The Mellotron Group

Chris, thanks for the response and info! I read somewhere that you own the Gino/Joe Vanelli M1. Cool! What special (Gino/Joe-) sounds does it have?

I thought the Chamberlin cello sound was introduced with the M-series. I tried to find a list with the lead sounds for the Musicmaster but no luck..  An MM (or even an M-series machine, or a prototype) could of course have been used for both sessions since they probably were available before Jim's move to Paris.

Anyway, here's some great Mellotron cello from 1968! Comes in at 0:53 and could be from an M300. Also has some lovely strings and flute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsR1h1w-N1g

Cheers,

Mattias Puttonen
M400 #851 and MkII #116

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Chris Dale  wrote:
>
> Welcome Mattias:
> 
> 
> Thanks for sending this. It's an interesting time capsule of sorts.
> 
> It certainly sounds like MK II electric guitar in there but I doubt it's
> Mellotron cello.
> 
> The Mellotron cello was released with the M400 in 1970 and these recordings
> pre-date that.
> 
> What I'm fairly certain it is - is Chamberlin cello, but with the higher
> frequencies muted out.
> 
> This would be a Chamberlin Musicmaster 600 which was the 'common' model up
> until the M1 came out in late 69 / early 1970.
> 
> You can also tell by the heavy vibrato as many Chamberlin sounds have this
> and it was characteristic of the recordings of that time - (1940's
> -1950's). The Chamberlin was intended as a big band instrument. (The
> inventor despised everything about rock and roll that he largely made his
> son deal with the rock musicians though Bobby Darin was an exception).
> 
> Chamberlins were used starting from the 1950's in the US and Canada before
> the Mellotron arrived.
> (In fact, I thought Mellotrons were rarer because I personally encountered
> more Chamberlins in my travels, and never thought the inverse was true.)
> 
> 
> Of course, this brings up the possibility that it's not MK II guitar then,
> but a Chamberlin electric guitar sound used in the same range. I haven't
> heard the Chamberlin electric guitar in a long time and would have to
> re-familiarize myself with it.  It's not a common or distinctive recording.
> The Doors never owned a Mellotron or Chamberlin  so I wonder if this second
> video is live in a studio?
> If so the studio could have had both a MK II and a Chamberlin Music Master
> though they would have to be a major outfit based in Hollywood that did
> mainly post production for movies to afford both at that time.
> It also sounds like there's some real saxophone too, and maybe some
> electric piano.
> 
> Certainly it's interesting as the Doors are most associated with the combo
> organ sound and not the tape keyboards.
> 
> Thanks for sharing it.
> 
> 
> Chris Dale
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 1:35 AM, Mattias  wrote:
> 
> > **
> >
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > My name is Mattias Puttonen and I have been fascinated by the
> > Mellotron/Chamberlin sound since the late 80's when I started buying
> > records at the Mellotronen record shop in Stockholm. Since then I have
> > aquired a couple machines that I love to play and tinker with. One of them
> > is in the Yahoo-group photo section:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newmellotrongroup/photos/album/570072533/pic/list
> >
> > I thought this would be worth sharing: from the experimental Jim Morrison
> > film HWY (1969) featuring the cool sounds of MkII rock guitar and
> > (M400/M300?) cello. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLo0ilQ7hY
> >
> > The MkII used on this was probably Jac Holzman's (now owned by John
> > Frusciante). For some more of that same "tronny" cello, check out this sad
> > Doors jam, starts at 6:25: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-SoXMh6g0c
> >
> > My humble guess is that Jac wanted some more string sounds in his MkII and
> > got a single station with cello only on the left hand instead of another
> > lead set. I don't think Mellotronics would do an entirely new work master
> > or splice in a new station, but what do I know? Does anyone know better?
> > -You're the experts!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Mattias Puttonen, Stockholm
> > (Current favorite frame: MkII rock guitar/Chamb flute/M400 bassoon)
> >
> >  
> >
>