Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists
Subject: Re: [Mellotronists] French Horn / Russian Choir
From: kenmerb@...
Date: 2002-11-24
In a message dated 11/23/02 6:02:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, ken@... writes:
Subj:Re: [Mellotronists] French Horn / Russian Choir
Date:11/23/02 6:02:02 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:ken@...
To:mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Sent from the Internet
>My guess is that it might be something that inadvertently happened in your
>machine.
My guess (FWIW) is that the French horn notes got messed up during the
recording of Ken's tape set or maybe it's the tape stock, not in the
mastering. Rick and/or Martin would have caught the problems in the
masters, I'm sure. The sound is not unlike the burbles you'd hear in the
soundtrack of an old movie---it's not cars or doors or Vicki inventing new
four-letter words.
I agree 100% here, KL.
Another guess about something else: The pops are static. Where/How I do
not know. JB is leaning away from that, and I don't blame him, because to
disagree with me usually means you wind up being correct. Why it happens
on only one station is beyond me, and why it builds up so fast and on only
certain notes is, again, weird. Heads going bad? I have suggested to Ken
to examine and clean all the connections in the box as a start.
If the heads are going bad, they're only going bad when it's on station #1 ;-).
Also, to clarify, it doesn't happen only on certain notes. I think it would happen randomly on any notes I played on bank #1, as long as I play more than one note at a time.
OK, here's another clue. I was playing MKII #247 tonight, and I wanted to be 100% sure that the pops only occur on station one. So, I cycled through all of the other stations, and no pops on any station but #1. However, after I had just completed giving station #2 a workout, I pushed button #1 on the bank selector. Between the time I pushed the station #1 selector and the time the drums rolled, I heard "pop, pop". This (simultaneous multiple pops) has happened before, when the drums started to roll from station 1 to station 2. Not sure if this means the problem is related to the station selector switch, or the motion of the tapes on the drum as it starts to roll.
I love a good Mellotron mystery (as long as it can be solved).
One other thing I noticed also. The MKII sounds much better cranked up loud. My neighbor must have been watching his home theater system tonight, because it sounded like there was a sustained earthquake next door. This used to piss me off, but now I use it as an opportunity to blast the MKII. He can't very well come next door and tell me to turn it down, right? Anyway, the hair ∗does∗ stand on end when the volume is turned up and the sound rings through those Wharfedale speakers. But, I guess we already new that.
Ken M.