The Mellotron Group

A couple of years ago I was messing about with Chamberlin cello samples and recreated the opening of "Isn't Life Strange" just for fun...  (The flute is real.)

Here it is if anyone's interested:  http://thinking-aloud.co.uk/playsong.php?IsntLifeStrange

Owen

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Chris Dale <unobtainiumkeys@...> wrote:
>
> It isn't worth it but I've some time to waste today :)
> 
> 
> Mike Pinder used Chamberlin, an M300 Mellotron and a very heavily modified
> MK II on Seventh Sojourn.
> The Chamberlin sounds cleaner on Seventh Sojourn only because it's an M
> series unit that has higher quality tape heads.
> The earlier Chamberlins don't necessarily sound cleaner than the Mellotron
> because there isn't standardized tape heads in many of them. Master tapes
> have less to do with it when the playback mechanism is an influence.
> 
> The cellos on Isn't Life Strange and New Horizons are Chamberlin, but on
> other songs the sounds are interwoven with Mellotron M300 strings, which
> mask the Chamberlin vibrato.
> 
> Chamberlin is commonly mistaken for real string sections on many records.
> This was by design for authenticity purposes and to a much lesser extent -
> to avoid the American Musicians Unions.
> In a mix, Chamberlin sounds are generally harder to discern than Mellotron
> sounds.
> You almost need to own a real Chamberlin to recognize them. Not all of the
> Chamberlin sounds have been released digitally.
> 
> You're right about the Mellotron cellos being lower than the Chamberlin.
> Many of us here have both a real Chamberlin and Mellotron, and this was one
> of the first things that was noticeable. But not all 35 notes on the
> Chamberlin are used for every sound. For instance, the Male Voice and
> Female Voice singers couldn't sing that high. The upper few keys are blank,
> or have filler sounds on them. Other wind instrument sounds are like that
> too.
> If you have a full 35 notes or more for every Chamberlin sound in a digital
> keyboard or sample library, then the lowest and highest notes are either
> digitally pitched or occasionally can be from some other non-Chamberlin
> source.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 10:05 AM, Hal Moser <halmoser@...> wrote:
> 
> > **
> >
> >
> > Check it out on Wikipedia and All Music.  The sonic quality of the
> > Chamberlin is much cleaner than previous albums.  He did use the mellotron
> > on some songs, but listen carefully, especially the cellos.  With my new
> > Mellotron/Chamberlin, you can switch back and forth between sounds and you
> > can immediately tell the difference.
> >
> >   *From:* tronbros <tronbros@...>
> > *To:* "newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com" <
> > newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
> > *Sent:* Friday, December 14, 2012 12:00 PM
> >
> > *Subject:* Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re: Here's something that you wont
> > want to miss out on
> > **
> >
> > I will take a listen but when Mike recorded Seventh S, he still had a MKII
> > and the M400 with the cello sound hadn't been released.  Of course he could
> > have used an M300 with the early A tapes but his instrument had B tapes.
> >  It's all so confusing and probably not worth it!
> >
> > M****
> > mellotronics.com on my iPad
> >
> >
> >
> > **On 14 Dec 2012, at 17:53, Hal Moser <halmoser@...> wrote:****
> >
> >
> >  Sorry, but you're wrong.  Mike Pinder used the Chamberlain on 7th
> > Soujourn.  Listen for the cellos on "Isn't Life Strange".  Mellotrn cellos
> > are an octive below the Chamberlain cellos and at the lower end of the
> > cellos, it switches to a "double bass".  Richard Chamberlain said that Mike
> > bought a Chamberlain, but tried to re-wire it himself.  Richard said that
> > they had to go in a fix the wiring because it was so messed up.
> >
> >   *From:* tronbros <tronbros@...>
> > *To:* "newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com" <
> > newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
> > *Sent:* Friday, December 14, 2012 11:05 AM
> > *Subject:* Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re: Here's something that you wont
> > want to miss out on
> >
> > Just to be a pedant.......you won't find any mellotron cello on any
> > Moodies recordings.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > M
> >  mellotronics.com on my iPad
> >
> >
> >
> > On 14 Dec 2012, at 16:36, Hammonddave <hammonddave2004@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > You can find them at http://www.vintagekeyboardsounds.com/.  David Jacques
> > On Dec 14, 2012, at 12:59 AM, "markpringnz" <markpringnz@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > There are also some Mark II samples on ebay, which I think might be from
> > some one on the list.****--- In mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com<newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > lsf5275@ wrote:**>**> Who needs a real Mellotron now?**> **> _
> > http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELLOTRON-SAMPLES-Violin-Choir-Strings-Recorded-wit
> > **>
> > h-Neve-and-Neumann-u87-/150964280447?pt=US_Computer_Recording_Software&hash=
> > **> item23262c1c7f_ **> (
> > http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELLOTRON-SAMPLES-Violin-Choir-Strings-Recorded-with-Neve-and-Neumann-u87-/150964280447?pt=US_Computer_Recordin
> > **> g_Software&hash=item23262c1c7f)**>****
> >
> > ****
> >
> >  
> >
>