--- In
newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@...> wrote:
>
> Sean wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > It seems that most all the M-Tron sounds (with exceptions like the
> > cello) have much poorer signal to noise ratio than the real deal. I
> > don't recall the Moodies or Crimson Mellotrons sounding hissy in
> > unflattering ways. Mr. Dickson's recordings certainly don't sound that
> > way.
> >
>
> My recordings were filtered track-by-track through a very good noise
> reduction system indeed to eliminate the white noise overhead. Pile up
> 40 tracks of that and it would swamp everything. The thing is that what
> you record on Monday has a different sonic picture the following day.
> They are such fickle creatures.
>
> I just don't much care for the M-Tron sounds. They seem muffled to death
> at times and some appear to have been recorded with a mike at the Mk II
> speakers. I mean...there is 'authentic' and there is 'needlessly
> hopeful'.....
>
> Mike
>
I think I just answered my own question just a little while ago. I fiddle-faddled with graphic EQ in real time and I think I gots it.
It's a 31 band EQ
For the MkII violins (M-Tron the "Violins 1" seems to be the MkII direct feed) Tone set to 12o'clock.
I've cut 14kHz and above -20. That seems to clear up the jaggies quite well.
12kHz -6
315Hz -just a little bit, and steep roll off below that to -20 by 150Hz, to reinforce the highpass I already had in place.
Pull 400Hz, 1kHz, and 2kHz slightly above zero (probably about +2) and the areas in between these maybe -2, slope smoothly.
the 4-8kHz range seems to be where most of the SCREAM is, so I've moderately scooped this out (-4 or -6 or something like that).
The 8kHz-10kHz range seems to bring it forward in a mix if left alone, if reduced say by 3dB it sits better as the typical Mellotron wall-of-sound-ness.
I've compared with the old King Crimson recordings and I think I'm pretty much there. In the Court seems to have tone set to 9o'clock, and the fundamentals a little hotter (the 400Hz area and near neighbors) and the harmonics a little less than what I have, especially, so it seems, everything above 3kHz is a bit less.
The megalithic In the Court sound seems to be the same for lower register notes, but upper register notes I'm guess are recorded with a different EQ that has less fundamental and more overtone, and the tone knob back at around 12o'clock.
Try it, tell me if I'm daft or not.
-Sean
Oh, lots of reverb too.