The Mellotron Group

That's all very technical Mr Daily.  We have the Chamberlin masters  that 
Streetly used and I can guarantee that they were not revisited for the M400  
dicking around session.  I can understand the eq characteristics and the  
lack of adjustment was probably deliberate to make the MKII Violins sound  
different from Harry's and therefore not obviously a steal!  Naughty but  nice, 
devious yet delicious.
 
Best,
 
M
 
Streetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic 
www.mellotronics.co.uk
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In a message dated 23/08/2010 06:44:28 GMT Daylight Time,  
pocotron@yahoo.com writes:

 
 
 
Hi all-
  If the high F# was speeded up to A in production, one  explanation for 
the shrill character might be the tape equalization  error due to the 
increased speed.  More highs would be forced thru  the falling characteristic tape 
filter slope.
 
  This leads me to the Mk2/M400 3-violins  comparisons.  One might also 
want to listen to the 3-violins source  for comparison, since the Chamberlin 
set was first.  What  was the reason for the difference between MK2 and the 
Chamberlin  3-violins sound?  The Chamberlin violins were very clear and  
full.  One thing I have suuspected is that Streetly recieved master  tapes from 
Chamberlin that were recorded stateside using NAB-standard  tape 
equalization.  If they were played back on a British machine,  having a different 
standard (such as NARTB), the result may  have caused the "MK2 sound".  This is 
just speculation, as most  recording engineers at the time would've noticed 
(and dealt with) the EQ  difference, or the master tapes would've been 
labeled with the  appropriate EQ standard.  Maybe Streetly couldn't compensate for 
 NAB EQ, and ran the tapes with what they had, causing the EQ  error.  
Therefore, the "MK2 3-violins" sound.
  I think the M400 set sounds closer to the Chamberlin  set.  Maybe, in 
1971, the right tape EQ was available, and resulted  in the M400 set (with some 
other aural "fooling around").
 
  Pure speculation on my part, from an electronics point-of  view.
 
   -Bruce Daily
 


--- On Sat, 8/21/10, tronfan66  <mellotron_head@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:



From:  tronfan66 <mellotron_head@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject:  [newmellotrongroup] Re: MK-II Violins vs M400 Violins
To:  newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, August 21, 2010,  9:44 AM


 

Thanks Clay, that would make a lot of sense (glad to hear  that someone 
here has given it a listen too! :) ). In both cases I  just did a quick 
recording straight from the outputs of my machine, so  you're getting 'the 
unvarnished truth' so to speak. The fact that you  found a lot more going on with 
the MKII ones pretty much confirms what  I've always thought about differences 
in the overall 'feel' of certain  notes.

Interesting that the M400 violins were originally  intended to smooth out 
some of the more strident notes from the MKII  versions though - just compare 
the highest A between both versions and  the one on the M400 is *much* more 
shrill! (It also happens to be the  F# closest to it, sped up to A, which 
strikes me as a bit of a strange  choice, but there it is).

Gawd, I'm such an anorak with these  things.

Tony

--- In _newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_ 
(http://us.mc636.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) ,  "ClayE" 
<ecclesreinson@...> wrote:
>
> The  comparison mp3 that you posted shows the difference well. I opened  
your mp3 with Sony Sound Forge and used the spectrum analysis thingy.  The 
MK-II notes have a lot more going on around 1.8 khz than the M400  notes. (8 
db more !) The rest of the spectrum looks about the same. No  wonder M400 
Violins sound a bit thin in the middle.
> 
>  --- In _newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_ 
(http://us.mc636.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) ,  "tronfan66" 
<mellotron_head@> wrote:
> >
> >  
> > Same here, when I had the M400 violins I was always  trying to get them 
to sound like the MKII ones. But of course with the  re-EQ, and some of the 
actual notes/recordings not being the same  between versions, it was always 
to no avail!
> > 
>  > I wonder if this is also part of what Mike Pinder meant when he  
described the M400 as being "like a black and white photo of a  colourful 
Mellotron". Circuitry and types of amplification between  models aside (though of 
course they're major factors), maybe that's  another reason why he said this, 
if he'd judged the M400 by the sound  of the M400 violins. 
> > 
> > Don't get me wrong, I  still like the M400 versions - just that to 
these ears they'll always  pale by comparison to the MKII ones.
> > 
> > Hmm,  probably a case of OCD here too...
> >