My Mellotron Obsession
2008-05-10 by Mark Pring
The first time I heard the Mellotron was the when I heard "Strawberry Fields", shortly after it was released. I didn't know it was a Mellotron but I did recognise that it was taped flutes played via some type of keyboard. I liked the sound, loved the record but the Mellotron was just a musical curiosity.
The second time I heard the Mellotron was at 11:30pm 18th November 1968, there are reasons why I remember the time which aren't related to the Mellotron. The Moody Blues were playing, well probably miming, "Nights in White Satin" on the television. This time the Mellotron made a bit more of an impact and again I liked the song but not enough to become very interested in the "Moody Blues".
The third occasion was three years later. I was 17 years old, I arranged with a friend to go and see Barclay James Harvest at a small cellar night club in Manchester. I had heard their first LP at school at lunch time record club, I had not been impressed but I was always keen to see live rock concerts.
I caught the train into the city and arrived at the club at about 8:30pm, my friend didn't show. I was underage and probably looked 14 years old however they seemed happy to serve me beer, so I waited around for a couple of hours. The band finally came on at 10:30pm, the last train home left at 10:45pm. They launched into "She said", my world hasn't been quite the same since, I stayed for the rest of the concert and walked home at midnight. I remember that they finished with a particularly rousing version of "Dark now my sky".
I have always found it very difficult to explain to anybody else what it is about the sound of Mellotron and especially the M300a 2 violins that affects me so much, something ethereal and yet close, it doesn't sound that much like violins, it's unmistakably a Mellotron and doesn't have that slightly sinister quality of the Mark II strings. The M300 strings are autumn, the Mark II strings are winter. I am used to people's eyes glazing over by now.
I followed BJH for several years after seeing them with and without the orchestra, much preferring the former. I was lucky that the mellotron only packed up once, when they had the orchestra, it certainly did sound terrible that night. I gradually lost interest in BJH as they seemed to get rather jaded towards the end of the 70's. I did become briefly interested again when my girlfriend of the time ( now my wife ) bought BJH live.
Many years passed and I emigrated to New Zealand. In 2003 my wife was transferring some of our old vinyl records to tape and she happened to play one of the BJH Live records, the other was so warped by now as to be un-playable, it was like being whisked back 30 years. At that point I decided I would one day own a mellotron and thought I had better learn to play a keyboard.
I started lessons and bought a cheap Yamaha PSR 295 this was a mistake as contrary to the salesperson's spiel the keys aren't quite standard size and this caused me a lot of problems when I switched to the piano. I trawled the Internet for mellotron sites and samples. I found the Yahoo mellotron list, and started off with the free Mellowsound and Novatron samples hosted through Fruity Loops and later moved on to M-Tron. After following the list for some months I became less sure of how I would acquire a mellotron and also more doubtful of my ability to keep one working if I did.
In 2007 I visited Martin, John and Brian at Blithley and had a look at an M4000. I was very impressed and very tempted, but thought an M400 or Mark VI being simpler, would be a better choice In the end family commitments took priority and I didn't feel justified in spending $15000 NZ on a mellotron just for me. I thought that I had finally decided to be content with samples. However very deep down I still pined for an M400 and did literally dream of finding one for sale in a charity shop for $50.
At the beginning of 2008 I joined Trade-me, our equivalent of Ebay and arranged to be notified if a mellotron should come up for auction. I think you would have to live here to realise how unlikely that is. I was staggered when a week later #1565 came up for auction and I was the only bidder. So for $1000 NZ, I was now the proud owner of a broken M400.
Still along way to go before #1565 is playable and I don't think I would have bought it if I hadn't known that help from list members was available. Still, I have given up on one of my ambitions and that is to be able to reproduce the sound of Woolly's M300 played live. The studio sound is fairly easy to obtain even in M-tron, oddly enough Woolly says that the live sound was never wet enough for his taste. Samples played dry or half wet just don't sound right to me. I have come believe that even when I have the M300 violins on tape and a working mellotron I won't be able reproduce that sound.
So where is all this leading?
I have come to 2 conclusions:
1) Beware of what you wish for, you'll get it.
I should have wished for an M300!
2) Sometimes it's good to have an unobtainable goal. If I managed to achieve that sound I would probably in some subtle way be disappointed.
It is better to travel hopefully than arrive.
Mark
PS I promise never to raise this topic again.
____________________________________________________________________________________
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know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
The second time I heard the Mellotron was at 11:30pm 18th November 1968, there are reasons why I remember the time which aren't related to the Mellotron. The Moody Blues were playing, well probably miming, "Nights in White Satin" on the television. This time the Mellotron made a bit more of an impact and again I liked the song but not enough to become very interested in the "Moody Blues".
The third occasion was three years later. I was 17 years old, I arranged with a friend to go and see Barclay James Harvest at a small cellar night club in Manchester. I had heard their first LP at school at lunch time record club, I had not been impressed but I was always keen to see live rock concerts.
I caught the train into the city and arrived at the club at about 8:30pm, my friend didn't show. I was underage and probably looked 14 years old however they seemed happy to serve me beer, so I waited around for a couple of hours. The band finally came on at 10:30pm, the last train home left at 10:45pm. They launched into "She said", my world hasn't been quite the same since, I stayed for the rest of the concert and walked home at midnight. I remember that they finished with a particularly rousing version of "Dark now my sky".
I have always found it very difficult to explain to anybody else what it is about the sound of Mellotron and especially the M300a 2 violins that affects me so much, something ethereal and yet close, it doesn't sound that much like violins, it's unmistakably a Mellotron and doesn't have that slightly sinister quality of the Mark II strings. The M300 strings are autumn, the Mark II strings are winter. I am used to people's eyes glazing over by now.
I followed BJH for several years after seeing them with and without the orchestra, much preferring the former. I was lucky that the mellotron only packed up once, when they had the orchestra, it certainly did sound terrible that night. I gradually lost interest in BJH as they seemed to get rather jaded towards the end of the 70's. I did become briefly interested again when my girlfriend of the time ( now my wife ) bought BJH live.
Many years passed and I emigrated to New Zealand. In 2003 my wife was transferring some of our old vinyl records to tape and she happened to play one of the BJH Live records, the other was so warped by now as to be un-playable, it was like being whisked back 30 years. At that point I decided I would one day own a mellotron and thought I had better learn to play a keyboard.
I started lessons and bought a cheap Yamaha PSR 295 this was a mistake as contrary to the salesperson's spiel the keys aren't quite standard size and this caused me a lot of problems when I switched to the piano. I trawled the Internet for mellotron sites and samples. I found the Yahoo mellotron list, and started off with the free Mellowsound and Novatron samples hosted through Fruity Loops and later moved on to M-Tron. After following the list for some months I became less sure of how I would acquire a mellotron and also more doubtful of my ability to keep one working if I did.
In 2007 I visited Martin, John and Brian at Blithley and had a look at an M4000. I was very impressed and very tempted, but thought an M400 or Mark VI being simpler, would be a better choice In the end family commitments took priority and I didn't feel justified in spending $15000 NZ on a mellotron just for me. I thought that I had finally decided to be content with samples. However very deep down I still pined for an M400 and did literally dream of finding one for sale in a charity shop for $50.
At the beginning of 2008 I joined Trade-me, our equivalent of Ebay and arranged to be notified if a mellotron should come up for auction. I think you would have to live here to realise how unlikely that is. I was staggered when a week later #1565 came up for auction and I was the only bidder. So for $1000 NZ, I was now the proud owner of a broken M400.
Still along way to go before #1565 is playable and I don't think I would have bought it if I hadn't known that help from list members was available. Still, I have given up on one of my ambitions and that is to be able to reproduce the sound of Woolly's M300 played live. The studio sound is fairly easy to obtain even in M-tron, oddly enough Woolly says that the live sound was never wet enough for his taste. Samples played dry or half wet just don't sound right to me. I have come believe that even when I have the M300 violins on tape and a working mellotron I won't be able reproduce that sound.
So where is all this leading?
I have come to 2 conclusions:
1) Beware of what you wish for, you'll get it.
I should have wished for an M300!
2) Sometimes it's good to have an unobtainable goal. If I managed to achieve that sound I would probably in some subtle way be disappointed.
It is better to travel hopefully than arrive.
Mark
PS I promise never to raise this topic again.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ