Paul Tanner’s recollection of his relationship with Brian Wilson in the early ‘60s highlighted the evening, both of their genius and humor were revealed. The Beach Boys hired Paul Tanner and “The Box” for the fascinating theremin like sound in classic 1966  “Good Vibrations”. The normal recording sessions began after midnight at Brian's home. When Paul asked Brian for the sheet music, Brian laughed because he could not write music, it was all in his head. The original "Good Vibrations" was recorded on a 4 track recorder with everyone doing what they hope is correct; Paul Tanner adlibs the theremin sound as they all play along. 

 "The Original Good Vibrations" 


The 1966 Beach Boys Classic, Paul Tanner on "The Box".

Paul Tanner built only one instrument which he called "The Box" (Not a Theremin) with the help of friend Robert Whitsell. After about two weeks of construction time he completed it just hours before it was called into use. “The Box” was used on several Hollywood productions where it became known as "Paul's Box"  this included the 1960's TV show "My Favorite Martian", the sound of Martins antennas raising. With the synthesizer on the horizon, Bob Moog a well known engineer in the theremin community visited Paul in search of new ideas (circa 1970). Both agreed that "The Box" was just a Tinker Toy. Soon after their get together Paul felt it was time to retire “The Box”. He gave it to a hospital in Santa Monica, California where they were interested in using it for hearing tests. The box had a range of tones that would extend outside of the upper and lower limits of human hearing. Year’s later Dr. Tanner checked back with the hospital to find out what happened to “The Box”, only to find it had been destroyed in one of those California earthquakes! (The Quake of 1971)

The next time you hear the original recording of "Good Vibrations", instead of just saying “that's not a Theremin” also mention "it's not a Tannerin", an instrument that came later to be used as a substitute on Beach Boy recordings. What you do hear in the original "Good Vibrations" is called "The Box" a design that came about by Paul Tanner's observation of Thereminist Samuel Hoffman in Hollywood having difficulty in setting up his theremin. The internet is full of myth and misinformation, why not give credit to the fine work of one musician, Dr. Paul Tanner who captured the voice of the theremin and put it in his box. This has brought more worldwide awareness to the theremin instrument than anything had before. Every good performer has his own set of onstage illusions. Dr. Paul Tanner is a true theremin success story!

"The Box" used tube/valves as its active component for oscillation & amplification and a potentiometer for pitch control with a cable & pulley configuration. This cable setup was similar to what antique radios use to move the tuning pointer in a straight line across the dial face.

Much later "The Box" as Paul still calls it today would be referred to as the electro-Theremin by Hollywood executives while today's "simulations" are called a Tannerin. The Tannerin uses a resistive ribbon contact strip for the pitch control and solid state components for oscillation and amplification. After Good Vibrations was recorded with the  "Beach Boys" using "The Box" they needed a way to duplicate the sound on the road. This is where Robert Moog was called upon with the first Tannerin and later on the "Beach Boys" used a design constructed by the talented David Miller.

Dr. Paul Tanner is more importantly recognized for his many years of trombone playing in the Glenn Miller Band and his teaching of music. He has taught over 75,000 students music and jazz in his 23 year career at UCLA.

Dr. Tanner today lectures on Cruise Ships about jazz and the big band era.