The Mellotron Group

It Hz to be in love...
 
 
In a message dated 1/22/2010 1:26:41 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
fourtytwominds@yahoo.com writes:

 
 
 


--- In _newmellotrongroup@newmellotronnew_ 
(mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) ,  Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@mik> 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-The 8

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.