Vibraphone Recordings
Film Music
Studio percussion legend Emil Richards acquired a Leedy soprano vibraphone (3-octave range of C4-C7) in the 1980s from craftsman and restorer Gilberto at Century Mallet Service in Chicago (run out of the old J.C. Deagan Instruments factory). He added it to his giant instrument collection, the Emil Richards Collection. Because of the smaller bars, harder vibraphone mallets are necessary to get more sound and tone from the instrument. They were used in numerous soundtracks and other recordings, including by composer Johnny Mandel. Occasionally, Emil found himself with a vibraphone part written higher than the standard range. To avoid calling this out in the session and potentially embarrassing the composer in front of everyone, Emil would quietly inform the composer of the issue but offer the solution of the soprano vibraphone. Before he had the soprano vibraphone, he used song bells as an extended range of the standard vibraphone; the song bells were similar in timbre, but soprano vibraphone was naturally the more ideal extension of the standard vibraphone.
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