The Lost and Found and Lost Chord

 In a moment of fleeting but desperately sought inspiration, the composer uncovered the musical passage he sought, propelled by his administration of the lost chord.  The moment of bliss was short lived, however, as no matter how he tried to relive his initial breakthrough, he could not adequately replay, thus, relive, that rare sensation of discovery and joy.  The lost chord remained fleeting.

Mike Pinder and The Mellotron

Mike Pinder was a founding member, and once the keyboardist, of the band The Moody Blues.  Pinder passed recently.  Mr. Pinder was an acolyte of the weird instrument, The Mellotron.  

What was The Mellotron?  I asked ChatGPT to provide some illumination.  Here is what they said:

A Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in the early 1960s. It works by triggering prerecorded sounds stored on magnetic tape when a musician presses the keys on its keyboard. Each key on the Mellotron is connected to a tape playing a recording of an instrument, such as strings, flutes, or choirs, allowing musicians to produce orchestral sounds and effects that were difficult or impossible to recreate in live performances at the time. The Mellotron became famous for its distinctive sound and was prominently used by bands like The Beatles, The Moody Blues, and King Crimson, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, adding a unique, ethereal quality to rock and progressive music.

Mike Pinder adopted the instrument to create some unique and memorable passages for the Mellotron.  Witness his use of the instrument on "Nights in White Satin", "Tuesday Afternoon", and "Legend of a Mind".  Symphonic, atmospheric, haunting.  Awesome work!  RIP, Mr. Pinder.

View the very interesting documentary on The Mellotron by clicking on the link below.

A Brief History of The Mellotron 

Color Organ (2019)

An attempt to approximate a color organ:  visuals/lights are activated/animated by an audio source.

Sound Experiments 4 (2019) - Overindulgence is kept to a minimum. I promise.

Riffs, fragments and noise.  A collection of old and new instruments and FX pedals are tried out and aurally regurgitated. You will hear a Mellotron tone recreated on a guitar through the Electro Harmonix Mel 9 pedal, the Dave Smith Adrenalinn pedal makes an appearance, Suzuki's Omnichord is put into play. You Rock's MIDI guitar checks in too. Som many great effects and instruments are out there.

Sound Experiments 3 (2019)

A further sampling of some of my instruments, guitar effects pedals, synthesizers and rented equipment and the half-baked riffs that result!  Sonics over style and songwriting.  That's my motto, as you can tell.  It is easier to just throw out the riffs and not compile them into anything but then I never had that talent of composition.  I enjoy it.




Sound Experiments 3 (2019)

KING CRIMSON JAM 1973

This is a video of King Crimson improvising live in Bremen in 1973.  King Crimson, in its original run, blended a diversity of musical styles in their playing.  A wild variation of instruments are utilized here.  In addition to guitar, bass and drums, flourishes of flute, violin, mellotron and percussion are injected.  An interesting noise results.  The players include Robert Fripp, John Wetton, David Cross, Bill Bruford and percussion whirlwind, Jamie Muir.  It is nice that a lot of these performances were recorded as the band's personnel could shift quite quickly.