Yes, Rick, thanks for the great info!
Tom
--- In
newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Rick Blechta <rick@...>
wrote:
>
> Okay, here's the scuttlebutt.
>
> As some of you know, my wife, Vicki, is a very fine classical
flutist.
> On a trip to NY to visit the relatives, a trip was arranged to go
down
> to the city and see Ian (who had been the Special Guest at the
second
> Tronto Clambake in 2001). They were going to spend some time
playing
> duet (he really is a good flute player, too). I brought my brother
> along because he wanted to meet Ian and get some albums signed.
>
> My brother, a former audio engineer, has always been fascinated on
how
> they got such huge gain (and no distortion) on that massive pitch
> sweep in "Epitaph", so naturally, he start asking Ian questions
about
> that and the rest of the album. So here are some tidbits from that
> conversation.
>
> There was a calliope in a corner of the studio and naturally the
boys
> started fooling around with it. Only problem was, it was really
flat.
> That's why the calliope part in ITCOTCK is in a different key. Not
> being keyboard players, I guess they were not good at transposing
or
> just decided to go with the flow. Anyway, the section was played
by
> McDonald on the top end with Giles playing the sustained notes on
the
> bottom on the second time through. Ian played the calliope the rest
of
> the way by himself.
>
> For "Schizoid Man", that is the calliope at the beginning, too.
It's
> McDonald and Giles again, just sweeping the flats of their hands
over
> the keys. Being air driven and with a pretty poor air supply to
begin
> with, the instrument would just sort of whistle and groan. They
> thought this sounded cool for the beginning of the album -- and I
> think they were right.
>
> Some other things of interest:
>
> ∗ "Schizoid Man" was done in one take, live off the floor and then
the
> second sax solo overdubbed in one. Pretty impressive!
>
> ∗ "Epitaph", on the other hand took 16 hours to record. They
couldn't
> get the sound and feel right. It was also recorded last which is
why
> the mellotron sounds different than the other two songs on the
album
> that use it. They found a way to make it sound better. It was
recorded
> from a HiWatt amp (not a direct line to the board) and then run
> through a plate reverb. The sweep part was played by McDonald and
> Fripp and the mellotron was double-tracked pretty well throughout.
>
> ∗ The album was done on an 8-track machine with numerous bounce
downs,
> a la the method used by the Beatles.
>
> There you have it!
>
> Rick
>