mellotronworks

[MikeDickson]

Ladies and Gentlemen, a gift to you all

mellotronworks

A series of popular classical music pieces played entirely on the Mellotron

• Mars, The Bringer of War (Holst)
• Adagio in G minor (Albinoni)
• Adagio for Strings (Barber)
• Air on The G String (Bach)
• Canon in D major (Pachelbel)
• Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughan Williams)

A free album available for download from http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/mellotronworks/

Please enjoy

kind regards and thank you for listening
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh

Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/

[Soubasse]

Greetings Mr. Dickson and welcome to the forum.

This is a wonderfully generous gift and I thank you for it. You've married one of the most remarkable keyboards ever invented with some of the most affecting music ever written.

If you don't mind, I'll get the niggly stuff out of the way first. Whilst I'm not going to overly criticise someone with a Mellotron (), your self-confessed inability to read music has on occasion done the works a bit of a disservice. However, bear in mind that I speak from the point of view of a composer and arranger, and the fact that I am very well acquainted with the Holst, Barber and Vaughan-Williams pieces, having performed in, studied, analysed or arranged (in varying proportions) each of them (at varying times). There are certain inner parts of each of those works in particular which I was listening for but missed. Also, (and I realise this is steering away from the original sound quality of the Tron) there were a few times in the soft string passages where I would have cheated and use a filter pedal or something like that to makes them a bit more mellow (but then that would make it the Mellowtron .... ai!)

What you have done though, is capture and accentuate the essence of these pieces that everyone knows (rather than the bits that nerds like myself know). You've also coaxed the most extraordinary textures from this noble - if sometimes ungainly - instrument and in doing so, cemented what it is that folks like myself (and you, and thousands of others) absolutely love about the Mellotron. It has held it's own supremely well in these recordings thanks to your obvious understanding of it and its marvellous eccentricities. Excellent production as well. I'm thoroughly impressed.

Many thanks for sharing this, especially since I'd be happy to part with cash for these sorts of projects - you should be charging for it!

Kind regards,
Matt

(PS: I recognised your name eventually - you have been collaborating recently with one of my online chums )

[MikeDickson]

Thanks, Matt. I accept all charges lay before me re the Niggly Stuff. You may find that some of the 'missing internals' are actually there but are a little dormant due to tape compression, over-enthusiastic mixing, over-enthusiastic multitracking etc...certainly all parts of the scores I had are represented in full. This was not always just a case of recording one track after another, but also in trying to tie down multiple simultaneous sounds from an instrument whose output is so hot it can run a small light bulb. :-)

Textures is what I think a lot of what music is really about. I didn't try to copy the nuances or textures found in a string orchestra, partly because you have string orchestras to do that sort of thing for you, but also because you're never going to be able to do that with a Mellotron. It's a much more subtle instrument than many people would readily believe and is capable of addressign the very delicate when it has to, but it's not the Kronos Quartet and never will be. Part of the reason for choosing two of the pieces for mellotronworks was that they are actually fairly unsubtle (Bach and Pachelbel) and are more to do with voicing and countervoicing as opposed to 'texturing'.

I'm also happy to see you have picked up on the production. One 'core value' I had was to assiduously avoid any form of compression at all as it simply the ruination of nearly anything it touches. Instead - in line with the analogue feel of the whole project - I opted to balance and mix everything down and then bounce it to and from a reel to reel tape deck for that pleasing sheen you'd otherwise miss.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's encouraging moments like this that remind me why I enjoy simply sharing what I do with those who want to hear it.

[Soubasse]

One 'core value' I had was to assiduously avoid any form of compression at all as it simply the ruination of nearly anything it touches.

Yes I noticed that and I couldn't agree more on that point. It's something that simply doesn't work with classical pieces - usually regardless of whatever instrument it's played on - as it completely dispenses with dynamic ebb and flow that so many of those works depend upon. The Mellotron being the rather organic instrument that it is, is far better served without compression.

I opted to balance and mix everything down and then bounce it to and from a reel to reel tape deck for that pleasing sheen you'd otherwise miss.

Now there's an interesting technique - I might try that sometime.

By the way, I was amazed at the middle sections of the Vaughan-Williams (around the 7 min mark) where it became highly remeniscent of a snippet from Tangerine Dream's Rubycon!
Re the Holst - I note that you said you were interested in attempting the whole suite, but for my money, Neptune would be the one to tackle next. I can truly hear the Mellotron's voice in that one - and it would be a fun chance to use the choir tapes! Just my $0.02.

Cheers,
Matt

[MikeDickson]

Another gift for you all.

Further to the previous release of mellotronworks, I am happy to release a further five pieces in the same series. Although considered for the original album they were shelved temporarily, but have now been resusitated.

The pieces have again all been recorded only on the Mellotron (aside from a couple of samples of timpani and cymbals). The music that I have recorded are versions of

• Also Sprach Zarathustra (Strauss)
• Nimrod (Enigma 9) (Elgar)
• Sheep May Safely Graze (Bach)
• Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)
• Hallelujah Chorus (Handel)

The music can be found at http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/mellotronworks/ under the 'extras' column on the left hand side of the page. All the music is free for download.

Please enjoy!

kind regards, and thanks for listening

Mike Dickson, Edinburgh