Love the old Hammond consoles, and when I got my hands on one I decided to log my experiences and the information I found on the web to this blog, I also play sax and bass, and sometimes take out a cigar box guitar for that instant ZZ-Top sound. I'm an active member of Wikiloops.com where you will find a fair few tracks I posted with these instruments.
Booker T. Jones (born November 12, 1944) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.’s.
The original recording with the MGs can be found here;
“A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the debut single by the English rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The record reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. The Hammond was played by Matthias Fischer.
Jut added an Audioengine D1 to my setup. This makes such a difference, the sound quality is so much better than using either the Steinberg CI2+ headphone output, and it also leaves the output from my Macbook Pro in the dust. Granted, I’m using an AKG – K-701 which is notoriously tricky to drive, but this little DAC / Headphone amp does it really well.
Most of you will know that I am quite an active contributor to Wikiloops, which involves download mp3 tracks and adding additional stems, and I really had a hard time hearing the previously recorded tracks – with the Audioengine D1, this problem is now solved.
Only downside is the it takes only the small 1/8 ” mini plug size (3.5 mm), but with the appropriate adapter it will also drive headphones that use the larger 1/4” plug, like the AKG K-701.
Percussion: On, Soft, Fast, Third
C3, Leslie: slow
Rock, R&B
888800000
848000000
70
Percussion: Off
C3, Leslie: slow, fast
Simmering
830000378
Percusion: Off
VC Off, or C3, Leslie: Fast
Mellow
803600000
Percussion: Off
No VC, Leslie: alternate slow/fast
Shouting
668848588
Percussion: Off
VC: Off, C3
Leslie: alternating slow / fast
Whistle
888000008
Percussion: Off
C3, Leslie: fast for solo, slow for comp
It is important to note that no Hammond sounds the same, so to get the desired sound you may have to adjust the drawbars slightly from the settings shown above. Especially on wax-cap Hammonds, which can sound more muted, you may want to add some more treble (higher drawbars).