Hammond and Leslie question

[Slipkid]

Hello good people,

I am here for some advice please. I’m working on a track that’s crying out for an Hammond organ. I have the Colla B3 plugin and it sounds ok but I was wondering if there are any experts out there who could give me some hints and tips to make it sound as if someone who knows what they’re doing is playing it. I’ve never touched a real Hammond so I’m flying blind really.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Regards John

[BigRedX]

What genre of music? There are quite a few different styles of playing Hammond organs (with the Leslie), and you'll need to pick the right one to make it sound authentic.

I'd find live videos of a band playing the style of music I was after and have a good look at how the keyboards are being played.

[Slipkid]

Thanks for the reply. It’s a kind of early 60s style pop/ rock track.

[BigRedX]

Are you sure it's the Hammond/Leslie sound you are after?

A lot of early 60s pop would have been played on something more affordable like a Vox or Farfisa.

[resistorman]

You can get a lot of mileage by using long sustained chords and speeding up/ slowing down the Leslie. Try fast leslie through a chorus and let it slow into the verse.

[Slipkid]

Thanks for the replies.

The Hammond sounds ok already and suits the track. It’s Just a bit lifeless and dull. It’s playing sustained chords so I’ll try , as suggested, slowing the rotary effect in the verse and ramping up into the choruses.

[The Elf]

For many styles of music the player's response to the song in speeding up/slowing down the Leslie is critical. Speeding up adds anticipation and excitement, slowing down helps the song relax and back away - into a verse, for example. It's entirely a feel thing.

[sonics]

A Hammond needs movement to make it interesting and authentic.

Here's an example of some organ playing.
https://youtu.be/SQUEnALTXfA
You can see Steve Winwood using the different sounds of the two manuals, manipulating the drawbars, using palm slurs and changing the Leslie speed.

<Purist Warning: NOT a real Hammond!>

[BigRedX]

Thanks for the replies.

The Hammond sounds ok already and suits the track. It’s Just a bit lifeless and dull. It’s playing sustained chords so I’ll try , as suggested, slowing the rotary effect in the verse and ramping up into the choruses.

That might be your problem. Look at the clip posted and you'll see just how "percussive" Winwood's playing is. Even when he's doing the sustained chords in the chorus with his right hand, his left hand is adding all sorts of stabs and blips underneath.

[Drew Stephenson]

One thing I've learned with trying to do Hammond parts (I'm not a keys player in any shape or form) is that less is often more. Often an octave pair with a bit of automated Leslie speed control will give you most of what you need and makes it easy to add in a little grace note or two on the transitions.
As an example, the organ (probably not a Hammond!) on this track is really effective and really simple: https://youtu.be/mSgnC5eQ5u0?list=RDMM (organ comes in at about 2 min).

[IAA]

Often an octave pair with a bit of automated Leslie speed control will give you most of what you need and makes it easy to add in a little grace note or two on the transitions.

This. Don’t use straight triads too often, look at higher inversions, put some movement as Drew says with grace notes or use passing chords. Work the drawbars as well as the Leslie. Finally use the swell pedal for dynamics. An organ was always meant to have dynamics and most players tend to use that expression.

[Slipkid]

Again thanks for the replies and your time.

One of the things I was going to ask if this topic drew any traction ( which it has) is about draw bars. I simply don’t understand what they do. As to the Steve Winwood track I get that - I have another track which needs a stabby kind of organ and I’ve gone for a farfiisa plug in on that one.

[Slipkid]

Interesting that two people are saying don’t use triads. I’m a left hand root right hand chord ( I’m a guitarist) kind of keyboard player. As for using an expression pedal - you over estimate my abilities sir - this is all done step by step.

Of course I can draw it in afterwards.

Let me have a play over the next day or 2 and I’ll come back to you but I thank you for your help and opinions.

This a truly refreshing and supportive place. Rare in this world.

Regards. John

[Hugh Robjohns]

...Drawbars...I simply don’t understand what they do.

The Hammond is an 'additive synthesizer', with the drawbars contributing different harmonics for each note played. They are identified by numbers related to the standard pipe lengths in a pipe organ (in feet).

Individually, each drawbar produces a roughly sinusoidal tone, but using them in combinations creates more complex waveforms.

The 8ft drawbar (first white, 3rd from left) is the standard pitch. The 16ft drawbar (1st brown drawbar) generates an octave lower, while the other white drawbars marked 4, 2 and 1ft generate notes 1, 2 and 3 octaves higher.

This graphic relates the drawbars to their corresponding keyboard notes, and also lists the harmonic numbers and equivalent pipe organ stop names.

So, if you pull all the drawbars out fully, and play just a middle C note, you'll hear a chord comprising all those shaded notes!



The other drawbars all produce more complex harmonics. The second brown bar (5 1/3) produces a note a fifth higher than the standard pitch. The 2 2/3 bar is an octave higher (so a fifth above the 4ft bar), and the 1 1/3 an octave higher again (a fifth above the 2ft bar).

And finally, the 1 3/5 drawbar is a third above the 2ft pitch.

The volume of each drawbar's contribution is determined by how far the bar is pulled out, from off (0) to max (8).

If you search the web you'll find plenty of examples of settings to achieve different kinds of sounds, from flute-like, to meaty, to tinkly, to cutting... and so on. There are no rules, and experimentation is the key.

Something which catch you out, though, is that on a real console Hammond, the 1ft drawbar is unavailable when using the 'percussion' option (as its key contact is used to generate the trigger). The percussion mode adds a brief decaying pulse which adds emphasis to staccato notes.

Hope that gives some insight...

[Slipkid]

Thanks for this,

Some science behind what seems necromancy.

I’ve printed it out and will study.

[Wonks]

There are lots of bits of info out there on different drawbar settings for different songs. This Nord user forum thread has links to various spreadsheets and other pages with typical drawbar settings for various classic songs.

https://www.norduserforum.com/nord-stag ... html#p1896

But as has been said, they will have been adjusted during the performance, Leslie speeds changed, and other settings changed as the song progresses so the sound is rarely static.

[Arpangel]

If you listen to classical organ music, it’s based around sustained notes/chords, that’s how it works, mainly to take advantage of the acoustics of large churches and cathedrals.
When the electric organ came along, it took on more of a percussive rhythmic role, and if you do play sustained chords on an electric organ you’ll need to add variation and interest using effects and a Leslie, this is more than apparent on progressive rock records across the board.
In pop, Jazz, it’s more of a percussive approach, and Hammond organs are good at this, combine this with swipes and glissandos and you’ve got the whole recognised typical "Hammond sound"

[Slipkid]

Fascinating stuff. Thank you all. I’m playing around with draw bars as well as Leslie/chorus and it’s all sounding more Hammondy to my ears not perfect but getting there.

Thanks again

[The Elf]

Just find your own way. Tony Banks never switched his Leslie from 'slow', and it never did Genesis' music any harm!

Personally I loathe Hammond vibrato and don't have much love for fast Leslie, so maybe it coloured my attitude to Hammond!

[Wonks]

The thing about fast Leslie is that it’s nice when it goes back to slow.

[bonefixer]

The thing about fast Leslie is that it’s nice when it goes back to slow.

This. I like the sound of the slowing down Leslie. I don’t put it on fast much, generally just briefly and then off again to get the slow down at the end of a chorus or something.