Music Thing: The Waterphone
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new
music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:
Why would any self
respecting geek care about an acoustic musical instrument invented 30 years ago by a hippy artist in San Francisco?
Because everyone has heard a Waterphone, they just don't know it. If you've seen The Matrix, or Poltergeist, or
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you've heard it. When the bronze rods are played with a violin bow, and the water
is sloshing around in the bottom, it makes an instantly recognisable sound that says 'Ooh! Something scary is
happening!'
You can hear samples of a Waterphone at the Freesound Project. It was invented by Richard Water in the late '60s in San Francisco. He patented it, and has since hand made over 1,000. He'll sell you a little one for $800, or a big one on a stand for over $1,700.
Alongside Tom Waits, Miles Davis, Evelyn Glennie and loads of film composers, one Waterphone user is Jim Nollman, founder of Interspecies Inc, who uses music to communicate with animals, particularly wales and dolphins. He says that orca wales are particularly fond of the Waterphone.
You can hear samples of a Waterphone at the Freesound Project. It was invented by Richard Water in the late '60s in San Francisco. He patented it, and has since hand made over 1,000. He'll sell you a little one for $800, or a big one on a stand for over $1,700.
Alongside Tom Waits, Miles Davis, Evelyn Glennie and loads of film composers, one Waterphone user is Jim Nollman, founder of Interspecies Inc, who uses music to communicate with animals, particularly wales and dolphins. He says that orca wales are particularly fond of the Waterphone.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
guano @ Feb 3rd 2006 7:06PM
That is totally used in F.E.A.R. A lot.
Rich_Lather @ Feb 3rd 2006 9:32PM
This must be what they used for full metal jacket.
x23 @ Feb 3rd 2006 9:57PM
hippies think whales are fond of all sorts of random crap.
Henry @ Feb 3rd 2006 10:11PM
I always wondered what that sound was... I was listening to The Matrix soundtrack a lot and it was driving me crazy trying to figure out what it was.
kyle90 @ Feb 3rd 2006 10:11PM
"That is totally used in F.E.A.R. A lot."
Haha yeah, I heard the sound and involuntarily started looking around for Paxton Fettel...
Mr. Baby Man @ Feb 4th 2006 3:54AM
How odd is this that it's filled with water and invented by a guy named Water? If it was filled with sand, d'you think he still would've called it the waterphone?
Richard Waters @ May 23rd 2007 1:52PM
The guy that invented the waterphone name is Waters not water and the waterphone was named only because it uses water in the resonator.
Matt D @ Feb 4th 2006 4:41AM
Uh, I think you mean whales, not wales. ;)
kspaz @ Feb 4th 2006 10:44AM
this is not only featured in Alien Nation the TV movie
it is played by the teenage son and you can hear it when he plays it.
the director's commentary talks about it during the scene.
Simon @ Feb 5th 2006 8:57AM
That is an awesome instrument, one I have had the privilage to play :)
PodMonkeys @ Feb 5th 2006 6:49PM
I've been wonderinf if it was called the Waterphone based on the use of water, or on the guy's name. :P
bigmouthstrikesagain @ Feb 6th 2006 11:22AM
yes! I want one!
Mark M @ Feb 6th 2006 4:23PM
My brother has had one of these things for years; its very cool to hear him mess around with it, and creative musicians can get some wild sounds out of it.
dbcorps @ Jan 1st 2007 11:18PM
The Cavaliers drum and bugle corp (www.cavaliers.org) used one in their 2006 show called Machine.