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On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 1:50 AM, Mattias <mattias.puttonen@gmail.com> wrote:Chris, thanks for the response and info! I read somewhere that you own the Gino/Joe Vanelli M1. Cool! What special (Gino/Joe-) sounds does it have?
Yes, it has Cello, Violin, French Horn, Flute, Male Voice, Female Voice and two special sounds that Harry kept for himself in his Riviera. He relented in the very last days and sold them with the last 2 or 3 M1's made. These are Harp Arpeggio and Harp Glissando. Those last two sounds are also specially recorded and timed so that they sound good when blended with other sound choices from A or B. With other sounds - sometimes one starts a millisecond before another, but not these two. They were likely originally intended for film soundtracks, and possibly were an old Disney special request. They sound very Disney-Fantasia-ish.
The other sounds Gino and Joe used were a series of special string sections consisting of violins, violas, cellos, mixed strings etc. which sound a bit more modern than the 1940's strings Harry had recorded. Gino and Joe had an orchestra school group record these and Harry and Richard transferred them to M1 size tapes. These sounds can be played faster than the other sounds because of how they were recorded. You can't tell that it's Chamberlin when you hear them. They're on a different set of tapes and each track has a different sound - (8 sounds instead of the normal 6) I believe Markus has some (but not all) of these. Gino/Joe only used the Chamberlin on the Nightwalker album and then retired it. It wasn't even turned on for years until I bought it from them.I thought the Chamberlin cello sound was introduced with the M-series. I tried to find a list with the lead sounds for the Musicmaster but no luck.. An MM (or even an M-series machine, or a prototype) could of course have been for both sessions since they probably were available before Jim's move to Paris.
I wondered about that too. I asked Richard about sounds released with different models. It turns out the Chamberlin sounds were all recorded in the 1940's and 50's. They weren't recorded and released in libraries for each model like the Mellotrons. Some sounds were held back and trickled out later. There wasn't documentation for these sounds other than on advertisement flyers for each instrument.
Anyway, here's some great Mellotron cello from 1968! Comes in at 0:53 and could be from an M300. Also has some lovely strings and flute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsR1h1w-N1g
Thanks for this! I forgot how silly Giles Giles and Fripp were. I actually have this album. I bought an original copy still sealed. For some reason this particular Decca record release is thicker than the other regular LP's of that time. If you threw it at someone you could probably kill them.
Anyway, this might be a surprise but it's not actually M300 violins. Real cellists and string players are credited on the back cover. It's Mellotron MK II flute though. It's also possible that these people were Mellotron session players.
David McCallum's father (well "The Man From Uncle's" father - whoever that is) and Pete Townshends father (a sax player) were possibly on these tapes.
I know that a lot of musicians used a combination of both real strings and Mellotron to thicken up the sound. It also helped them get around the Musicians Union ban.
There isn't a lot of M300 recordings and the best place to hear them is the Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest, and Gentle Giant. To confuse the issue there's two different lead sets of tapes for the M300. Set A is violas, set B is a solo violin and then there's another lead set that's split - consisting of cello, viola and violin in their registers. The last one is an uncommon set and I think it was largely abandoned early on. Set A has the most sparkle and in my opinion is a better recording than the others. It's as distinctive a voice as the MK II violins but also very different from the MK II and still has a character that even the Chamberlin strings don't reach. Actually there's a Birotron sound that's similar. Anyway if you listen to Wooly Wolstenholme's work with Barclay James Harvest, you'll really hear it sing. That sound through the M300 spring reverb is gorgeous.
Cheers,
Mattias Puttonen
M400 #851 and MkII #116> On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 1:35 AM, Mattias wrote:
--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Chris Dale wrote:
>
> Welcome Mattias:
>
>
> Thanks for sending this. It's an interesting time capsule of sorts.
>
> It certainly sounds like MK II electric guitar in there but I doubt it's
> Mellotron cello.
>
> The Mellotron cello was released with the M400 in 1970 and these recordings
> pre-date that.
>
> What I'm fairly certain it is - is Chamberlin cello, but with the higher
> frequencies muted out.
>
> This would be a Chamberlin Musicmaster 600 which was the 'common' model up
> until the M1 came out in late 69 / early 1970.
>
> You can also tell by the heavy vibrato as many Chamberlin sounds have this
> and it was characteristic of the recordings of that time - (1940's
> -1950's). The Chamberlin was intended as a big band instrument. (The
> inventor despised everything about rock and roll that he largely made his
> son deal with the rock musicians though Bobby Darin was an exception).
>
> Chamberlins were used starting from the 1950's in the US and Canada before
> the Mellotron arrived.
> (In fact, I thought Mellotrons were rarer because I personally encountered
> more Chamberlins in my travels, and never thought the inverse was true.)
>
>
> Of course, this brings up the possibility that it's not MK II guitar then,
> but a Chamberlin electric guitar sound used in the same range. I haven't
> heard the Chamberlin electric guitar in a long time and would have to
> re-familiarize myself with it. It's not a common or distinctive recording.
> The Doors never owned a Mellotron or Chamberlin so I wonder if this second
> video is live in a studio?
> If so the studio could have had both a MK II and a Chamberlin Music Master
> though they would have to be a major outfit based in Hollywood that did
> mainly post production for movies to afford both at that time.
> It also sounds like there's some real saxophone too, and maybe some
> electric piano.
>
> Certainly it's interesting as the Doors are most associated with the combo
> organ sound and not the tape keyboards.
>
> Thanks for sharing it.
>
>
> Chris Dale
>
>
>
>
>
> > ∗∗
> >
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > My name is Mattias Puttonen and I have been fascinated by the
> > Mellotron/Chamberlin sound since the late 80's when I started buying
> > records at the Mellotronen record shop in Stockholm. Since then I have
> > aquired a couple machines that I love to play and tinker with. One of them
> > is in the Yahoo-group photo section:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newmellotrongroup/photos/album/570072533/pic/list
> >
> > I thought this would be worth sharing: from the experimental Jim Morrison
> > film HWY (1969) featuring the cool sounds of MkII rock guitar and
> > (M400/M300?) cello. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLo0ilQ7hY
> >
> > The MkII used on this was probably Jac Holzman's (now owned by John
> > Frusciante). For some more of that same "tronny" cello, check out this sad
> > Doors jam, starts at 6:25: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-SoXMh6g0c
> >
> > My humble guess is that Jac wanted some more string sounds in his MkII and
> > got a single station with cello only on the left hand instead of another
> > lead set. I don't think Mellotronics would do an entirely new work master
> > or splice in a new station, but what do I know? Does anyone know better?
> > -You're the experts!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Mattias Puttonen, Stockholm
> > (Current favorite frame: MkII rock guitar/Chamb flute/M400 bassoon)
> >
> >
> >
>