The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was watching the Beach Boys - An American Band DVD, and during the Good Vibrations section there's some instrument you rub with your finger playing the theremin part.

What is this instrument?

Not sure about THAT instrument, but they never used a real theremin on "Good Vibrations". Instead they used a "tannerin", which is in some way the same, but a lot easier to play.


Theremin:

(http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/350theremin.jpg)



Tannerin:

(http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/350kabourek.jpg)

That would be, I believe, a moog with a ribbon controller. That's what Mike used live -- he called it the "woo-woo machine."

Love Mike's comment at the 1971 show with the Grateful Dead - "they're makin' me play this woo-woo machine, man!"

Go to this website for information that will help clear up the mystery.

>>>  http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/Tannerin.html

The instrument Mike Love played was designed by Robert Moog for use by The Beach Boys on stage. It may have been fabricated by Tom Polk to Moog's specs. In fact two of them were fabricated, one as a backup. 

If you examine the photo of the Tannerin on the above site, you will see it has a handle in front of the keyboard which you hold while moving the pointer up and down the brass rod. The keyboard is fake -- it's just painted on as a guide, but the keys do not work.

Using this technique, Moog's stage design was more compact. It was also a flat wood unit with a tone generator (oscillator) built inside producing the sound needed, but no keyboard.  The pitch of the tone was controlled by Mike in much the same way a person plays a slide guitar.  Moog's design used a metalized ribbon about two feet long and made of woven copper and fiberglass.  It was 3/8 inch wide and stretched tightly over a strip of copper mounted onto a block of wood.  As you depressed the ribbon, part of it touched the copper underneath. Depending on how far from one end the depression was made, set the tone.  (Actually a wetstone bridge type of circuit caused the frequency of the tone to change as the reflected resistance of the ribbon changed.) The tone was only audible when the ribbon and the copper underneath made contact.

So in practice, you pushed down on the ribbon and moved your finger to change the pitch. The unit plugged into a guitar amp. It had a volume control knob and a fine tunning knob. Mike kept the volume at a constant setting. The fine tunning knob on the unit allowed Mike to be in tune with Carl's guitar.

Mike had tape with target lines marked along the length of the ribbon so he knew where to go with his finger.  No frets.  Also in the show he'd use this instrument to "whistle" at the girls or make a sound of surprise, etc. The unit mounted on top of a mike stand via a bracket.  He usually played it while standing and singing.

Good Listening,  ~Stephen W. Desper 

Just wondering, but what did they use on "I Just Wasn´t Made For These Times"? A theremin or a tannerin?

Tannerin.

Thanks!

When I was little I thought it was a person doing that   ::)

A person did it at Live 8 when the Tannerin broke down. It was funny to hear, just a pimple on the ass of an already horrible performance.

Amen, Jason. Amen.

That's pretty cool, man. "Woo-woo machine."

Wasn't the theremin used in the movies, SPELLBOUND and The Day The Earth Stood Still?   Its inventor I have heard was a Soviet spy.

I would recommend the classic documentary Theremin to everyone. Brian's even in it.

I believe Nine Inch Nails used an actual theremin in live performances, it had the rod and everything.

So have I. A lot of fun.

It's cool to have someone posting who actually saw and worked with the original Moog Ribbon Controller(s) as played by Mike Love...

I'm repeating myself from previous posts, but my favorite part of the story and the Beach Boys/Moog connection is how the song Good Vibrations was almost like the catalyst for creating a new way of controlling sound that the Beatles, among others, were soon to use on their own recordings. The credit was not as much the function, but rather the form, and how something specifically designed and crafted for the Beach Boys' touring needs was soon incorporated into Moog's synths and used by other artists.

I don't believe Tom Polk was involved in the original story, though: He did build the near-exact replica "Tannerin" for Brian's keyboard player Darian to use on tour with Brian, as shown on Polk's website. But the original request came from the Beach Boys, to Moog rep Walter Seer who they contacted about buying a real Theremin, and Seer then contacted Moog with the situation the Beach Boys were in, where they needed a traveling Theremin that someone could play in tune.

I know Dr. Paul Tanner is credited on the AFM sheets for playing the line on "Wild Honey", but I always thought that part sounded more like Mike's Theremin (as heard on various Good Vibrations and other live recordings from that era) and less like anything Dr. Tanner played on his own Electro-Theremin. So I'm wondering if it was Tanner playing the Moog Ribbon Controller on that session rather than his "Tannerin", or whether the EQ and such makes it sound thinner than it had on GV and Pet Sounds...

I'd like to buy a Moog Ribbon Controller. Or make one someday.

I've got one and would HEARTILY recommend it to you, Craig. I've also got a modern-made but old-school tech Moog with it's own Theremin attachment. There's nothing like it.

1 Tip: try Google: "Mouse Theremin" (http://www.google.nl/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=nl&btnG=Google+zoeken&as_epq=Mouse+Theremin+&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images) for all kinds of software versions


2 'Live' demo
(http://membres.lycos.fr/matrara03/wilson.gif)
('gif movie' was posted earlier
 by another regular visitor of this site)


3 THEREMIN through the Ages (http://www.lovsky.com/theremin/) :)
(http://www.lovsky.com/theremin/images/japantheremin.jpg)

Enjoy! my 3 cents...

Simon and Garfunkel had an interesting use of the theremin on their recent tour -- they used it to replicate the steel guitar/trumpet part from The Boxer.

That's a good idea. Creative solution.

COMMENT TO GUITAR FOOL:

Eat lunch with your cellphone --- Mixdown with your driver's license!

Make a Theremin out of your driver's licence >>> [ http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=db3ll ]  If you know how to adjust parameters on your computer you can adapt this idea to changing frequency rather than harmonic tone.  Neat idea I must say.

How to construct a ribbon controller >>> [ http://www.paia.com/ProdArticles/dual-ribbon-howto.htm ]

How to construct the ribbon itself >>> [ http://www.wiseguysynth.com/larry/ribbon/rcp1.pdf ]

More on how to construct the ribbon itself >>> [ http://www.angelfire.com/music2/theanalogcottage/ribcont.htm ]

Using the MOOG to control the ribbon >>> [ http://www.danacountryman.com/ribbon/controller.html ]

Another construction article for the ribbon controller >>> [ http://www.electronicpeasant.com/projects/ribbon/controller.html ]

Here's a demo of a ribbon controller with "electronic frets" >>> [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghxmc_oifg ]

These days it's not too hard to roll your own ribbon controller -- so get out that tool box and try it yourself!!   ~swd

Nice to see you back Mr Stephen W. Desper!

Hurrah for Mr Desper!

Really good to see you posting again Mr D!! :)

I'm sure a lot of you guys already knew this, but the reason they didn't use a 'real' Theremin is because it's just too dang difficult to play.  In fact, Raymond Scott patented a keyboard Theremin for this reason way back in 1952:

http://RaymondScott.com/Clavivox.html

... & he added more controls, etc., & it became a full-fledged synthesizer -- many years before Bob Moog's first prototype.

Wow, this thread is so old. I don't even remember posting it.

Actually, I believe what was used on the record is called an "electro-Theremin", what Mike played live was the ribbon controller from a Moog, and what Probyn uses in Brian's band is a specially-built modern equivalent of an electro-Theremin, which they named a "Tannerin" in honor of Mr. Tannerin since he built the first electro-Theremin.  But I don't think they were calling his invention a Tannerin in the sixties.

And I believe the sound on "The Boxer" is a steel guitar/flute (rather than trumpet).

aren't these all evolutions of the Ondes Martenot, as used by Messiaen and, latterly, Radiohead?

OK, either I'm blind or it wasn't mentioned inthis thread, but...

You want an album with Brian Wilson on it that has Theremin?

Mind If We Make Love To You by Wondermints. Song: "Out Of Mind." Real, honest-to-Rodney theremin!

The theremin - tannerin confusion was one of my pet peeves in the old days of this message board. I think I gave the same explanation once about a week. :)

Here you can see how a theremin is being played: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONJfp95yoE