Fw: [Mellotronists] 21st Century Schizoid Band
2002-08-26 by JS
The absence of Mellotron was more obvious. At the beginning of the concert
someone in the crowd yelled "where's the Mellotron?" to which JJ replied "do
you know how heavy those f*** are? we have it hidden in little boxes around
the stage" but I think he may have regretted that later because Mel Collins
managed to lose his string patch before one number started prompting Ian
McDonald to jog across the stage and fix it and, excrutiatingly, Ian
McDonald's synth stopped working near the end of Epitaph and the song had to
be brought grindingly to a halt.
Sounds like one heavy Mellotron would have worked more
properly than what they were using, and I'd sure like to know what they were
using for keyboards so that I can never buy one. I've been playing digital
stuff since the DX gear came out and have personally never experienced
equipment failure. I'm also stunned that there wouldn't be backup
available at a buss' reach to keep the proper audio in the mix. Heck, I
carry a backup duplicate of my primary stage keyboard just in case, and it just
takes up space (but it's a nice security blanket.)
News flash from an afternoon blowing off commitments and
just dorking around in the studio: I have a Behringer Edison, one of those
"stereo enhancer" type boxes, and just on a whim hooked #886 up to it and
straight into the mixer, and guess what? Something that was a good initial
approximation of "that sound" we have been discussing. The stereo tricks the box
does gives a real good space and distance to the sound that just reverb and echo
doesn't seem to do, and gives it that feeling of speakers from a ways
away. Try it!
Jon E Salley
M400 #886