Mellotron

[vreesmij]

Hi there

I have a question about the mellotron.
I'm analyzing a song from the late 60's and I can hear a mellotron.
I can also hear a sound that sounds like a tambourine sample but reversed.
So I thought maybe that's a mellotron with a tambourine sample but the tape is inserted backwards.

So my question is: was it possible in '67 to make your own mellotron samples and place them backwards into the piano?

I am a musician but not a pianist so I don't know these things.

If there's anything not clear about my post please say so. I'm not English so it's a little hard to describe what I want to know.

Thanks for replying!

[countrymath]

i think i got your question.

Im not shure, but i think that you could record the melotron and mix with other instrument on a computer.

What song are we talking, btw?

[richard black]

Dunno about mellotron, but the tambourine backwards is almost certainly exactly that. Someone invented that effect (George Martin?) in the 1960s and it was briefly a bit of a cliche. And yes, of course, they did it by physically reversing the tape in those days.

It's very easy now to reverse samples - any audio-editing programme on any computer will do it.

[vreesmij]

thanks for replying!

Just to be sure: Im talking about what was possibles in the 60's, so without computers.
But I think you're right and they were able to reverse the tape.

Was it possible in the 60's to make your own samples for the mellotron?



By the way, Im talking about Strawberry Fields - The Beatles. You can hear (I think a maraca [edit: I mean tambourin]) reversed in verse 2. Actually I don't think it's a mellotron anymore, but just tape.

 

[richard black]

Was it possible in the 60's to make your own samples for the mellotron?

No, and indeed it still isn't - a Mellotron is an analogue synth!

[vreesmij]

okay so the mellotron maker was the one who chose the sounds?
But that means that the flute sound at intro of strawberry fields is not an unique sounds because there were many mellotrons made with that flute sample?

[john11inc]

But that means that the flute sound at intro of strawberry fields is not an unique sounds because there were many mellotrons made with that flute sample?

Not necessarily.  Could have been a one-off for the Beatles.  Anyway, quit listening to the Beatles and behold the proper application of the mellotron:

[jimbo320]

That sound can be replicated by playing a synth through a heavily trebled reverbed amp. The  Beatles did use a mellotron in that part. Just one more thing they borrowed from the Moody Blues...

[nystul]

No, and indeed it still isn't - a Mellotron is an analogue synth!

Not a true synth though.  More of a tape playback device.  But you can't just record your own tape and pop it in there on a whim either.

[richard black]

More of a tape playback device.

Doh - I was confusing it with something else. Ignore my last post above! 

[silverwoodpianos]

Most likely you confused with the Mini Moog that was made popular by Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson……………..

The old King Crimson album…..still listen to that one today…..The Court of the Crimson King was just the background track in a movie we have seen lately….maybe in the past year or so….can’t recall the title…..

[vreesmij]

Thanks everyone!

I think I know everything I wanted to know about the mellotron now!

 =)

[jimbo320]

Hahaha.

[nystul]

I think I know everything I wanted to know about the mellotron now!

Now you should start to learn about the Novachord! 

[jimbo320]

I have a Micron that can sound much like a Mellotron.....