A big hand for the MELLOTRON !!

 

Eril De Vroomen (Coda): "When I only look at the Mellotron, my heart starts to beat stronger!"

 

Cleem Determeijer (Finch, Veralin, Ayreon): "The Mellotron on the first two Finch albums was borrowed, an old, brown piece of furniture delivering trics like applause. It made a lot of 'side-sounds', the tapes sounded sometimes un-pitched or even stopped but the sound remains so nostalgic."

 

Rene De Haan (Pythagoras): "I borrowed the Mellotron from the Dutch symphonic rock group Plackband. In fact it was a ridiculous instrument: it required a lot of maintenance and it was expensive. I often used the violin - and choir-section and at some moments the church organ sound."

 

Ton Scherpenzeel (Kayak, Camel): "The Mellotron is both my highest as lowest point, it's an instrument with obstacles! On stage singer Max Werner used it and in the studio we both played on it. It has a wonderful sound, a bit dusty and melancholic, very massive. But technically it was a disaster, it unpitched very easily and quickly. If you used one key, it was OK but pressing two or more keys you often didn't get any sound and you had to watch out at windy stages! And on parties with an aggregate it was a misery with the Mellotron .. but on the other hand it is a memorable and emotional instrument, also because of its imperfects. It also had an impact on writing, I used it as an orchestra, a band like Earth & Fire build entire songs around the Mellotron.

 

Thijs Van Leer (Focus): I only used the Mellotron on studio recordings like Eruption. I love the violin section with the string sound, very special. In fact it was the forerunner of the synthesizer. But of course it had many failures, it was almost every time broken. But these imperfections had its charm, the Mellotron has something obsolete, something archaic and timeless."

 

Rick Van Der Linden (Ekseption, Trace): "The Mellotron is a very beautiful instrument but very vulnerable. I carried a lot of reserve parts with me including frames. I had to keep these in huge suitcases! Playing on a Mellotron, your classically trained piano skills are useless, you have to learn playing on it again by excersing a lot and learning the trics like very quickly lifting the key in order to use it again. I succeeded to play on it for 9 seconds instead of 8 by some technical changes in the instrument! The sound is often bad with a lot of noise and you frequently have to use the pitch button. I let build the technician a 'fine control' for the pitching and a stabilisator for the synchrone-moter in order to let it sound more stable. I loved to use the violin section, the choirs and the flute traverse, these sounds are mighty close to the real sound."

 

Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon): "The Mellotron has a wonderful sound but in use it's a disaster, for example because of the breaking of the tapes. It's an easy instrument to sample so I have made a lot of samples."

it is the one that use Steve Howe in a few songs? like a keyboard? or something like that?

There's been a lot on this site about the mellotron, including some very technical discussions I seem to recall, so worth searching here if you want to find out more.

 

By the way, Andrea, incredible that this odd white piece of furniture is responsible for so many emotional moments in the progrock history, The Strawbs were part of it, I love Down By The Sea, great choir-Mellotron waves  !