Shadows echoes actually used

[rjdupe]

Hi all,
I have what is perhaps a very basic question for you all. Charlie has made a wonderful job of providing us with a large selection of echos for playing Shads numbers. I was curious of how may different echos were actually used either live or in recordings. A quick listen to many of their tracks indicates a characteristic Shadows sound. There are cases when distinctly different echos are clearly heard ( especially during muted sections) such as Apache and Wonderful land and also a few times when very little or no echo is used ( e.g. Nivram).

Did Hank 1) set up the desired echo effect himself and finely tune it,

2) Just dial up a known reference on the echo unit being used or

3) Was it left to a technician to set up the effects.

Are we presented with the choice of so many effects as a result of changes in equipment over the Shadows active years.

Looking forward to hearing thoughts from the many experienced members on this site. (I expect Charlie probably knows a lot about this!.)
Kind regards to all,
Robert

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Robert,
The earlier tracks would have been done with a Meazzi Echomatic 1 (this is possibly not the correct model name or number as so little is known about this unit, the nearest we think we know of is the model F) or a Meazzi Echomatic 2. The trickling echo sounds of Wonderful Land and others of that time are the Echomatic 2. Some of these units had presets inside that were not intended to be changed by the user. Dick Denney told me he was often called to the studio to make corrections to these settings, so either someone was messing with them or they went off spec on their own! This could explain why there are a number of variations, especially from the Echomatic 1.
I think Hank would have chosen his settings himself, although I can imagine others giving their opinion when recording.
Regards,
Charlie

[rjdupe]

Thanks Charlie for your kind reply.
The vast range of echo sounds available from you never cease to amaze me. I know it is important that to emulate Hank's sound it is necessary to try to reproduce the effects relating to a particular piece as accurately as possible. However I personally feel that as long as an appropriate echo which brings the music alive is used this is half the battle!.

Regards to you and all members,

Robert

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Robert,
You are right, and it is also knowing which components of the echo sound contribute to each tune, whether a particular delay/feedback pattern is really that important (to me it usually is), or a wow characteristic (as in wow and flutter, although some units cannot achieve this but tremolo arm technique helps a lot), as well as a particular voicing for the echo only part of the signal.
Regards,
Charlie

[grip]

Hi Charlie,

Two of the Echo models on my Line 6 M13 is "inspired" (to quote the maual) by the Binson Echorec (one of the models is "dry through"). There is a Wow & Flutter setting , is the W&F quantifiyable by the echo delay reate, or is it just a function of what speed the tape was running at. I suppose the real question is "How should I use it?"

Kind regards,


grip

[Charlie Hall]

Hi grip,
The W&F does not have to correspond at all to any particular delay time. However, if using a single tap, there can be a null point that tends to cancel the effect when the delay time is exactly related to the wow speed.
I would just set it to where it sounds best.
Regards,
Charlie

[grip]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for the advise.

Kind regards,


grip

[Deleted]

Hi All
Interesting stuff. I always thought they used Watkins Copy Kats, shows what I know.
All the best
George.