Mellotronists

Question:  "Why do you suppose that so-called mellotron pioneers - e.g. 
Wakeman, Fripp, etc. - avoid using them today?"
(It really seems that these guys want absolutely nothing whatsoever to 
do with mellotrons, doesn't it?)

I was just wondering...
Galen Niles

Well, technology has moved on, after all.... They could always use good
Mellotron samples...
 
Also, the sound has a definite era associated with it and these artists
may feel that they have "moved on"... 
 
Now, I own #340 because I love the historical significance and the
oddity of the mechanics... Would I use it to perform live?  No... I
would sample it and use the samples...

-----Original Message-----
From: thriftyn78412 [mailto:thriftyn@...] 
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 7:16 AM
To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Mellotronists] Mellotron Pioneers


Question:  "Why do you suppose that so-called mellotron pioneers - e.g. 
Wakeman, Fripp, etc. - avoid using them today?"
(It really seems that these guys want absolutely nothing whatsoever to 
do with mellotrons, doesn't it?)

I was just wondering...
Galen Niles




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At 02:15 PM 8/15/2003 +0000, thriftyn78412 wrote:
>Question:  "Why do you suppose that so-called mellotron pioneers - e.g.
>Wakeman, Fripp, etc. - avoid using them today?"

We've touched on this before out here...jeez, it was years ago now, 
though.  Man, I'm an old timer.  :-)

I think artists move on and use different things, whatever suits 
them.  Artists don't like things that "get in their way" when they create 
(Townshend still bashes things up when things don't work right, for 
example), and, let's face it, there are things on the market that more 
reliably, consistently, and conveniently reproduce the sounds the Mellotron 
originally set out to do.  Don't forget that many artists wanted 
"orchestral" sounds, not "orchestral sounds that sound like they're from a 
Mellotron" sounds, so they took advantage of the best technology available 
at the time.  The 'tron is certainly not that anymore; technology has moved on.

Why, then, do so many stick with the Minimoog?  If the Mellotron were that 
portable and reliable, we'd see a lot more of 'em, I'd think.

I could ask the corollary to your question:

Why do some artists *insist* on using them?  Probably because they are 
inspired by what goes on inside that box, despite--or because of--the 
idiosyncrasies.

...kl...M400 #805, idiosyncrasies?  corollary?  who bought YOU a dictionary?

* Ken Leonard - Web Table of Contents:  http://www.kleonard.com
* Get Outdoors New England:  http://www.GONewEngland.org
 >> Declare Independence!!  http://www.DownsizeDC.org

In a message dated 15/08/2003 20:41:31 GMT Daylight Time, ken@... 
writes:

> >Question:  "Why do you suppose that so-called mellotron pioneers - e.g.
> >Wakeman, Fripp, etc. - avoid using them today?"
> 

Dear All,

I also think that many of the pioneers probably remember the worse aspects of 
the instrument.

As Bob Fripp put it once "tuning a Mellotron doesn't".

Many people's experience of Mellotrons are of badly adjusted, unmaintained 
and abused machines so the quicker they could drop them the better in their 
eyes.

However with a decent service, new tapes and a new motor controller then the 
the true character of these fine instruments can shine through. In addition 
there are the new sounds that are being done.

Accept no substitutes (except possibly when playing live!),
Norm

In a message dated 8/15/2003 3:41:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
ken@... writes:

> Why do some artists *insist* on using them?  Probably because they are 
> inspired by what goes on inside that box, despite--or because of--the 
> idiosyncrasies.
> 
> 

I agree.  In fact, the best description I've heard recently about one of the 
mellotron's idiosyncrasies comes from, of all places, the Kurzweil list.  
Here, one of the members describes sampling the human voice on a Kurzweil sampler, 
and compares it to a mellotron:

"It's like a collage of disjunct sounds where each note doesn't know where it 
came from or where it's going to. Makes me think of the mellotron."

I never really thought to put it in those terms, but I think he nailed it.


Ken M.
MKII #247 (my notes rarely know if they're coming or going, and I like it 
that way).

<<Would I use it to perform live?  No... I would sample it and use the 
samples...>>

I've done both, and I prefer having the real thing there just for the... 
uh.... vibe, I guess. and the ritual. parking the bugger on the stage seems sort 
of... decisive. we always find it it's spot before anything else- it has to be 
facing north and on a ley-line or it gets stroppy. and of course, it's right 
in the way of everything else that needs rigging.
these days, though, it ain't so practical for me, because the rest of the 
band live out of town and the rehearsal studio in stockport is three floors up in 
a warehouse. but at least they're our own samples.
gene, you could chip in here and explain how even two or three 400's on the 
same stage (always tempting fate to even have two in the same postal district 
unless it's blithbury..) managed to leave a minimoog redfaced ;-)

duncan, the dirty stop-out/1098, the pilot light