----- Original Message -----
From: Jon
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 4:04 PM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Thanks Mike !
Holy crap, that's a lot of work! Sounds like it would be easier to just buy the eBay machine...
----- Original Message -----
From: will davis
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Thanks Mike !
Hey Mike !!! Thanks for that info, I wish I could have been there...it seems very interesting...! To answer your questions.... If my memory serves me and if my memory serves me, (or did I already say that ?) Because in the beginning we didnt envision a huge library of different versionsof the same sounds/voices, I had to decide on one of 2 plans for the choir...not sure which we went for. Plan 1 was male voices singing octave one and two, with the girls joining in on the second octave, and the girls singing their second octave alone for the third octave. That way if you wanted only male voices you would play the first octave, or only female voices, you play octave 3, or if you wanted a blend you play the middle octave. Plan 2 was similar, but each only singing one octave. The first octave still being male only, second being both, and third being female. So yes, you are correct...it would seem that the notes were repeating, because part of it was repeating and depending on how bad time was to the tapes you probably dont hear the upper frequecies of the females like you would have 35 years ago !
And sadly, no, Im not even sure where the "masters" are or WHAT they are. Ryo claims that Streetly has them and that they need baking just to get one or two passes out of them. I dont know if they are the 7" reels recorded from the loops, or an 8 track master recorded from the 7" reels, etc. All Ive got are some of the 8-track carts that Ive played for hundreds of hours. I am in the process of removing the tape and playing them on a Fostex 1/4" 8 channel reel to reel and recording all 8 tracks simultaneously onto my Fostex VF-160 digital recorder. From this I transfer the notes to my computer where I can re-pitch for the missing notes and edit out any major blurps, etc.
If I ever get all this done, I am going record the notes on CDs and connect the 19 players to an 'insert point' on the circiut boards of the B-90...........all this just so I have something to play !!!!
The only sounds I have now are violins, flute, cello, pipe organ (recorded at the High Wycombe town hall where supposedly the Stones and the Who had played !), choir, mixed strings, mixed brass, and a mixed strings/brass combo. I personally dont care for the mixed sounds mainly because a violin, cello and viola wouldnt all be playing the same notes at the same time, nor would a french horn, trumpet and trombone.....etc.
Well...I gotta go, my eyes are getting blurry....it has nothing to do with drinking beer; its because Im wearing outdated glasses as my proper ones fell in a bonfire 6 months ago !!! But my beer is getting warm, and American beer HAS to be cold cus its so crappy !!! Later, dave
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Dickson
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Thanks Mike !
Dave -
That piece for the web site was actually recorded on a Mellotron /I
think/. It is even possible it was played on a sampler. It's a while
back now and I really cannot remember. As the late (and quite wonderful)
Clement Freud said, 'at eighty-four your memory just begins to go a
bit...and also...your memory begins to go a bit.
What I do remember is that it was tonally quite odd - the male voices
seem to repeat more or less the same notes on every octave (or it feels
like that) and the female voices are mixed fairly far down. The result
is that almost anything you play on it is going to sound /eerily similar
/as you have effectively a limited palette of timbres to work with.
The Birotron contribution for /Spem In Alium /was definitely recorded on
a sampler. The voices in that piece (including my own) are sourced from
a variety of places and played on different samplers, including the
Mellotron and (get this) a resampled sample of an E-mu sampler library.
Do you still have access to the masters? If so, what else is there?
Mike
will davis wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Mike ....thanks for posting that ! That first piece you played was
> very similar to a piece I wrote and recorded around '74 but was never
> published, which makes it really erie. The choir was always my
> favorite sound....its amazing what a group of unpaid high school kids
> can do !!!
> Obviously there were several different choirs on your second
> piece, and I think I might be able to tell which was which. But Im
> curious...were you playing the BiroTron(I think not), or the Mellotron
> with the BT choir tapes?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Mike Dickson <mailto:mike.dickson@gmail.com>
> *To:* newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:54 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re:Something for trondave
>
> *>>> Thank you so much for posting that...I hope people take the
> time to
> read it even tho it is not >>> 100% accurate...but it is close to
> accurate as any other article ever written*
>
> >> Streetly has even posted a clip
> <http://mikedickson.org.uk/tron/right.htm#_birotronchoir
> <http://mikedickson.org.uk/tron/right.htm#_birotronchoir>> on its
> website
> of a salvaged choir tape-set being played.
>
> Played and recorded by...er...oh yes. Me.
>
> And you'll also hear the sound of the Birotron choir (eventually) on
>
> http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/in_excelsis/Mike%20Dickson%20-%20Spem%20In%20Alium.mp3
> <http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/in_excelsis/Mike%20Dickson%20-%20Spem%20In%20Alium.mp3>
>
> --
> Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
>
> Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
> <http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson>
> Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ <http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/>
>
>
--
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/