Endorsees of the Autotune
An early endorsee was the drummer for the late Rory Gallagher, Rod De'Ath. (right)
He is shown here in a studio shot with a standard double headed white 'Originator' kit.
With Rory Gallagher he played either a white or later a Capricorn Yellow five piece. He can be heard playing this kit on the album 'Calling Card' and seen playing it on the DVD 'Rory Gallagher at Rockpalast'.
The biggest name was Jon Hiseman (pictured left), who played the Autotune kit with Colosseum II and with Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia.
Jon Hiseman's kit was an eleven piece single headed double bass drum kit in white. This was listed in the later catalogues as the 'Jon Hiseman' kit - although I am suspicious that the 'production' version may not have had the very heavy duty fittings of the kit seen in the pictures of Colosseum. It was after hearing Jon Hiseman's drum sound with these bands that I decided to purchase an Autotune kit in 1979.
I am certain the kit can be heard on the Colosseum II album 'War Dance' as is it listed in the sleeve credits.
It sounds like it also appears on the Lloyd Webber album 'Variations', one track of which was the South Bank Show theme, but I am not certain of this as the equipment used isn't in the sleeve notes...
I recieved a very interesting email from Gary McKenzie who tells me he had this reply from Jon Hiseman when he asked him about Autotunes:
“As for Autotune Drums - I was involved in their design but in the end had little influence because the financial constraints were always in the way. The hardware (stands etc) were always a disaster but of course they are very important for holding a big kit in the right positions and during assembly and teardown. However the Fibreglass shells were really fantastic sounding and worked very well. The only problem was with Remo's plastic heads which never had an even skirt depth in those days. This made tuning much more difficult than was originally envisaged and a lot of time was spent sorting that out. However the fibreglass manufacturing process was very nasty and they changed to wood eventually. I never liked that sound so much and when the accountants finally got to check out the finances they started imposing changes to keep the costs down. Finally they changed the size of the tuning lugs which meant a non standard drum key because they could save money if they bought the rods of a different size from those used in making the industry standard tuning lug. Soon after that it was all over. But changing heads fast and changing tuning easily was fun but not crucial to me. It was always the sound of those fibreglass shells - great material for making drum shells. Unfortunately I had a big clearout several years ago and I don't think I have any autotune gear left. Please feel free to pass that on to Steve Reynolds. Regards John”
During their first American tour in 1978 Jet Black of the Stranglers used an Arbiter Autotune Originator, not suprisingly, in black (right).
Other drummers seen sat behind Autotunes at some time include Carl Palmer (ELP), Kenny Jones (Small Faces, The Who), Henry Spinetti (Eric Clapton, Roger Chapman), Rob Townsend (Family, Blues Band) and Graeme Edge (Moody Blues). Interestingly Gordon Marshall now plays for the Moody blues (alongside Graeme Edge) and on the last tour used his Arbiter AT kit.
I've been sent some photographs of endorsees by Mark Goodwin who was the production manager for Ivor Arbiter during the Autotune era.
Click on these thumbnails of Graeme Edge, Henri Spinetti and Wally Maddocks to enlarge
The scan of Carl Palmer playing a black Autotune kit on the cover of International Musician magazine (left) was sent courtesy of Ben Genovese
Geoff Nicholls has published an excellent book, "The Drum Book - A history of the Rock drum kit". This contains a section on the Arbiter Autotune, where it names Dave Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention / Jethro Tull (Joan Armatrading / Paul McCartney / loads of other sessions...). as an endorsee. I've been in email contact with DM and he tells me he may have been photographed behind an Autotune, but was never an endorsee. It seems Ivor Arbiter was very adept at persuading famous drummers to sit behind his kits whilst someone snapped a photo.
