Mellotronists

Chris.
Was there mellotron on "Awaken"? I thought this album was made during the
Caped Crusaders flirtation with the Birotron.Those voices sound distinctly
human to these ears, which doesn't mean a thing as they're full of tinnitus
currently, which is driving me mad.
Anyone out there know of a cure?
Andy K
M400 #1405

This is an occasional posting from someone who should be contributing more.....

At 21:25 08/05/02 -0400, Andy K wrote:

>Chris.
>Was there mellotron on "Awaken"? I thought this album was made during the
>Caped Crusaders flirtation with the Birotron.

It was made during that era, and I believe the sounds on 'Awaken' that were
referred to are that of the Birotron - however no direct mention of the type of
keyboards used are apparent.

>Those voices sound distinctly
>human to these ears, which doesn't mean a thing as they're full of tinnitus
>currently, which is driving me mad.
>Anyone out there know of a cure?

Don't listen to tinkley music :-)

Some time ago I posted to this list about a number of Birotrons (20% of the
total
production run) that are currently awaiting refurb, which is quite a major
task given the
rarity of this machine. Iv'e put the pictures of them in their current
state at:

http://www.atthepub.demon.co.uk/birotron/

I would also like to trace all the other machines we made, (yes, all 13).
Some of the
facts appear to have been lost in the mists of time, so if anyone out there
has any useful info
please do drop me a line.

Nic Lewis
Birotron #9?, #12?, #15? (!!)

Hi Andy:


I recommend listening to this piece with headphones and no background noise
in order to discern what I'm saying below.
The mellotron appears in the closing sequence at the end of the song. It
begins to surface with the 8 voice choir mixed with the loud organ
crescendo. The attentive listener then hears a chord of the flutes as a
trail off and the entrance of Anderson singing "High vibration go on". Then
after the lyric "Here we can beeeee......" you hear the fade in of mellotron
strings. Then after the second lyric of ".... turned around and you were
standing close to me" the 8 voice choir fades in with a drum roll alongside
the strings. The piece closes with a gentle guitar solo over the 8 voice
choir. The double tron is used in this particular piece. I'm not being
biased in my assessment. I too, thought it was Birotron for the longest
time, but the characteristic warble in the flutes is a giveaway. Wakeman
used the double tron to record the album, and half way through the tour,
replaced it with two Birotrons. This is documented in the Yesyears video,
concert footage, and pictures of the Going for The One tour. The sounds in
the double tron are also inscribed (in Birotron lettering?) on the control
panel and are the above described sounds.



Chris Dale

----- Original Message -----
From: <kinchmusic@...>
To: <mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 9:25 PM
Subject: [Mellotronists] YES and Rick


> Chris.
> Was there mellotron on "Awaken"? I thought this album was made during the
> Caped Crusaders flirtation with the Birotron.Those voices sound distinctly
> human to these ears, which doesn't mean a thing as they're full of
tinnitus
> currently, which is driving me mad.
> Anyone out there know of a cure?
> Andy K
> M400 #1405
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> Mellotronists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>

In a message dated 05/09/2002 8:11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, chris.dale@... writes:

I recommend listening to this piece with headphones and no background noise
in order to discern what I'm saying below.
The mellotron appears in the closing sequence at the end of the song. It
begins to surface with the 8 voice choir mixed with the loud organ
crescendo. The attentive listener then hears a chord of the flutes as a
trail off and the entrance of Anderson singing "High vibration go on". Then
after the lyric "Here we can beeeee......" you hear the fade in of mellotron
strings. Then after the second lyric of ".... turned around and you were
standing close to me" the 8 voice choir fades in with a drum roll alongside
the strings. The piece closes with a gentle guitar solo over the 8 voice
choir. The double tron is used in this particular piece. I'm not being
biased in my assessment. I too, thought it was Birotron for the longest
time, but the characteristic warble in the flutes is a giveaway. Wakeman
used the double tron to record the album, and half way through the tour,
replaced it with two Birotrons. This is documented in the Yesyears video,
concert footage, and pictures of the Going for The One tour. The sounds in
the double tron are also inscribed (in Birotron lettering?) on the control
panel and are the above described sounds.



Chris Dale

Chris, buddy, I love ya, but I'm gonna be blunt. You need to take a walk in that nice Canadian fresh air and get your wits back. :>)

Fritz m400#1697

<< Was there mellotron on "Awaken"? >>

in the "yesyears" film of the time, rick is asked (repeatedly) by the
engineer to demonstrate "the new mellotron sound"- I think this was also a
bit early for the cart machine to have been in studio-use. he makes a
horrible noise (somehow) with the 'tron and pulls a face at the camera, as I
recollect.

amongst my band, "relayer" remains favourite; moraz' contribution was
essential in keeping the momentum going in the longer pieces, in a way that
rick lost the inclination to attempt at the time of "oceans", which ain't a
bad album, it's just..... life's too short, y'know?

but I thought "refugee" was a bad idea (the nice, without the knives? what's
the point of that?), and though the solo albums are nicely made, with a few
decent songs, they seem like the work of a composer who's really more
comfortable with a regular band to bounce ideas off. rick, meanwhile, had
solo stuff pouring out of him that he didn't want to share with yes, and only
went back to them when his run dried up. was there much 'tron on "white
rock", can anyone remember? (while there's so many of us here)

duncan/400nr1098 with *a new standard tape set* (martin, these spools....)

Uh, Chris, not wanting to pick nits here, but how does one "fade in"? If

anything could do it, though, it would be that wacky machine of yours...

Rick

Chris Dale wrote:

> Hi Andy:
>
> I recommend listening to this piece with headphones and no background

noise

> in order to discern what I'm saying below.
> The mellotron appears in the closing sequence at the end of the song.

It

> begins to surface with the 8 voice choir mixed with the loud organ
> crescendo. The attentive listener then hears a chord of the flutes as

a

> trail off and the entrance of Anderson singing "High vibration go on".

Then

> after the lyric "Here we can beeeee......" you hear the fade in of

mellotron

> strings. Then after the second lyric of ".... turned around and you

were

> standing close to me" the 8 voice choir fades in with a drum roll

alongside

> the strings. The piece closes with a gentle guitar solo over the 8

voice

> choir. The double tron is used in this particular piece. I'm not being

> biased in my assessment. I too, thought it was Birotron for the

longest

> time, but the characteristic warble in the flutes is a giveaway.

Wakeman

> used the double tron to record the album, and half way through the

tour,

> replaced it with two Birotrons. This is documented in the Yesyears

video,

> concert footage, and pictures of the Going for The One tour. The

sounds in

> the double tron are also inscribed (in Birotron lettering?) on the

control

> panel and are the above described sounds.
>
> Chris Dale

In a message dated 5/9/02 5:41:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time, chris.dale@... writes:

Apparently the last use of real mellotron for the Moodies was "Keys To The Kingdom" on tracks that Moraz played on.

According to producer Tony Visconti, these tron sounds were samples from a MkII that the Moodies had in storage.

Frank Samagaio
M400 #908