The Mellotron Group

What can be said, can be said clearly the rest...
--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@...> wrote:
>
> Bernie -
> 
> You seem to be totally misunderstanding what I am trying to say. Maybe I 
> am not expressing it properly.
> 
> It is a limitation of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Tenth Symphony 
> and Schubert's Seventh Symphony that they were all unfinished and had to 
> be completed by lesser talents. Do I still like them? Yes, all of them 
> and very much. Are they what I expect of those composers? No, not at all.
> 
> You're right that Banks /et al /didn't use the Mellotron as a 
> 'substitute for orchestral instruments' because - to name one of the 
> limitations I described - the recordings themselves were not worth a 
> damn and don't sound like what they were supposed to represent. They 
> sound like a Mellotron. So if one choses to use them as such a 
> replacement for them (as was the original intention, more or less) then 
> it fails pretty miserably. That it still sounds great is really neither 
> here nor there. I am describing what /limits /the instrument as someone 
> may wish it be used.
> 
> Yes, I know an accordion is limited if I chose to use it as a 
> cheeseboard, but I am talking about using it within the context that it 
> was designed to be uitilised.
> 
> You're confusing your subjective personal taste for the more objective 
> matter of what the instrument can and cannot 'do'. That I think the 
> former is the more important criterion is not really important to the 
> discussion.
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> On 03/12/2010 15:59, tron400 wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike, it's not a matter of liking or disliking Mellotrons. I know that 
> > they were originally designed to imitate other instruments, but they 
> > don't seem to have been very successful there (except maybe in the 
> > hands of one member of this group :-). When I hear a TV commercial 
> > with Mellotron flute, I don't hear flutes, I hear a Mellotron. Same 
> > with the 3 violins. I don't hear violins, I hear another instrument 
> > altogether. The way Mellotrons have been used by prog rockers seems to 
> > have placed a stamp on Mellotrons as to how they are played by most 
> > people, making them unique instruments that don't sound like any other 
> > instrument. I don't think Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman or Fritz Doddy used 
> > Trons to substitute for orchestral instruments. I think they used them 
> > for the uniqueness of their sound and I think that uniqueness is what 
> > attracts people to Trons. So to me, because of the uniqueness of this 
> > instrument that does exactly what I want it to do and sounds exactly 
> > the way I want it to sound, it has no limitations for me.
> >
> > Frank, sometimes they taste like wood, sometimes they taste like 
> > metal, sometimes they taste like iron oxide and on extremely rare 
> > occasions, they taste like plexiglass.
> >
> > Bernie
> >
> > --- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>, Mike Dickson 
> > <mike.dickson@> wrote:
> > >
> > > What I listed are /ipso facto /the limitations of the Mellotron as an
> > > instrument. I don't think anyone here will disagree with any of them.
> > >
> > > You liking them or not is a matter of taste.
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > > On 02/12/2010 12:04, tron400 wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Mike, I think you and a few others misunderstand me. Frank Stickle's
> > > > comment about not being able to drive them is closest to it if only
> > > > for the absurdity. Pianos have limited range and only one voice.
> > > > That's the way they're designed. I don't see that as a limitation. It
> > > > is what it is.
> > > >
> > > > Bernie
> > > >
> > > > --- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>
> > > > <mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>, Mike Dickson
> > > > <mike.dickson@> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On 01/12/2010 13:20, tron400 wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If Mellotrons have limitations, everything has limitations. No one
> > > > > > ever mentions the limitations of a guitar or a piano, yet the 
> > article
> > > > > > mentions Mellotron limitations without saying what they are. 
> > What are
> > > > > > they?
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > 1. Tuning
> > > > > 2. Range
> > > > > 3. Voices
> > > > > 4. Recording quality
> > > > > 5. Timbre
> > > > > 6. White noise
> > > > > 7. Tape audio artefacts
> > > > > 8. Tape transport
> > > > > 9. Playing position
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Give me a shout if you want more.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
> > >
> > > Free Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/
> > > Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
> > > Or http://soundcloud.com/mikedickson
> > > Or http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson
> > > Or http://www.myspace.com/mellotronworks
> > >
> >
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
> 
> Free Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/
> Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
> Or http://soundcloud.com/mikedickson
> Or http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson
> Or http://www.myspace.com/mellotronworks
>