.

For me in a live situation I would use one of the amps built for simulators or keyboards or a very clean guitar amp with a good top end responce.

Bill

Jack
The full range amps I talked about are for when you are using amp simulators with SPEAKER simulation.
The simulators shave off the top assuming you will be plugging into a full range HI-FI monitor or full range headphones.
The high end response of guitar amp speakers is WAY less than a HI-FI speaker you would listen to music on.
Thats why the simulators sound bad through a guitar amp!
No High end and mud.

If you are just plugging the EHX pedals into a guitar amp the Fender Twin is a great choice.
I love the old tube Twins or Super Reverb amps.
Use a OD in fornt of the amp for any higer gain sounds.
If you have a POD or other amp simulator make sure you turn OFF the built in speaker emulator as the Fender or other conbo amps already have a speaker.
The extra speaker emulation filtering is where the mud happens.
Hope that helps, good luck!
Bill Ruppert

PS English Muff’n through a Twin would be sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Guillaume!

I love the sound of the Ondes Martenot.
There are several ways to get there.
I would try a glass slide as it will let you produce the glissando and vibrato which is a big part of the sound.
I would try a OD or Big Muff in front of the hog with the treble turned down.
Or a compressor in front of the HOG to even out the pick attack.
Play on one string and pick only once in a phrase.
The fuzz or comp will give you the sustain to make it through the phrase.
Be wide with the vibrato.
I know there are many ways to get there.
Have fun and let us know what you find!

Bill Ruppert

Dammit, I wish I hadn’t seen this video. Now I have that
melody in my head. Constantly .. playing over and over..
ha ha ha. mr. Ruppert. Nice work sir. Every effectology is
just amazing.