Mellotronists

All this talk about recording techniques to get "that sound" is very 
interesting, but having listened closely to "Heaven" last night it 
seems to me a lot may also be due to how it's played musically. 
Kitcat isn't playing triads all the time - it's very open chords in 
places with octaves occasionally and different each time round. I 
find this makes a huge difference to the soundscape.
John
M300 #005

> After finally getting the chance to listen to the example clip, I
> agree, that's THE SOUND.  These guys did almost as nice a job as the
> Moodies in capturing that distant hugeness.
> 
> And, since I acquired mine, I've come to realize that what is making
> that sound for me is a couple of things, and may not necessarily be
> confined to a single amp/speaker/mic/medium combination, but could be
> fairly repeatable under a lot of different circumstances.
> 
> First, as I observed once before, one thing that I think makes
> Mellotron instruments, with particular reference to the classic
> 3-violins sound, so unique is that each 8-second strip of tape is a
> complete world in itself.  Three instruments in a certain physical
> relationship to each other that is constantly moving and evolving,
> developing all kinds of minute phase differences, all being shaped by
> the sound of the room that they were being recorded in.  
> 
> Then put that sound in a BIG room and play it real loud with less than
> hi-fi audio equipment, and add some artificial reverb to it that is
> also less than hi-fi.  
> 
> That yields the original playback sound, the ambience it already
> possesses, the artificial lo-fi reverb ambience, and the natural real
> reverb and echo characteristics of said big room.  
> 
> Then record it all from a fairly good distance, preferably at least
> twenty or thirty feet, if not more.  
> 
> The final piece of the puzzle is to tune the Mellotron down by 1-3
> cents or so, just enough to give it a little bit of melancholy
> flatness in pitch. 
> 
> You get the three ambiences playing against each other, the distance,
> the thickness of sound, the individuality of each strip of tape, and
> that little bit of sad wistfulness that the flat intonation provides.
> 
> You will find that the sound is much like the recording.  Depending on
> speakers, mics, and all the other twiddly bits of equipment, it will
> flavor the sound to a certain degree, but you still get a big chunk of
> that distant hugeness that we all seem to love so much.  Play it loud.
> 
> I'd also like to mention that another interesting trick I've found is
> to play the part, re-tune the Mellotron up or down from a half step to
> the full major third, and play the keyboard part again, transposing
> the key pattern on the keyboard to play in pitch with the original
> material.  You now have 6,9,12, or 15-violins, because you are taking
> NEW "samples" and adding them together, each one having totally
> different ambience characteristics.  If you are feeling ambitious,
> play different lines with each tuning and ambience, and do multiple
> passes to add in some of the small timing inconsistencies that a big
> group of violinists will have.  The sound can get just entirely too
> huge, but if you want Mellotron that will part your hair, sandblast
> your car, and scare children and animals, try it.
> 
> That last trick is even pretty effective for huge Mellotron sounds
> recorded straight to tape with different artificial reverbs on each
> pass, but nothing comes out sounding quite like the loud Mellotron
> recorded from a distance in the big room with the artificial reverb. 
> Smells like Wakeman in here...
> 
> Jon E Salley
> MiloJohnson@...
> M400 #886
> 
> 
> www.tronsounds.com/songs/hvn.mp3
> 
> 
>