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Old 7th Nov 2017, 12:56 pm   #1
Station X
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Default Theremin demo.

Click on the link below and scroll down the page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Red_October


Also:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazin...y-the-theremin
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 1:05 pm   #2
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

I recall hearing somewhere that Theremin had been commissioned to come up with some sort of device that would assist with detecting mines and other unexploded ordnance in the wake of WW1 and the ensuing Civil War using the new-fangled science of electronics and that the eponymous instrument was a spin-off from this research. Not sure how true this is, but seems kind of credible.
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 1:55 pm   #3
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Anyone interested in further reading might like to read Albert Glinsky's biography of Theremin.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theremin-ET...words=theremin


The Ch4 documentary about Theremin (made while he was still alive) is also a must-see. I had to get the region 1 DVD as it wasn't available here at the time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theremin-El...words=theremin



Both book and film are very exciting if you're interested in Theremin.

Lydia Kavina on that BBC link was on the One Show a couple of years back. She was the musician behind the theremin part on the Ed Wood theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvOi2d7fI4w
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 2:30 pm   #4
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Thanks for the links Kevin. I recorded that CH4 Documentary on Theremin and may have other video material. Lydia [Theremin's Granddaughter] did a recital in Southampton during 1995 [I think?]. I could have got there [from Rammy] as I knew someone starting at Uni who would have done the transport but unfortunately, I was quite ill at the time. Theremins relative turning up was a big deal for me so I rang the venue and spoke to the manager saying I would have been there if it had been was possible and asking if anyone would be recording the performance. He seemed impressed that I had rung him and said, actually, the BBC would be there. I don't think the whole performance went out as a Broadcast though. Anyway, the manager sent me a tape in the end [possibly his own copy] which I regarded as a very kind gesture. I still have the tape and it should emerge at some point as my Archive gets consolidated-a work in progress

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Old 7th Nov 2017, 5:11 pm   #5
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Jimmy Page was a virtuoso .................
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 5:56 pm   #6
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

There was a superb valved theramin under construction by an Italian a couple of years ago on youtube, but I've lost the link. They look deceptively simple to play, but you could say that about a mandolin when you see one played by an expert. Some exponents are really adept at it. For example, here's a theramin cover version by Randy George, of 'Crazy' (made famous by Gnarles Barkley):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0B1sipLBI

Here's the original Gnarles Barkley version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w

If you fancy building one from valves, (or 'toobes') here you go - a nice vintage design:

https://antiqueradio.org/pe0455.htm
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 7:49 pm   #7
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tractionist View Post
Jimmy Page was a virtuoso .................
He was and still is, I've heard him in the flesh so to speak. He used a 'Sonic Wave' model.
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 7:49 pm   #8
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

You can make a basic theremin by putting a couple of radios close to each other on the same frequency, and clipping a croc lead onto one of the tuning vanes for a pitch aerial. The two oscillators will couple and 'heterodyne' so you get a wail. This wail will then be 'playable' using the croc lead, say with the other end clipped to the curtain or edge of a shelf etc.

obviously the one you use for the pitch aerial is safest as a battery model.


Theremin's life was fascinating and included running a New York business in the 1930's making walk-through metal detectors for prison visiting rooms, capacitive proximity switches for point of sale advertising gimmicks and photoelectric barriers.
The cold-war part of his life saw him design 'The Thing' which is a subject all in itself:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Th...tening_device)
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 8:47 pm   #9
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Beats my late Dad's recital on a One String Fiddle, accompanied by my late Mum on a 2 hand Planking Saw
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 9:46 pm   #10
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Can anyone think of any relatively well known musical piece which features a Theramin 'solo'?

I've always assumed the original Star Trek theme used a theramin but if it did, that was for the melody. I'm thinking more of a 'lead guitar' style solo. That would be interesting to hear. Tractionist mentioned Jimmy Page - which tracks?
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Old 7th Nov 2017, 10:26 pm   #11
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Whole Lotta Love and No Quarter.

There's a clip of him demonstrating it to U2s The Edge and The White Stripes Jack White.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kujH0ScAi0

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Old 8th Nov 2017, 12:02 am   #12
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Depends what you mean by well known! Lots of film music of course.
The most famous has to be 'Good Vibrations' by the Beach Boys, who used a specially built, modified theremin renamed the 'Electro-Theremin' that is played by running your finger up and down a calibrated strip rather than waving your hand at an aerial, so they could hit all the right notes while still retaining portamento or legato.

The star trek theme uses, I think, an Ondes-Martinot, where a brass ring is worn which is attached to a pot or capacitor via fishing line and is slid up and down a scale to give you your notes.

(Lydia Kavina duets with an Ondes Martinot on the aforementioned Ed Wood theme).

In more modern times, Goldfrapp have used a portable one, in fact they used it on the Graham Norton show.
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 12:54 am   #13
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Wasn't it used on Forbidden Planet or was that something else? Jimmy Page great guitarist but no Brian Wilson. It's Theremin that's the real hero.

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Old 8th Nov 2017, 7:36 am   #14
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

For the strip-tuned oscillator, look up "Trautonium" and the later Moog "Ribbon Controller"

David
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 8:17 am   #15
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrewausfa View Post
Whole Lotta Love and No Quarter.

There's a clip of him demonstrating it to U2s The Edge and The White Stripes Jack White.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kujH0ScAi0

Andrew
Thanks Andrew - I'll ask my Bro' about this ..... he's a close mate of Jimmy's. (Altho' I did once see this rig in Jim's Mill House studio ..... adjacent to his axe and jukebox galleries!)
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 8:41 am   #16
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Can anyone think of any relatively well known musical piece which features a Theramin 'solo'?
Inspector Barnaby?
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 9:37 am   #17
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Can anyone think of any relatively well known musical piece which features a Theramin 'solo'?

I've always assumed the original Star Trek theme used a theramin but if it did, that was for the melody. I'm thinking more of a 'lead guitar' style solo. That would be interesting to hear. Tractionist mentioned Jimmy Page - which tracks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXMuZ5iGTqk&t=10s
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 1:54 pm   #18
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

A bit of basic research has revealed that the Theremin was used in F P and a host of of other Sci Fi films from the fifties onwards. It had a chilling solo outing in Hitchcock's famous "Spelbound2 as well. Apparently it's first cinema outing was a Soviet propaganda film as part of a score by shostalovitch. This must have been Leon first reccruitment by government agencies including the later abduction from the USA! He seems to have been a relatively unworldly and decent person, who just wanted to get on with his work-abit like Tesla perhaps?

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Old 8th Nov 2017, 2:48 pm   #19
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Midsomer Murders.........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTZK9FNgK74
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Old 8th Nov 2017, 10:03 pm   #20
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Default Re: Theremin demo.

Beautiful performance expertly played by Celia Sheen. Sadly no longer with us.
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