Mellotronists

I remember a discussion with Tony in a use-group on AOL, years ago, I think
it was for the Moodies. A thread about Mellotrons, and he was giving them a
good bashing (in a light-hearted way). Mellotron jokes etc. Q - what do you
call a Mellotron at the bottom of a dumpster? A. A Good Start! stuff like
that. And there was some dissent in defense of the Mellotron, and Tony
pointed out the "wheep!" noise that sometimes happen when the tape rewinds,
and he wanted to know of what redeeming value *that* could possibly have.
The response was "of what redeeming value is finger noise on round-wound
strings - it is part of the nature of the Instrument and the process of
playing it with your hands!"

Maybe it's that he is a "record producer", which means he produces records,
so his end result is the sound that comes out of car speakers, and any box
that helps to expidite this process is a good thing?


- Gene

M400S #1023
M400S #1213
M400S #1289

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Tillman [mailto:don@...]
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 2:32 PM
To: mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Mellotronists] Tony Visconti


   > From: Ken Leonard <ken@...>
   > Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 11:18:46 -0500
   > 

   > *Our* opinions are driven by the gear itself and what we may or
   > may not hear in the recorded tracks as being the difference
   > between the real and sampled thing.  So we will use the real
   > deal, like someone using a beat-up B-3 instead of samples or
   > whatever.  And that's what works for *us*, and that's fine.

It used to be that a Musical Instrument was a noise-making process
that the musician interacted with in an enjoyable and inspirational
way.  

Today there's a cult that wants to replace all musical instruments
with computers playing samples, so there's absolutely no interaction
with the noise-making process.

That's surreal.  

Am I the only one thinking "Stepford Wives" here? 

  -- Don