The Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill brings the sound of legendary Abbey Road Studios into your Reason rack. Recorded on location using Abbey Road's recording rooms and vintage equipment, this ReFill gives you access to seven time-honored Abbey Road instruments - these are the keyboards heard on all those immortal Abbey Road recordings.
The Abbey Road Keyboards were recorded using the original mics, outboard and vintage mixing desk from Abbey Road's Studio Two, recreating not only the sound of the instruments themselves, but the very signal paths, technology and recording techniques that is the Abbey Road sound. Each instrument was captured using multiple microphones placed at different locations in Studio Two's beautiful sounding recording space, allowing for full ambience control in Reason.
ABBEY ROAD and the ABBEY ROAD LOGO are trademarks of EMI (IP) Limited.
What does the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill contain?
- Steinway Upright - the Mrs. Mills piano
- Challen Studio Piano
- Hammond RT-3
- Mannborg Harmonium
- Schiedmayer Celeste
- Mellotron M400
- Tubular Bells
- Preset patches: Combinator patches for various mic blends.
- Style patches: Processed combinator patches.
- Template patches: Empty, pre-wired user patches.
- 40-page full color booklet: Enclosed in the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill box is Guide to Abbey Road Keyboards, a 40-page booklet by author by Mark Vail. Jam-packed with full color pictures and descriptive session diagrams, this book gives you in-depth info on the featured instruments and the Abbey Road technology used to record them.
The Abbey Road instruments
The instruments recorded for the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill all have a unique history of their own. A majority of the instruments captured here are the actual instruments used on numerous classic Abbey Road recordings. In a few cases where the original instrument had gone missing or simply weren't for hire, identical instruments similar in age and tone were used.
Steinway Upright - the Mrs. Mills piano
A bright, wonderfully out-of-tune upright piano with lacquered hammers that give it a distinct, tack-piano sound. Its very special tuning, or lack thereof, adds a natural chorus effect to its tone. Purchased by Abbey Road in the 1950s, this piano has been played by many famous hands.
Challen Studio Piano
Studio Two's slightly mellow, warm sounding upright has a dark tone and incredible sustain. Built in the 1930s, this piano looks just as old as it sounds. Which is downright beautiful.
Hammond RT-3
This Hammond RT-3, property of Abbey Road since the 1960s, is similar to the classic Hammond B3 organ, only bigger in size and packing more features. The majority of the featured RT-3 patches were recorded through a king-size Leslie Model 122 speaker, for that true Hammond sound.
Mannborg Harmonium
An entirely acoustic, manually powered reed organ which uses pedal driven air pumps to generate sound. The Harmonium has a soft attack and swelling, drone-like sound.
Schiedmayer Celeste
An orchestral keyboard instrument with a warm, bell-like tone. Although played using mallets, the Celeste is a surprisingly quiet instrument. Recorded properly, however, it can sound amazingly expressive. The Schiedmayer Celeste is one of the oldest instruments in the Abbey Road arsenal.
Mellotron M400
The Mellotron, a tape based version of today’s digital sampler, was popular among fearless experimental musicians in the 60s and 70s. Sampled here are the Flute, Cello and String tape banks, as used in Abbey Road's Mellotron in the 1960s.
Premier Tubular Bells
An orchestral percussion instrument made up of hollow metal tubes mounted on a frame. Tuned and laid out like a keyboard instrument, these bells will add a distinctive 60s feel to your tracks.
Abbey Road Keyboards - in the studio
Being what is perhaps the most famous recording studio on the face of the earth, Abbey Road is synonymous with Number One hits and historical pop recordings. But there's more to Abbey Road than all the name artists who have recorded there. At Abbey Road, it's all about the sound; the Abbey Road sound.
All instruments featured in the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill were recorded in Abbey Road's Studio Two, a spacious, first-class recording room with excellent acoustical qualities. In order to fully capture the magic of Studio Two, all instruments were recorded not only up close, but also from a considerable distance, allowing them to benefit from the room acoustics.
All instruments in the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill were recorded these in a way that will make them sound just as good in your Reason system as they do in real life. Using original vintage microphones, preamps and outboard gear from Studio Two, together with the expertise provided by the Abbey Road engineers, these instruments have been captured in the way they were back in the day. The result is Abbey Road - its instruments, its technology, its acoustics - in a box.
Guide to Abbey Road Keyboards
Author Mark Vail is an authority on vintage technology. Having put out books like "Vintage Synthesizers" and "The Hammond Organ", he now hits us with "Guide to Abbey Road Keyboards", a 40-page booklet that is included in the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill package. Containing full color pictures and microphone placement diagrams, this book gives you facts and trivia about each of the featured instruments, as well as detailed info on every piece of vintage kit used in the recordings.
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PC
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Mac
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Minimum:
- Reason 3.0 or later
- Intel Pentium 4 / 1.4 GHz or AMD Athlon XP
- 1 GB RAM
- DVD player
Recommended:
- Reason 3.0.4 or later
- Intel® Pentium 4 / 2.4 GHz or faster
- 2 GB RAM
- Fast hard drive
- Low-latency ASIO compatible soundcard
- DVD drive
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Minimum:
- Reason 3.0 or later
- Power Mac with a G4 processor or better + 1.0 GHz
- 1 GB RAM
- DVD player
Recommended:
- Reason 3.0.4 or later
- Power Macintosh G5 or Dual G4 / 1.4 GHz or faster
- 2 GB RAM
- Fast hard drive
- DVD drive
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