Bulky, heavy, ugly and decidedly unsexy to look at it might have been (especially the early models), but the Mellotron carved out its own niche in the progressive rock scene in the late 60s and early 70s, to the extent that it arguably became the signature sound in the genre, used extensively and popularised by the likes of , , , Barclay James Harvest, , , Focus, Tangerine Dream and countless other prog bands. Manufactured in Birmingham, beginning in the mid-60s, the Mellotron is a keyboard instrument that works by playing tapes of pre-recorded sounds, the tapes driven across tape heads by motors triggered by pressing keys on the keyboard. Imagine a bank of tape machines, with the ‘play’ button of each linked individually to the keys of a keyboard.
Effectively, the Mellotron was the first sampler. As with a tape recorder, any sounds could be pre-recorded onto the Mellotron’s tapes and ‘played’, but it was the factory-loaded ‘orchestral’ sounds that the instrument became known for, and which defined it. Pressing just one key of a Mellotron doesn’t sound either impressive or particularly ‘orchestral’, but hold down a big chord and the huge, fat, textured, unique sound produced is like some heavenly harmony of the spheres, quite unlike anything else – perfect for the prog merchants looking for an otherworldly sound in which to drape their often equally lofty, bombastic, epic musical ideas.
Although the sound of the Mellotron became a huge part of prog it ha.
