Mellotronists

Hi Martin et al,

Although I don't often chip in on the list, I thought that I would answer 
the "new sounds?" question with an anecdote:

When Nick and I recorded "Julia" for the Rime Of The Ancient Sampler, we 
made a special effort to be creative, and to use the Mellotron in as many 
ways as we could. We created swell brass sounds, employed lesser known 
tapes such as the piano, the bass guitar, an acoustic (12 string?) 
guitar... and used as many effects with those sounds as we could. We also 
used a few old favourites: the Mk2 Strings, one of the Flutes, and a tiny 
bit of Combined Choir. In the end, almost everything on the track apart 
from the percussion track, Clive's guitar, the bass pedals and some 
synthesised saxophone was played on Mellotron.

When the CD was released, most people were very kind, and said that they 
liked the track, but wasn't it a shame that there was so little Mellotron 
on it!

When questioned, it transpired that the only sounds that they recognised 
as Mellotron were the Flute and Mk2 strings. I soon gave up explaining 
that the piano was Mellotron, the double tracked acoustic guitar included 
Mellotron, the swelled brass was Mellotron, the 'synthesiser' ensemble 
was Mellotron... This is doubly interesting because most of the people 
with whom I had the conversation were Mellotron 
owners/players/aficionados, themselves.

In the face of this, I am unsurprised that everybody sticks to the 
classic violins/flute/choir of one sort or another.

All the best,

Gordon.

(Who will make a decision about that frame soon, honest!)