Hi John,
Well, to begin with, if anyone ever gets the notion to
CALL DAVE about this stuff (so I don't do all the fact
checking, per the usual) his number is: 403-225-2166.
I got his permission to give it out, but he asked me
to remind that Markus is the contact for everything
except the CD ROM.
So, we emailed a bit more about this and my previous
account is correct...as is Martin's number of 13
instruments produced. Dave also said: "This must be
John Bezjian". So, I guess that's whom I writing to
here. He contacted Biro (with your help) with the
hopes of buying an instrument, but as I stated before,
Dave Biro hadn't seen one in many years. Mike Ayoub
sold Kean #7 and soon thereafter, the Les Bradley
machine turned up. Kean said that a fellow from
Wakeman's Complex 7 company approached Streetly with
the idea of having THEM produce the machine.
Unbeknownst to Biro, of course. I guess the Bradley's
wisely turned it down and there #8 sat for years. It
had NO cabinet, so Kean had one built before they
gifted it to Biro.
Anyway, I think it was pretty cool of Dave and Les to
get that instrument into Biro's hands after all those
years. I guess he was penniless, in bad health and
lamented the way his one moment in the sun came to
such an abrupt and fruitless halt. Too bad.
Dave also said that you had to have the monitors up
pretty loud just to get the signal over the noise of
those 19 tape cartidges clattering away back there.
One curiosity: the tapes were originally Mellotron
tapes taken out of one of wakeman's trons. They later
recorded their own sounds: brass, choir and strings.
He recorded them onto the 1/4 inch stock with two
upside down tascam reel to reels with the "master
tapes" copied to two unison tapes running
concurrently, but 180 degrees out of synch with each
other. Biro would then crossfade between the two loops
to avoid the splice points. Also, to avoid any minor
2nd's in any crosstalk, the cartridges (stereo) had
the sounds in 4th's and 5ths apart. Pretty smart.
As for my "dozens of times" commnent; it was in one of
the Mellotron Archives newletters that Dave used to
put out, and on the mellotron.com website. I have also
heard Dave recount the story in person.
Best regards,
Mark.
--- jaybe52000 <
jaybe52000@...> wrote:
> Mark,
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> I had no idea that this was a "well known" story for
> starters.
> Where else can I read about this?
>
> Thanks for the clarifications. I never heard any of
> this about the Birotron found at Les'
> place when Kean was buying the mellotron stuff from
> Les. So I am glad I started this
> thread. It's great to hear more about this.
>
> I too was under the impession that Dave Biro had not
> seen one of his instruments in
> decades, when Dave Kean had asked me about him.
> When I found David Biro's old number
> for Dave Kean, I was also very surprised when Dave
> Kean told me he got a Birotron from
> him. (Who knows, like I said, I do have my senior
> moments too. LOL)
>
> I know when I gave Dave Kean David Biro's mom's home
> phone number in CT it was the
> late 1980's early 90's so there's some overlap there
> I'd guess.
>
> Maybe Dave Kean had been in contact with Biro
> previously? Dave Kean did ask me if I had
> a phone number for Biro since he'd like to contact
> him. As I said, I managed to dig out an
> old personal phone book of mine and I gave Dave Kean
> the number. I am pretty certain
> this was well after Dave had gotten everything from
> Les Bradley. But who knows?
> I know I'm not making things up just see myself in
> print!
> Wether or not he'd lost contact with Biro and was
> looking for another way to contact him?
> Anythng's possible I suppose.
>
> Maybe Dave Kean had told me he GAVE a Birotron to
> Dave Biro. That's not what I recall, I
> thought he told me he was looking to get one. Maybe
> he was just looking to get in contact
> again with Biro and couldn't track him down. He did
> thank me for the number and said he
> had made contact with Dave Biro.
> Again since I cannot remember the exact year and
> date of these conversations with Dave
> Kean, I certain wouldn't argue with anyone
> proposeing to know more about this Birotron
> thing with Dave Kean. I bow to you.
>
> You've said "I've heard and read this story a dozen
> times over the years,"
> Where may I ask have you read this story. I'd love
> to read it myself. I never knew it was
> ever in print anywhere.
>
> As far as your comment, "Maybe time has altered the
> memories for you a bit?"
> Could be, but I certainly remember some of this as
> different from what you've said.
>
> Regardless, it's not a big deal to me. As I said in
> the original posts, I'm sure others may
> have different recollections/knowledge of this story
> possibly, and yes, it was awhile ago so
> I have no way of knowing that what Dave Kean told me
> (or I THOUGHT he told me was
> even the truth to begin with.) Dave may have had
> alterior motives for throwing me off
> track, as to why he was asking for Dave Biro's phone
> number, hell anything's possible.
>
> I was just sharing the fact that I was there in CT
> around these Birotron guys in the 70's
> when all this was going on and found it interesting.
>
>
> BTW, my comment about the the number of tapes was
> just a ball park guess in regard to
> Dave Biro's prototype made from all the car 8 Track
> decks. I thought the actual Birotrons
> produced had two notes per cartridge, in the final
> design, which would have been 37
> keys/19 tapes as you suggested, but I'm not a
> Birotron historian and don't claim to be.
> (I honestly don't remember the exact number
> used..but I'm sure you're right)
>
> In his original contraption, I seem to remember
> there was only one note on each of the the
> 8 tracks...again I that was 30 years ago so I'll
> plead years of pot smoking on that one. ;-)
>
> You seem to have this all very clear in your mind
> and somewhere in print so.... I'll happily
> bow to you as the authority. Thanks again for the
> additonal info.
>
> John
>
>
> --- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, mark kasian
> <easle12@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > John,
> >
> > The well known Kean/Birotron story goes like this:
> >
> > Dave Kean bought his #7 Birotron from Mike Ayoub,
> the
> > same guy that sold Chris his Wakeman double tron.
> That
> > was in the early 90's. Then, while Kean was buying
> the
> > Mellotron stuff from Les Bradley, Les found a
> birotron
> > #8 (oddly enough) in storage with the Mellotron
> tapes.
> > Kean had been in contact with David Biro before
> that
> > time and Biro had NOT even seen one of his
> instruments
> > in decades. Kean got the idea to give Biro the
> second
> > unit, Les agreed and that's what they did. Dave
> and
> > his wife Sandi were on a pick up and delivery trip
> to
> > Naples Florida, visiting Jim Herbst and they
> dropped
> > off the Birotron to Biro in Jacksonville...got a
> look
> > at the Wakeman/Birotron scrap books and had a long
> > visit.
> >
> > I've heard and read this story a dozen times over
> the
> > years, Maybe time has altered the memories for you
> a
> > bit?
> >
> > At any rate. Kean has seen 4 Birotrons (19 tapes,
> not
> > 30) and said they all sounded pretty rotten, but
> the
> > vernier pitch control was sort of fun.
> >
> > Mark.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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>
>
>
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