I concur with Rick and Martin about this. Rick's stories about that gig are not an exaggeration.
The Mellotron offers all kinds of characteristics unobtainable anywhere else because the sound is coming from a tape, and the tape has physical movement and each mechanism under the key responds differently when playing a chord or a single note. The playing pressure you have can add subtleties as well. The electronics are a whole other part of it. Let's not forget about the different generations of tape. All of this is the reason why the 3 violins in the Mellotron and Chamberlin sound different from each other.
If you play just one single note from the Mellotron strings, especially a high note, you might mistake it for real strings.
But when you play chords and other things, a whole universe opens up. The new sounds will all sound "Mellotronic" the more you play them, because the mechanics start influencing how the tape moves, and then your playing style adapts and starts to enhance or inhibit certain characteristics of how you want it to sound. You will notice that the sound tends to evolve after a few hours of playing. It's absolutely wonderful.
I think if all the sounds we have now were available back then, you would have heard Pinder, Banks, Wakeman etc. using them. The idea or perhaps 'stigma' of the Mellotron as a 'string machine' really came from bands using just strings and orchestral instruments from the machine.
But anything could have been used.
I don't know about you guys, but I think there's still lots of innovation and creation awaiting us. The people who recorded Mattias "tuned bees" sound was a step in the right direction. It was a creative move forward, whoever they were.
So is the Tony Levin Cello, and many of the other new ones.
You might laugh, but some sounds I imagine would be really interesting and wonderful in the Mellotron are:
Harmonium
Orchestron String Ensemble
Hammond Novachord sounds
Danelectro/Coral Electric Sitar
Backwards Piano
Gizmotron
Orchestra section (spanning all 3 tracks in various registers)
Birotron sounds
Steel Guitar
Saloon Music Piano
Water Pot (the sound of water moving in a pot as it's struck!)
Theremin
Stylophone 350S sounds
Why? Because each of these would sound different from their original source. They would become "Mellotronized" versions, and thus new musical tools. Some would be more experimental, some are certainly crazy choices, but some could be very useful.
No one expected those Lawrence Welk Chamberlin violins to ubiquitously wind up on prog rock albums.
The work involved in getting these properly done onto Mellotron tape would be arduous, but there's always hope.
Then again - I got "Sweet Gingerbread Man" across the keyboard so what do I know?
On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 9:10 PM, tronbros
<tronbros@aol.com> wrote:
Ok, we record new sounds because we want to offer a contrast to what has gone before. The website samples are excellent but exist to whet the whistle. If you were to listen closely to the new recording, it is full of air, odd intonation and quirks of nature. It is mellotronic. Do you want us to call a halt or expand the library? I really do wonder why some even bother having a tron when the parameters are known and the technique is unique. Mike has produced excellent recordings with an instrument the needs a service and Andy Thompson's website is testament to how prolific the awkward bastard has been. Mike, Woolly, Pinder, Banks and a host of others make it sound good. The problem lies with the player and NOT the instrumen
Bastard Smith
you're kidding 'bout all this right?
fritz
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark <
epdowd54@yahoo.com>
To: newmellotrongroup <
newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Nov 6, 2010 5:31 pm
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] New Sounds In General
Sorry this is going to be a bit of rant, so don't read any further!
I am not sure what the new sounds are trying to achieve. I have just listened to the new organ demo which sounds fantastic but doesn't sound like a mellotron to my ears, which admittedly aren't the greatest. To me that sounds exactly like a church organ I would not have picked that it was a mellotron. If the new samples are aiming for fidelity they are certainly succeeding but in that case why not use samples or the real thing?
Certainly if new samples sell and make money for Streetly they can only be a good thing for those of us that own trons and will be looking for replacement parts, but there really aren't that many sounds that are characteristic of the mellotron or aren't easily mistaken for anything else.
In my opinion there are 2.
The Mark II 3 violins
The 8 Choir
I would have added combined brass except there is at least one track where I mistook it for the real thing and some of the people on the list have long memories.
I suppose the Mark II flute is useful if you want to play "Strawberry Fields" but I can't think of any other use for it.
Essentially the mellotron has been mainly used as a "string, brass and choir machine" which explains why they fell out of production when there were reasonably reliable polyphonic synthesizers available. The current resurgence in use is mainly due to the complete lack of anything new in popular music so that producers are looking for some 70's vintage sound to bring some sort of nostalgic feel to their music.
But anything that keeps Streetly going has to be good!
Mark
From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, November 7, 2010 5:46:47 AM
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] New Sounds In General
In what may be a futile attempt, I will attempt to introduce some discussion into this group.
Do you think there is any merit in recording and selling new sounds for the Mellotron?
- Pro this, I'd say that it expands the palette of sounds available for the instrument, keeps it 'alive' and generates revenue for those who want to sell it as a product.
- Contra this, you could argue that it transforms the Mellotron into just another sampler and that there are probably better digital products out there for the job, plus the fact that usually the Mellotron is sold to sound like a Melotron and not like just any other instrument.
Discuss?
--
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh