Inside a Mellotron M400 and how it works
An evening pause: A very strange instrument from the 1970s whose keys play strips of magnetic audio tape for each note. You can listen to a performance of “Nights in White Satin” on a Mellotron here. This is definitely a sound from the 1970s, used in many songs of that time.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
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Mechanical nightmare. i imagine that after trucking between shows you’d have to realign the capstan rollers and head pressure pads.
But, people used them, and they made interesting sounds.
Judd: In posting your suggestion, I also came across this video of Paul McCartney demonstrating his own use of the Mellotron.
judd-
great piece!
I would suggest this version to see what’s going on…
“Nights In White Satin by the Moody Blues, on my Mellotron M400”
Marco Hoogland (March 2020)
https://youtu.be/DUAj3ql1DFI
(2:17)
They evidently underwent significant development after the M400.
Bowie used it as well:
https://www.electricity-club.co.uk/space-oddity-the-electronic-worlds-of-david-bowie/
The unsteady, bittersweet whimsy of the instrument fit his music best.
Better synthesizers demand a Robert Rich/Steve Roach style of ambient.
Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues had worked for the Mellotron’s manufatureer, Streetly Electronics, for 18 months. The experience came in handy on their first U.S. tour. One night the back of the Mellotron fell off and the tapes cascaded out. Pinder grabbed his toolbox and had it fixed in about 20 minutes. Mellotrobs were finicky. They didn’t do well with changes in heat and humidity.
The instrument is amazing but the instructor impressed me the most.
It just struck me. This is an outgrowth of the laugh track machines used (over used) to simulate audience reactions in television shows in the 60s.
Well maybe not.
Wayne
The picture in my mind of the Moody Blues on stage while I listened to Knights In White Satin has been forever shattered. The vision of the violinists in their concert garb drawing the bow across the strings in unison is just a fond memory. The flautist standing in the Eric Anderson style is no more.
Why did I get up this morning?
Thanks for the link. ( not sarcasm)