Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Hello all!
This particular commentary on the recording and sterilizing of perfectly
lovely and sweetly vulnerable analog sounds is one that is very close to my
heart. As a recordist of some 100 albums, all of which were tracked and
mixed 100% analog (a practice I shall continue until I am dead), I find the
same attitudes becoming more and more prevalent as digital technology
spins ever more out of control.
As you are all aware, the Mellotron is a holy thing, as is the Rhodes, B-3,
Wurlitzer, Farfisa, Leslie speakers not to mention a good ol' tube amp, among
many other things of analog beauty. These things cannot be emulated
digitally without some sacrifice to their sonic integrity. It's almost worse if
recorded to digital, signal sliced up into informational pages and clumsily
reassembled, only to be spat forth from some equally challenged converter.
Blapheme!
Unfortunately, at some point, things have to be placed on the current
listening media; CD or worse yet, MP3 (you can just hear the 1's and 0's flying
by). These are all choices we must make, in order to aquire music in this day
and age, an age of fast, easy, shortcuts to thinking. Digital, while making our
lives easier, has destroyed our sense of reverence and ritual for technology.
Used to be, when making a phone call, we'd plant ourselves infront of the
rotary dial and place all of our attentions to the task at hand; conversation. No
distractions and even an occasional "Don't interrupt, I'm on the phone!" The
same could be said for early Radio, Vinyl albums, and even television.
The worst by-product of such ease of operations on the recording front is
the rise of shabby musicians who are "made" by such drivel. We are victim to
such slice-and-dice artists daily. It's bad enough that things are recorded to
digital, but young artists are enabled by editing capabilities. Shameful.
Don't get me wrong. I have had to embrace protools and the like, just to
keep up with the industry and have become quite savvy with the Mac. But it's
important to remember the crux of the matter. Computers were invented as a
storage medium and eventually adapted to accomplish sound recording.
Tape was invented, first and foremost, for the sole purpose of recording sound
physically, a manipulation of magnetic field physics occuring in nature. It was
never broken, and for some reason, undoubtedly a monitary one, it was
"fixed."
But I digress. To me, there has never been a more delightful thing, than the
sound of a Mellotron, tuned or otherwise. The Mellotron is a wonderful
example of tape technology pushed to it's absolute limits, to the point where,
without contant supervision and tuning, it barely works. Fantastic!
As some of you may know, I am currently refurbishing an EMI to it's former
beauty, with some upgrades, of course. But that has not stopped me from
recording it beforehand as the crippled, wobbly, bent instrument that it
currently is. The lazy detuning and worn tapes are a perfect and dark
compliment to many pieces, including one that is entirely orchestrated from
multiple hazy, noisy, 'tron tracks. Some of the best songs in history are
defined by the artists' technological limitations and just plain mistakes. It's
about humanity. I have found that while digital pursues perfection, it is far
more important as an artist to pursue excellence instead.
That's enough of my high-horse. Track on, 'tronists, and pay no attention to
digi-heads spouting rules. There are no rules in art, and there never will be.

Jack Younger
E4/103S The Bastard 'Tron