Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Mellotron Group

previous by date index next by date
previous in topic topic list next in topic

Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Mellotron on TV!

From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
Date: 2014-09-01

Ah right - I confess I never listened to all of it - just as much as I could stand.  :-)

I still think your point is odd.  You complain that he isn't using any Mellotron sounds when he clearly isn't using a Mellotron.  In fact, what you are essentially complaining about is the shape of the instrument he is using! (Or rather the box it is contained within)

Calling it 'tasteless' is taking it a tad far as well.  As for pro musicians not doing this, I beg to differ.  Two or three Bloody Awful Prog Bands (BAPB) from the 1980s did exactly the same thing and had a Bloody Awful Sampler (BAS) within.  I know - I saw one set up in a second hand music shop round these parts. And these were real bands with real labels. 

As for this: "He's trying to capitalize on and exploit part of someone else's life work.  It's unethical. " Erm...wasn't this in essence the terms under which the Musicians Union objected to the Mellotron in the first place? 



On 1 September 2014 07:11, Chris Dale unobtainiumkeys@gmail.com [newmellotrongroup] <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

If you're referring to my earlier point - it's because he's not using any Mellotron sounds at all.

He's using generic string sounds, and pretending that they originate and emanate from a Mellotron.

It's a custom made cabinet.

He has no apparent interest in the actual Mellotron 'sound', he's just interested in the 'image' associated with having one.

And this makes him dishonest (if not an a∗∗hole) in my book.  


Because he's trying to associate himself with something he has no association with. He's trying to capitalize on and exploit part of someone else's life work.  It's unethical.  

You could argue he's promoting the image of the Mellotron, but after 50 years, it doesn't need his promotion - and certainly not to that demographic.

He's not supporting Streetly or Mellotron by buying their sounds in digital form. We're not hearing any Mellotron sounds.
If he at least had actual Mellotron sounds there, then his use of the fake Mellotron cabinet would be totally understandable.
And the sounds offered now are the best they've ever been and are affordable to just about everyone.

So what's the problem? Why not buy and use the digital sounds released by Streetly or Markus?
Why not support the companies that struggled to bring back the machine and now have made the sounds available to everyone?

This is just a tasteless PR stunt. This is the kind of thing you would expect to see from some immature high school band, not a professional group of musicians.  And certainly not musicians capable of the quality of music you're hearing.

I'm calling a spade a spade. Nothing weird about it. 











On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 5:56 PM, Mike Dickson mike.dickson@gmail.com [newmellotrongroup] <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

That's a really weird and (frankly) weird attitude to take.  There are only a finite number of Mellotrons around, and people want to use that sound.  How else to get it?  

To berate people for wanting the sound they love by whatever means is open to them is fine by me.  I am sure you can be a purist if you like, but it's a strange kind of existence to make for yourself.  Yes, I know and you know that the real thing sound better than a sampler, but in the absence of one, why not use the other?  

If people want to put samplers inside fake Mellotron cases then I really couldn't care less.  You are seemingly being concerned with the medium and not the message.  The instrument is just a means by which the sound - which is ultimately all that this (or any other instrument) is - can be communicated, and most people who hear it and love it couldn't care.  

Do you feel you are being left behind?


On 30 August 2014 11:50, Chris Dale unobtainiumkeys@gmail.com [newmellotrongroup] <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

So just think - if true:

All the hard work these last 20 years - all the years of cleaning and preserving of tapes, recording them, archiving them, saving the sounds to computers, changing pinch rollers, pressure pads, cleaning capstans, adjusting tape head azimuth, re-doing the cycling mechanisms, track selectors, re-wiring power supplies, installing motors, re-building old machines, re-doing the cabinets....making new parts......and the money, and energy,  and time spent to do it.....to first save and then re-introduce the instrument  

it's all being shit upon by someone with a sampler and a case to fool people with. 
Some guy who wants to bask in the glow of others accomplishments, others music history, and years of toil and countless hard work by other people he never supported or contributed to. 

At least other people who have done something similar have bought real Mellotrons or digital products from Streetly or Mellotron. and are supporting them. They keep it going.


I hope you're wrong Frank. 


Well.....I guess walking around with Pabst Blue Ribbon bottles and secretly having cheap Chinese beer inside will be next. :)












 

 


On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 4:00 AM, lsf5275@aol.com [newmellotrongroup] <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

I don't think it is a real Mellotron. I think it is a cabinet with a sampler in it. It's too tall for a Mark VI or an M400 and not deep enough front to back to be an M4000. There is no continuous hinge on the lid so it wasn't made by Markus or Streetly and the cut-outs in to lower back panel aren't right. I think it's a fake.

Frank (Real M400, Real M4000, Real Mark II)
 
 
In a message dated 8/30/2014 2:46:48 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com writes:
 

I thought that as well.

None of this sounds 'live' to me at all except for the lead singing and the drums.

The background vocals are especially fake.


Those aren't Mellotron strings. The Mellotron is inaudible. The players hands don't match what he's playing.
Looks like it was used as a prop.



This is a double edged sword for me. It's always nice to see a Mellotron on a mainstream show, but this also somehow always comes across like someone taking some great painting and using it as a coffee table with a person putting his coffee mug down on it and saying 'look how cool (but in reality - uncool) I am'.

I'm sure that's not the intended effect.  


But it's like the hipster version of the cliche black grand piano you see in someone's grand spacious home. It sits there, looks nice, is regularly polished - and never gets played. The impression it makes is a non-impression. 


The music itself is okay. I liked it. The melodies and arrangements are interesting. The songs are good.


But this performance itself seems more about catering to the hipster crowd - probably not the bands doing if they're on a show like Jimmy Kimmel. (And the crowd noise is also fake - at the beginning of Runaway - you hear more people cheering then are actually there)  

I'd like to see ∗genuine∗ live performances from them and listen to more of their songs to decide whether I truly like them or not. 

The music is impressive, this 'live' performance isn't. 

In a music video - okay, never a problem.  

But don't present something as 'live' and lie about it.  We now have the technology (mics, amps, etc.) to put on the best live shows.
Never before in the history of the world has that been possible.

There's no excuse in this day and age for this. 


Yes, you can argue TV's been doing this for years. But that's beside the point. 
It's never acceptable or worthwhile - regardless of who is doing it.


Bullshit is bullshit.     








On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 10:05 PM, markpringnz <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

I meant doesn't sound live.






--
Mike Dickson
Edinburgh





--
Mike Dickson
Edinburgh