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I found an old post (among some others) where you wrote about the process a few years back, and I have some others saved if you'd like them re-posted too for posterity. In this did you mean you were using the machine from UCLA rather than the Eltro?

I started recording --before-- the Sunflower CCW was recorded, but --after-- Brian had conceived of CCW. The creation of 2 1/2 octaves of drips by way of the ELTRON machine and subsequent transfer to the small CHAMBERLIN were in progress during the month or two it took to record CCW by the group. There were 30 different types of drips and blubbs recorded, each with 26 notes. That is a lot of work!! When we had our first production meeting concerning "Cool, Cool Water" I suggested the use of real water sounds recorded using an ELTRO machine (Eventide Harmonizer was not invented yet) to first shift the pitch making 2 1/2 octave half-note steps and to transfer all the notes to a small Chamberlin machine.

Management said to "go for it" and so I took off to northern California with my portable NAGRA profession tape recorder and a good microphone to capture running water sounds in the wild. Later I also recorded air making blubb-type sounds as blown air came up through flower mixed with water in large buckets. This too was put into 2 1/2 octave steps. It was not until this entire project was finished that Brian even became aware of what I was doing. The small Chamberlin, I modified so that I could use each of its internal playback heads for recording or re-recording each of the tape-threads in the instrument without needing to remove them from the unit. I assembled a variety of water sounds and bubble sounds tuned in one-half note steps for a 2_ octave spread - to be used for "Cool, Cool Water" - and installed or recorded them one by one into the smaller Chamberlin.

I was wondering more about whether or not the borrowed machine was used for the similar pitch-shifting effect on the vocals in She's Goin' Bald around the same time as work on the Cool Cool Water keyboard project (if both did use the same machine), because that could maybe narrow down the timeline a bit. It's really fascinating tracking this song's evolution through all the different permutations.

Also, so cool that you still have all the original water sounds! I (and I'm sure many others) would love to hear them if it's something you'd feel comfortable sharing in the future.

COMMENT to wjcrerar:   Thanks for digging that clip up.  I think when I wrote that I was trying to simplify everything without a lot of detail, thinking the reader could find the rate changing technology by looking up the ELTRO machine.  But the fact of the matter is that the machine I used was a monster of a thing, taking two people to move it, and it was noisy. I wish the ELTRO had been around, it would have simplified everything. I became aware of the UCLA rate changing machine from my friend Steve Temmer, at that time the owner of Gotham Audio Corporation, the sole importer of Neumann microphones, etc. into the USA. in late 1966 he was just beginning to import the ELTRO from its German manufacturer, but only had a couple of machines in NYC, but knew of a prototype used for teaching purposes at UCLA and occasionally rented to studios. At that time it was used when a commercial was slightly too long for its intended slot. In some ways the machine I used was the forerunner of what eventually became the ELTRO machine since the original patents date back to 1920. As with many inventions, the idea was there. but had to wait on technology to realize a practical device. I became fascinated with the idea of changing pitch without a change in duration and visa versa. I wanted to know how this was accomplished, so arranged a visit to UCLA for a demo. It was the ability to change pitch without changing duration that I was interested in. The ELTRO is a forsetter design, that is, it sets in front of a tape recorder. The machine I rented had an internal tape recorder. When the Cool Cool Water project came about, I rented the machine for ten days to transform all the water sounds from one event to twenty-six events, each a half-note apart. In this way a polyphonic chord could be played with each note of the chord starting and stopping at the same time. The machine was placed in Brian's living room, which would later become the house studio. At that time, recording of SmileySmile was underway and when I showed Brian what the machine did, he figured a place to use it in GB. I demonstrated it to Jimmy Lockart, the engineer for that album and the rest you hear. That would be around late 1966 or early 1967. Hope that helps. ~swd

References:

ELTRO II background >>> http://www.wendycarlos.com/other/Eltro-1967/Eltro-1967.pdf
 
ELTRO II history by Windy Carlos >>> http://www.wendycarlos.com/other/Eltro-1967/

First Imported 1966 >>> https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Miscellaneous-Manufacturers/Gotham-Audio-1966.CV01.pdf

Brilliant, thank you so much for the info! That's exactly what I wanted to find out and more, I'll have to do some reading up on the links you attached.

I found an old post (among some others) where you wrote about the process a few years back, and I have some others saved if you'd like them re-posted too for posterity. In this did you mean you were using the machine from UCLA rather than the Eltro?

I started recording --before-- the Sunflower CCW was recorded, but --after-- Brian had conceived of CCW. The creation of 2 1/2 octaves of drips by way of the ELTRON machine and subsequent transfer to the small CHAMBERLIN were in progress during the month or two it took to record CCW by the group. There were 30 different types of drips and blubbs recorded, each with 26 notes. That is a lot of work!! When we had our first production meeting concerning "Cool, Cool Water" I suggested the use of real water sounds recorded using an ELTRO machine (Eventide Harmonizer was not invented yet) to first shift the pitch making 2 1/2 octave half-note steps and to transfer all the notes to a small Chamberlin machine.

Management said to "go for it" and so I took off to northern California with my portable NAGRA profession tape recorder and a good microphone to capture running water sounds in the wild. Later I also recorded air making blubb-type sounds as blown air came up through flower mixed with water in large buckets. This too was put into 2 1/2 octave steps. It was not until this entire project was finished that Brian even became aware of what I was doing. The small Chamberlin, I modified so that I could use each of its internal playback heads for recording or re-recording each of the tape-threads in the instrument without needing to remove them from the unit. I assembled a variety of water sounds and bubble sounds tuned in one-half note steps for a 2_ octave spread - to be used for "Cool, Cool Water" - and installed or recorded them one by one into the smaller Chamberlin.

I was wondering more about whether or not the borrowed machine was used for the similar pitch-shifting effect on the vocals in She's Goin' Bald around the same time as work on the Cool Cool Water keyboard project (if both did use the same machine), because that could maybe narrow down the timeline a bit. It's really fascinating tracking this song's evolution through all the different permutations.

Also, so cool that you still have all the original water sounds! I (and I'm sure many others) would love to hear them if it's something you'd feel comfortable sharing in the future.

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Hi Stephen, if you still check up on this thread I have a question I was wondering if you might be able to help with about some of your work on Cool Cool Water - I've been reading through some (fascinating) old posts about the 'water keyboard' you created using an Eltro to change the pitch of real water recordings before making them playable via one of the group's Chamberlin models, and noticed in a couple of them you mentioned the then-not-quite-assembled state of the studio in Brian's house and also the link to the Eltro being used in She's Goin' Bald. Do you remember if the Eltro was used on She's Goin' Bald around the same sort of time that you were using it for the water project or was it rented out on separate occasions?

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