De theremin :,
uit songfacts "good vibrations" :
"The unusual, high-pitched sound in this song was produced using an electro-theremin, which produces a similar sound to a traditional
theremin, an instrument that uses electric current to produce sound (you
don't touch a theremin to play it, but move your hand across the
electric field). The theremin was invented in 1919, but was very hard to
play, and ended up being used mostly as a sound effects device.
Brian Wilson was familiar with the instrument, as it was used to create eerie sounds in low budget horror movies like
The Day the Earth Stood Still and
It Came from Outer Space. When he put cellos on "Good Vibrations," he envisioned an unusual high
frequency sound to go along with them, and he thought of the instrument.
Wilson couldn't track down a real theremin, but found an inventor named
Paul Tanner who'd been a trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra
between 1938-'42. Tanner had developed a similar device with Bob
Whitsell called an electro-theremin, which unlike a regular theremin,
had no antennas. Tanner was brought in to play the device on the
recording.
A huge challenge was re-creating the sound of the theremin for live performances. On the road, they used a modified
synthesizer with a ribbon controller that Mike Love would play. In the
'90s, another inventor named Tom Polk created a device called a
tannerin, which created a similar sound using a sliding knob and manual
volume control. This was much easier to play, and Brian Wilson used it
for his 1999 comeback tour.
When Wilson went back to work on the
Smile album, he used the tannerin on his new version of "Good Vibrations,"
which appeared on the 2004 album. The device was seen at the 2012 Grammy
Awards when The Beach Boys performed the song."
good vibrations
wild honey