The Mellotron Group

Hi all-

   I just recieved my new tapframe & tapes from
Streetly.   Thanks Martin & company, I am very pleased
with this!

   The new frame is laced with- A)Watcher Mix,
B)Russian Choir, C)St.Johns Wood Church Organ.  Great
sounds!  Watcher Mix by itself has a lonely, haunting
quality, and should make a good background sound. 
Russian Choir is amazing, and has the rare quality of
sounding useful speeded up or slowed down.  The organ
is unexpectedly beautiful and powerful(It even makes
MY playing sound good).  The choir mixes well with
both sounds.  It should be mentioned that mixing
between the tracks has almost no drop in sound level
or timbre.  All attacks seem to be lined up(thanks
Martin).  Very nice!

   I also recieved another set of tapes(no frame)-
A)Angry Strings, B)French Horn, C)Chamber Woodwinds. 
This will replace a very worn set on a frame I bought
6 months ago.  Some lacing needs to be done(oboy). 
Will advise everyone on the results.

   Got a belt and 2 headblock rollers, too.  Believe
it or not, my 'tron was missing a roller when I got it
a year ago (how do you lose one of those?!).  After
some electronic noise, headscratching, and advice from
our intrepid group, I fashioned a roller from nylon
parts found at Ace Hardware.  However, I got the right
stuff now.

   Oh yeah, the new turnbuckles on the frame are
great!  Thought I'd better get that in. ;-)

   Thanks again to the gang at Streetly!


   -Bruce Daily
   #1221 (sez-"these tapes smell different...")




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Hi again-

   I almost forgot, many thanks to our favorite rep
Jimmy Moore for his help with this order!

   -Bruce Daily



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Bruce,

I have the Russian Choir and I like it a lot. I've only played the 
St John's Wood Church Organ on the M-Tron and it sounds very good, 
so I can only imagine how much better it sounds on a Mellotron. Does 
the Watcher mix sound like an even mix of the MkII 3 Volins and MkII 
Combined Brass? I wonder if it sounds any different than mixing 
adjacent tracks of the same instruments. I would love to hear it if 
you could post a sample.

I'm also looking forward to your review of the Angry Strings, French 
Horn (Rick's?) and Chamber Woodwinds. Seems like a great 
combination. Have fun lacing them. I did it once. A word of caution 
though: if you have cats, lock them in another room while lacing.

Bernie

 --- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Daily 
<pocotron@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all-
> 
>    I just recieved my new tapframe & tapes from
> Streetly.   Thanks Martin & company, I am very pleased
> with this!
> 
>    The new frame is laced with- A)Watcher Mix,
> B)Russian Choir, C)St.Johns Wood Church Organ.  Great
> sounds!  Watcher Mix by itself has a lonely, haunting
> quality, and should make a good background sound. 
> Russian Choir is amazing, and has the rare quality of
> sounding useful speeded up or slowed down.  The organ
> is unexpectedly beautiful and powerful(It even makes
> MY playing sound good).  The choir mixes well with
> both sounds.  It should be mentioned that mixing
> between the tracks has almost no drop in sound level
> or timbre.  All attacks seem to be lined up(thanks
> Martin).  Very nice!
> 
>    I also recieved another set of tapes(no frame)-
> A)Angry Strings, B)French Horn, C)Chamber Woodwinds. 
> This will replace a very worn set on a frame I bought
> 6 months ago.  Some lacing needs to be done(oboy). 
> Will advise everyone on the results.
> 
>    Got a belt and 2 headblock rollers, too.  Believe
> it or not, my 'tron was missing a roller when I got it
> a year ago (how do you lose one of those?!).  After
> some electronic noise, headscratching, and advice from
> our intrepid group, I fashioned a roller from nylon
> parts found at Ace Hardware.  However, I got the right
> stuff now.
> 
>    Oh yeah, the new turnbuckles on the frame are
> great!  Thought I'd better get that in. ;-)
> 
>    Thanks again to the gang at Streetly!
> 
> 
>    -Bruce Daily
>    #1221 (sez-"these tapes smell different...")
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________
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category=shopping
>

Bruce,
            Just  read the email that your stuff came in!!!! If the frame is 
laced just place the  new tape to the old tape and gently pull it through 
until the headblock mark is  directly over the middle of the head. Cut the tape 
and splice again. Do this for  all 35 heads! It is much easier with 2 people and 
also make sure the tapes is in  the exact middle of the 2 screws which you 
tighten down
Call me and I help over the phone if you want to
                                                                              
Jimmy Moore
The fun has just started



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Here Here to locking the cats out of the room! I was recording with a  friend 
and my mellotron did not sound right. Here, my cat" Mr. Kins" was  batting at 
the tapes rising and falling as I pressed and released the notes.  Definitely 
a good habit to get into if you own Cats!!!!!
                                          No Damage tho
                                         Jimmy  Moore



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--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, "jonesalley" <jonesalley@...> 
wrote:
>
> All of my keyboards are in the "cat-free zone" of my house.  There's 
no way I'd take the chance of letting them in to begin with, and they 
don't really like loud music anyway.
>

I have one male and one female. The female could care less about 
technology, but the male is fascinated by any kind of technology. If he 
sees me playing the Tron, he'll sit down next to me and try to play it 
too. Usually nothing comes out because he doesn't press hard enough, 
but sometimes he adds a little body weight and is able to make some 
sound. He still doesn't get the 8 second limit though.

On Mar 4, 2008, at 4:22 PM, Bernie wrote:

> I have one male and one female. The female could care less about
> technology, but the male is fascinated by any kind of technology. If  
> he
> sees me playing the Tron, he'll sit down next to me and try to play it
> too. Usually nothing comes out because he doesn't press hard enough,
> but sometimes he adds a little body weight and is able to make some
> sound. He still doesn't get the 8 second limit though.

I torture my cat with my mellotron.

Used to do the same with my kids ("Cirkus" at high volume used to  
scare the crap out of them.) They eventually moved out. I recommend  
this method.

Rick

Hi Bernie-

   Good to talk to you.  I saw your M400 rebuild on
Ken Leonard's site.  Made me consider doing mine in a
quarter-sawn oak veneer.  But the logistics of that
idea quickly turned the finish back to traditional
white.

   The Watcher mix seems, to my ears, to be a very
balanced mix.  You might ask Streetly if they tweak
the Watcher balance at all.  Very eerie when you apply
reverb.  Note that there is no bass(accordion?) voice
included on this track, as in the way Genesis added it
on the 2nd MK2 kybd.  The track select control would
have the advantage of level balance.  The individual
sounds have their own merits.  I mulled over just
having the 3-violins, but I really like this choice. 
It mixes well with the choir.
 
   My keyboard skills are lacking(I'm beter at the
'Cello and guitar), but I will see what I can do about
posting some sounds.  Basically, I'm an Electronics
Tech with a 37 year yearning for a Mellotron. 
Refurbishing it over a year has been fun.  I really
hope to lease it out in the Colorado area for
recording and maybe gigs.

   Yep, that's Meester Rick's French Horn.  I kinda
leaned on sounds that would work well as seperate
tracks, or mix effectively.  I also considered the
fact that the Angry Strings and Chamber Woodwinds both
have "split" aspects to them, which might be handy. 
These are all new sounds on the 2nd set.  No cats
here.  The frame they're going on has an odd & poor
sounding set, very dull, almost like it got partially
erased.  I got it last year off eBay.  Brass B (I
think), 8-choir, oboe.  They didn't cross-mix very
well.  I even had to edit some tapes to get the starts
to line up.   I numbered them, and will put them in a
box for a while, and see if I really miss them.

   Cheers-

   -Bruce Daily


--- Bernie <kornowicz@cox.net> wrote:

> Bruce,
> 
> I have the Russian Choir and I like it a lot. I've
> only played the 
> St John's Wood Church Organ on the M-Tron and it
> sounds very good, 
> so I can only imagine how much better it sounds on a
> Mellotron. Does 
> the Watcher mix sound like an even mix of the MkII 3
> Volins and MkII 
> Combined Brass? I wonder if it sounds any different
> than mixing 
> adjacent tracks of the same instruments. I would
> love to hear it if 
> you could post a sample.
> 
> I'm also looking forward to your review of the Angry
> Strings, French 
> Horn (Rick's?) and Chamber Woodwinds. Seems like a
> great 
> combination. Have fun lacing them. I did it once. A
> word of caution 
> though: if you have cats, lock them in another room
> while lacing.
> 
> Bernie
> 



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
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Hi Bernie-

   Good to talk to you.  I saw your M400 rebuild on
Ken Leonard's site.  Made me consider doing mine in a
quarter-sawn oak veneer.  But the logistics of that
idea quickly turned the finish back to traditional
white.

   The Watcher mix seems, to my ears, to be a very
balanced mix.  You might ask Streetly if they tweak
the Watcher balance at all.  Very eerie when you apply
reverb.  Note that there is no bass(accordion?) voice
included on this track, as in the way Genesis added it
on the 2nd MK2 kybd.  The track select control would
have the advantage of level balance.  The individual
sounds have their own merits.  I mulled over just
having the 3-violins, but I really like this choice. 
It mixes well with the choir.
 
   My keyboard skills are lacking(I'm beter at the
'Cello and guitar), but I will see what I can do about
posting some sounds.  Basically, I'm an Electronics
Tech with a 37 year yearning for a Mellotron. 
Refurbishing it over a year has been fun.  I really
hope to lease it out in the Colorado area for
recording and maybe gigs.

   Yep, that's Meester Rick's French Horn.  I kinda
leaned on sounds that would work well as seperate
tracks, or mix effectively.  I also considered the
fact that the Angry Strings and Chamber Woodwinds both
have "split" aspects to them, which might be handy. 
These are all new sounds on the 2nd set.  No cats
here.  The frame they're going on has an odd & poor
sounding set, very dull, almost like it got partially
erased.  I got it last year off eBay.  Brass B (I
think), 8-choir, oboe.  They didn't cross-mix very
well.  I even had to edit some tapes to get the starts
to line up.   I numbered them, and will put them in a
box for a while, and see if I really miss them.

   Cheers-

   -Bruce Daily


--- Bernie <kornowicz@cox.net> wrote:

> Bruce,
> 
> I have the Russian Choir and I like it a lot. I've
> only played the 
> St John's Wood Church Organ on the M-Tron and it
> sounds very good, 
> so I can only imagine how much better it sounds on a
> Mellotron. Does 
> the Watcher mix sound like an even mix of the MkII 3
> Volins and MkII 
> Combined Brass? I wonder if it sounds any different
> than mixing 
> adjacent tracks of the same instruments. I would
> love to hear it if 
> you could post a sample.
> 
> I'm also looking forward to your review of the Angry
> Strings, French 
> Horn (Rick's?) and Chamber Woodwinds. Seems like a
> great 
> combination. Have fun lacing them. I did it once. A
> word of caution 
> though: if you have cats, lock them in another room
> while lacing.
> 
> Bernie
> 



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
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--- Bernie <kornowicz@cox.net> wrote:

> --- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com,
> "jonesalley" <jonesalley@...> 
> wrote:
> >
> > All of my keyboards are in the "cat-free zone" of
> my house.  There's 
> no way I'd take the chance of letting them in to
> begin with, and they 
> don't really like loud music anyway.
> >
> 
> I have one male and one female. The female could
> care less about 
> technology, but the male is fascinated by any kind
> of technology. If he 
> sees me playing the Tron, he'll sit down next to me
> and try to play it 
> too. Usually nothing comes out because he doesn't
> press hard enough, 
> but sometimes he adds a little body weight and is
> able to make some 
> sound. He still doesn't get the 8 second limit
> though.
> 
> 


I like cats.  Some deserve torture, though.  Just
select 'cello, crank the amp to 11, lower the pitch,
and blast 'em with the lowest note!!! :-)




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> I torture my cat with my mellotron.
> 
> Used to do the same with my kids ("Cirkus" at high
> volume used to  
> scare the crap out of them.) They eventually moved
> out. I recommend  
> this method.
> 
> Rick
Thanks for reminding me about Cirkus, I'd forgotten
how much fun it was, just bought the remastered CD and
frightened the cats, dogs and I don't think the
neighbours are too happy.

Mark


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'Cat free zone'?

Mike stares at you blankly.



jonesalley wrote:
>
> All of my keyboards are in the "cat-free zone" of my house.

As opposed to your face impediment, I suppose.

Rick Blechta wrote:

>
>
> On Mar 8, 2008, at 4:00 AM, Mike Dickson wrote:
>
>> the bass accordion is actually pretty weedy
>
> Mike Dickson is cultivating a speech impediment...
>