The Mellotron is an electro-magnetic keyboard that contained pre-recorded magnetic tapes. These tapes would contain the sounds of various instruments that had been record from actual instruments and players. When a key was pressed on the keyboard. it would play the sounds. The Mellotron was actually a predecessor to the Chamberlin, which was originally invented by Henry Chamberlin in the late 40s/early 50s. The Mellotron was developed in the 60s by the Bradley brothers (Frank, Norman, and Les) in London, England.
Why the master tapes were so important? And why the acquisition of these was crucial?
The master tapes were crucial because they were the only way the Mellotron could work. One of the nice things about the Mellotron was that people could go and purchase different master tapes with different sounds and interchange them.
Who were the key players: the inventor, the significant users of this instrument.
When it comes the Mellotron, the inventors are the three Bradley Brothers, Frank, Norman, and Lesley Bradley who were based in London, England. The Chamberlin was developed by Henry Chamberlin from Ohio. Over the past four decades, there have been numerous musicians and bands that have used the Mellotron and the Chamberlin:
- Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues
- Rod Argent of The Zombies
- Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick
- Tony Banks of Genesis
- Al Kooper, producer for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Convinced Lynyrd Skynyrd to use Mellotron in their album
- Steve Wonder
- David Bowie
- Patrick Moraz
- Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
- Jesse Carmichael
- Aerosmith
- B-52s
- The Beatles
- Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys
- Paul McCartney on his solo albums
- Pink Floyd
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- and many, many more
*side note: to see a list of musicians that have used Mellotron in their works, go to http://www.mellotron.com/mellolis.htm)
Where did the original sounds come from?
The original sounds for the master tapes came from instrumentalists who were part of the Musician’s Union. An instrumentalist would be hired to play a chord that would be played continuously for 8 seconds; this was how long the Mellotron would play that chord for when using it.
Theories as to why the instrument didn’t receive widespread use. And how is this similar to the Theremin?
One of the theories and explanations as to why the Mellotron was not received worldwide was due to the fact that the tapes were not as good of a quality as the Chamberlin’s master tapes. The Mellotron was also known for breaking down very easily, and could not be used immediately because it need to warm up. This made it hard for musicians that wanted to use the Mellotron onstage in their concerts, because they would need to wait for it to warm up. The tapes were also known to stick and get destroyed. Some concerts were known for having to be cancelled because the musician’s Mellotron would break down, and it was not easy to repair or to rent.
This instrument introduced/preceded what significant recording technology?
The Chamberlin and Mellotron preceded sampling, which is a significant recording technology that is used in the present. Sampling holds the same premise that the Chamberlin and Mellotron used, taking samples of an instrument or sound and re-creating them later in a song. The Chamberlin and Mellotron were really the beginning of this idea.
General timeline, geography and business drama.
- 1948- Upland, CA: development of the first Chamberlin model, the Chamberlin 100
- 1951- Upland, CA: Chamberlin 200 developed
- 1956- Chamberlin Co. founded
- 1959- Ontario, CA: Chamberlin 300/350 model developed
- 1961- Ontario, CA: Chamberlin 400 and 500
- 1962- London, England: Bill Fransen, a saleman hired by Chamberlin to go around the U.S. and sell the Chamberlin, leaves for England with 2 Chamberlin 600 models and advertises for someone to manufacture the Chamberlins. He had been saying that the idea for the Chamberlin, which he had renamed the Fransen, was his own and he was looking for someone to manufacture them for him. He finds the Bradley bros. who had their own company, Bradmatic, Ltd.
- 1963- Ontario, CA: Chamberlin 600
- 1963- London, England: Mollotronics, Co. is founded and the Mellotron MK1 is first developed, based off of the Chamberlin 600
- 1963-1964- Anaheim, California: Bradley brothers attended NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants, to show off their new invention; Henry Chamberlin also attended NAMM. This is where the brothers discover that they have actually ‘stolen’ their model for the Mellotron off of the already patented Chamberlin, something they did not know when Bill Fransen gave them the idea to manufacture it. A stipulation was agreed between the Bradleys and Chamberlin, the Mellotron would be sold in the U.K. and the Chamberlin would be sold in the U.S.
- 1964- London, England: Bradmatic, Ltd. is renamed Streetly Electronics. Mellotron MK2 developed.
- 1970- Mellotron comes out with the M400 and Chamberlin comes out with the M1.
- 1975- Chamberlin M2
- 1975-1980- Chmberlin M4
- 1980- David Kean purchases Mellotronics USA and founds Chamberlin Archives
- 1981- Chamberlin Co. shuts down business due to poor interest in the device
- 1986- Streetly Electronics shuts down
- 1992- Markus Resch becomes David Kean’s partner for Chamberlin Archives.
- 1999- Streetly Electronics, which is now run by John Bradley (son of Les Bradley) and martin Smith, releases the Mellotron MK VI
- 2009- Mellotron MK 4000 released
- 2010- Streetly Electronics just recently released a digital M3000 HD, available for the Apple iPad
Mellotron
- The master tapes were interchangeable. People could go and buy different tapes and change them in the Mellotron.
- The quality of the tapes were not as superior as the Chamberlins
- Had a push-button mechanism
- Main focus of the Bradleys was to sell musical instruments
Chamberlin
- Fixed sounds, no interchangeable tapes
- Chamberlin tapes were more superior because they were recorded with the high quality microphones and recording equipment of the time
- Had a lever mechanism
- Main focus was to make musical instruments for families to enjoy in their home
Discuss the issues with the musician’s union.
The issue that started to arise with the musician’s union was the fact that the musicians decided that they should be compensated for their recordings that were being used on the master tapes. After the popularity of the Mellotron started to rise, the musicians determined that, for every instrument used on the master tapes, those musicians should be payed some sort of amount; this was not limited to just the musicians that were used to record the instrument, but to every musician that was a member of the musician’s union who used that particular instrument; meaning every flutist or violinist or cellist in the union...that’s a lot of musicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment