Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

JS wrote:

The main source of my puzzlement has been the attack on the
upper-register notes - it has a lot of the same feel as the way
the initial attack on the tapes comes in, and I even hear a couple of
places that sound like blurred notes, not lifting off one
finger before pressing the next key. Could this have been
overdubbed, perhaps? (Either keyboard or flute overdubbing
could explain either of those, and believe me, I've listened to this
thing at least a hundred times just this week.)
Jon E Salley

John, the reason the solo sounds that way does is that Ray What'sisname
is doing about everything wrong that he could and
still get a bit of sound out. His embouchure is way too wide and the
airstream unfocused (hence the breathy tone), he isn't
tonguing correctly nor supporting sufficiently (what you're hearing on
the upper register notes) and he's using at least two
incorrect fingerings as far as I can tell which is another reason the
intonation is spotty. He also held the flute wrong, played
hunched over and took the air into the upper part of his lungs.

Other than that, it's a truly breathtaking performance.

Rick

PS Flute is probably the worst-played instrument in rock and roll-dom.
Other than Ian McDonald and Mel Collins, I think it
should generally be banned. Or maybe rock flute players could be
licensed...