Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever

[TECHhelpWITcomputers]

That was great!

[Waiting7up]

let me take you down cos' i'm going to, strawberry fields!

[nightcrawler511]

'flute intro' it was played on paino wasn't it? or do you mean on a flute effect?

[dearbornerik]

i just seen one just like it in a shop in the michigan area

[EmptyHero]

his hands are literally hams

[tronfan66]

@EmptyHero Er....yes, quite!

[hollowharmony1]

@minpinful i think paul

[blazeofglory00]

CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND THE VID OF PAUL PLAYING THE MELLOTRON EXPLAINING HOW HE CAME UP WITH THE INTRO TO STRAWBERRY FIELDS?!

[PhysicsForTheFuture]

@blazeofglory00 Was it on the Anthology set of DVDs?

[slamshotstudios]

I need a mellotron right now.

[holypiss17]

did anyone one sing it at the end, if u did... we are friends now :)

[MarkB1ngham]

Has anyone tried to play this with a flute ensemble? Is a mellotron just tape looped recorded notes? (you have to go an octave down with that final C I think☺)

[AdmiralQuality]

Awesome. I've seen video of Paul playing this, and he bends that last note down with the tuning knob.

[blazeofglory00]

@AdmiralQuality Know the name of the vid or where I can find it??

[iliketojumplargeobje]

bang on!

[peterhuismanonline]

Didn't The Beatles use a Chamberlin-flute-tapes? The Mellotron-flute tape sounds different than the one from the Chamberlin....

[TheBeatlesAreNo1]

Where art thou can get thy mellotron and how much would thy be

[tronfan66]

@TheBeatlesAreNo1 Well, thou art verily able to get new Mellotrons now, if samples doth not cutteth the mustard for you! There's either Streetly Electronics in England (the latterday version of the company who originally made Mellotrons from 1963-1986), or there's the company just called Mellotron which is run by a Markus Resch. Be aware, they're not cheap, but you get a new machine, and in the case of Streetly and the new M4000, 24 sounds in one instrument. And still cheaper than eBay prices!

[s73ve88]

@TheBeatlesAreNo1 Just get a Nord Electro 3, forthwith. I kid you not, it comes with all the Mellotron samples you can think of and they sound exactly right.

[kingofkeyboards]

as far as i'm concerned it may not have been re-done on the exact same instrument but it sounded more or less perfect. great playing!

[tronfan66]

@kingofkeyboards Thanks!

[ellonysman]

Im not into piano or mellotrons but why are the keys so noisy? Sticky? no...you wouldnt let them get that way, it must be just one of the "perks" of the mellotrone right?

[tronfan66]

@ellonysman The noise on here is due to a couple of things: 1 - it's largely mechanical so has lots of moving parts, so a certain degree of noise is inevitable, *but* 2 - as I've mentioned elsewhere, these videos were made just using the mic on an old phone camera, so unfortunately that makes it sound a lot more clunky and clattery than it really is, it really emphasises all the noises of the keys. Also, this was made some time before I had the instrument restored, so it's a lot better now.

[ellonysman]

@tronfan66 Thanks for the prompt info...I appreciate people who kindly answer the questions posted. Again, your strawberry fields was great...gives one goosebumps....im a big fan. I kick myself cuz I "use to" have pauls autograph and one day thought Id make somebody happy, by "giving it away", doh! An autograph hunter had an ad in buy and sell so I made "his day". Action is short but regret is longlasting! lol.

[CadillacL]

Sounds right on.

[peterkendell]

Not bad, but SFF was made using a MK2 not an M400.

[tronfan66]

@peterkendell Absolutely! As you may already know, the M400 didn't appear until 1970. There's a certain sound that only the MKI / II has, which isn't completely there in the M400 / MkV etc, even when using MKII tapes.

[huskyjerk]

Iconic intro. Send that out into space for ET to find.

[TurboVW2004]

Geez...I thought he was playing along to the record at first!

[michealv12]

I have a 1970's Mellotron M400 for sale if anyone is interested. I own a black and a white one. I'm keeping the black one. I used the white one on my last album. My hat's off to this Mellotron owner. There is not to many of us and his Tron sounds great. May your tape racks never be tangled! Take Care

[rpwilsox]

Thanks for sharing. I had forgotten how noisy they were to play. I sold mine and got a DX-7 (someone shoot me, please) but at the time, FM was the wave of the future.

[silverstarshine2003]

yes... you ve got the sound there.... but whats all the mechanical sound beneath it ?

John Lennon had one in his weighbridge home and obviously abbey road had one too... Its like the secret weapon of 60s pop quite a few of the top groups had them but they cost a fortune ( and weighed a ton ! ) Mike Pinder of the Moodies was of course a bit of an expert on the Mellotron

(think hes living in California now ... ( bet his house is choc full of them ! )

[SolidSnakeBossMGO]

Wow. How much is one of those?

[user99673]

@SolidSnakeBossMGO Forget trying to own one, They're rarer then hens teeth (Note: Hens do not have teeth, not do any poultry) Personally I think you should buy the M4000 which is the closest you'll get to a vintage one, It's the newer version

[wurlytone]

I would love to hear you do the willy wonka combo-'flute'....it's the part of the movie where they first go in to the factory, he plays a mini keyboard to unlock the door. Pretty sure it's a mellotron.....

[jprg1966]

It sounds so haunting. Makes my spine tingle.

[MaryStewart]

wow! sound just like it!

[MoralDestructor]

It has an awesome sound man...

[tirano072]

se escucha bien

[tirano072]

se escucha bien

[DelRockford]

It sounds like it's saying "TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT" because of the keys being pressed. It's a grand keyboard though.

[Mylazyweekends]

Nice :). I like this.

[EatYourVegs]

very nice but why does this thing make these noises when you press a note?

[imapaintballa]

awesome. cute.

[amonduultje]

great...love it...

[GastroGreen]

awesome

[jackpaj]

you can hear the tape recoling inside! thats amazing

[San5a]

you've got to pitch it very down in the end...you know the part where the slide guitar make the same effect

[MiguelKertsman]

Check out the music of Miguel Kertsman. If you liked this video, you'll definitely enjoy it! - MK Marketing Team

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[valerock667]

lol Paul McCartney did owns the original mellotron which plays the part in the song! he has got it in a corridor lol!

[Count22]

Lol,

'3 n 1'-Oil. (wunerful stuff)

[jKRAMER001]

that sounds so awesome!

[jimmyjamjoe88]

You have it tuned a minor third up, no?

[tronfan66]

@jimmyjamjoe88 - I tuned it down a tone.

[jimmyjamjoe88]

The resultant pitches are a minor third down from the notes you are playing on the keyboard.

[wodrummerworld]

yup that sounds just like the intro to it. congrats you sound just like the Beatles!

[San5a]

you forgot the part where the pitch turns down

[HLordz301]

the pitched part is played by a diffrent instrument. not a mellotron

[M400fan]

It's actually a Mellotron guitar! Very rarely used (don't know of any other example of it) but it's very clear on some of those early demos of SFF - the click at the start is very audible on the slide up part - and also the way it holds and then slides down at the end is VERY Tronesque! No bottleneck there!

[tronfan66]

@M400fan - Thanks M400fan, I'm glad you said that - for years I was convinced that was 'tron guitar! And also on early demos of this, you can also hear where they retrigger the note of C a few times while John Lennon sings the first "Strawberry Fields" (also audible in the released version but not terribly obvious - more like a part of the overall 'atmosphere'). Oh yes - 2 other examples of tron guitar - The Kinks 'Phenomenal Cat' and Moody Blues 'Beyond'.

[M400fan]

Thanks, tronfan66 - what's Phenomenal Cat from - Viiage Green Preservation Society? I'm a great fan of Beyond - one of the most aggressive Tron tracks the Moodys (or anyone else!) ever did! I know there's Tron brass and flute on it - anything else? First came across it as the "background" to The Word on This Is The Moody Blues - two tracks in one, eh? Came as a complete surprise when I finally got Children to hear it "naked"!

[PedrosProductions]

@tronfan66

Would this be the guitar bit at the beginning of the song?

[tronfan66]

@PedrosProductions - Yes, that's the bit I'm thinking of - straight after the intro and into the chorus - in between "'cause I'm going to" and "Strawberry Fields".

[MaryStewart]

@PedrosProductions i think that's a flute.

[mboy09]

no dumbass its actually a mellotron piano. the Paul McCartney showed the very one they used and he played it himself all on the anthology

[hididdlyho82]

That was done after it was recorded!

[bman10030]

how much did this cost you?

[tronfan66]

@bman10030 - it cost me £300 (bought secondhand in 1989)

[TheRunner75]

What is the price of a mellotron now ?

[tronfan66]

@TheRunner75 : Prices tend to vary depending on what model you get: a restored M400 with two tape frames from Streetly Electronics would, at present, cost £3600 + VAT. You could try looking for secondhand ones but chances are they'll need repair or servicing, so you're better off looking for a new or restored one. Also there's the M4000 which costs roughly £5000 or thereabouts (can't remember exact price), but you get 24 sounds for that - the equivalent of 8 tape frames in one instrument :) .

[TheRunner75]

How much cost a mellotron ?

[jreisfaria]

cool... it makes me wanna sing it on... let me take you dooown

I wish I could have a mellotron...

[123q456w789e]

Yeah! absolutely!!!! a soon the 'tron finishes, in your head spontaneously explodes those first word that slide as butter on a pan! what a melody!

[123q456w789e]

Jeez: "Explodes - word - those"... I deserve to be hung in England. Wait! nothing to get hung about! Now i'm easy...

[bryanmberman]

Brilliant!!!

[tony9L9L]

Love it. Nice one.

[pilesovinyl]

nice, never get tired of those notes.

[ericlouet44]

I love the Mellotron (Move's Blackeberry way, Costello's Like Candy) but here comes, suddenly a very stupid question: From what I understand, the sounds are produced by tapes and, since it's an old instrument, tapes must be worn out, arn't they?

[tronfan66]

It's a fair question, but the tapes would only be worn out if they are many years old and have had heavy use during that time, and played on a badly-adjusted machine that hasn't been maintained properly...but fortunately, new tapes with the original sounds (and newly-recorded sounds) are available again nowadays. In fact, you can buy new Mellotrons now too.

[TNTnormstyle]

thank you for answering our questions. very kind.

[arkee71]

listen to moody blues for  some serious mellotron

[Qazic12]

So a mellotron is basically just a sampler?

[moogyboy6]

Yes. Analog tape-based rather than digital, but yes. Actually, to be more precise it's a sample-playback keyboard since as far as I know the Mellotron itself has no provisions for you to make your own samples. You can change the tapes for different sounds, but no "sample" or "record" button on the instrument itself.

[tronfan66]

Absolutely, moogyboy6 - and to add to this, apparently at some point in the 60s or 70s an attempt was made at a Mellotron which could record, but I don't think it got past prototype stage. What Streetly/Bradmatic did in the end was made a '1/4" tape conversion kit' for the M400/MkV which allowed the use of 1/4" tape, thereby enabling you to make your own tapes, as long as you had access to a reel-to-reel machine to record them on.

[mmmkkkeee]

Yes, basically and the first of its kind... It's from the 60ies, so there really nothing basic about it:-)

[Keijz74]

How long do tapes last? Do you use copies of the original tapes?

[tronfan66]

As long as the tapes are well cared for - no holding notes down for longer than 8 seconds, and keep the heads clean and demagnetised, for example - they can last for many years. They are also copies of the original tapes, they come from Streetly Electronics' own masters.

[Keijz74]

Hi Tronfan66,

I see. Thanks for your reaction.

[adrifromhh]

is there no mechanism that protects the tapes after 8 seconds?

[tronfan66]

I'm not sure it's a *mechanism* as such, or just part of the workings of the keyboard when the tape comes to its end, but when the tape ends you can feel a bit of resistance where the tape becomes taut and pushes the pressure pad upwards, thus pushing the key upwards - and you can hear a click - so that's its way of telling you to let go of the key before you get to do any damage!

[Keijz74]

Nothing is real......

And nothing to get hung about.......

Mellotron Flutes Forever!

[joeboi85]

GREAT!

I bet this is how it sounded in the studio

when McCartney was playing it

[TheCakeAintNoLie]

very beautiful

[pfmerc10]

my Roland JUNO-D has a very faithfull sample of that sound , called , oddly enough "tron flute" its a great sound

[mrgoodvibrations]

Yeah!

[ohstanmoore]

Is there really that much physical noise associated with keypresses and the tape loops playing?

[tronfan66]

There is some (there's bound to be, given the nature of the instrument), but bearing in mind that these videos were made with the camera on an old mobile phone, the mic isn't very good so the mechanical noises sound worse on here than they actually are.

[HorrorBeca]

I want one of those!

A keyboard can make their sound?

[boogster123321]

can you get new mellotrons?

[tronfan66]

Indeed you can - do a search on 'Mellotron M4000' and 'Mellotron MkVI' and that'll tell you all you need to know :) .

[boogster123321]

thank you thank you thank you. i love the sound from them

[randall642]

What is the flute sample from? It's one of the ones that comes with it?

[tronfan66]

Yes, it's one of the standard original Mellotron sounds.

[kjoh330]

wow, that sounds exactly like it. good job man! love the beatles

[STEPASAUR]

dude you didn't do the pitch bend at the end! thats the best bit! honestly you've let me down, disgusting, GOODBYE!!

[noamben2]

the real intro is played in Bb major

[klaatu42]

Just checked and it sounds bang on to me.

[Keijz74]

:o)# nice.

[dezsanderson]

Great stuff

Best Wishes

Dez Sanderson

Youtube

Walcott, England

[Caspernil]

hi, i think that was really good , keep it up! I was wondering if you knew where i could possible purchase one of the old mellotrons, as im not sure whether they may have fallen into antiquity?

[tronfan66]

Thanks! As regards where to find an old one, I guess the main option now would be checking various classified ads in music mags and the like. Otherwise, there's the new M4000 from Streetly Electronics (the makers of the original), or the MKVI from the Mellotron company (made by Markus Resch in Sweden)...or failing that there's always the Memotron or M-Tron. Have a search online for all of these and you'll get more info about them all - hope that helps!

[petercooper69]

hey whats the difference between a memotron, m-tron, and a mellotron?

[PreyingMantisMan]

If you must know, the Mellotron was the original tape-playback keyboard, where every time a key was depressed, a length of tape would play a sampled sound. in later years, emulations such as the Memotron and M-Tron software were released to try to re-create the original sound. the Memotron is essentially a digital remake of the Mellotron, and M-Tron is a computer program that can be controlled by a midi keyboard which re-creates the Melotron sound.

[XYtoTheDoubleG]

magic!

[mealbaffler]

you nailed it man! you calibrated and played it perfectly - it sounds exactly like the original!

i love that analog sound, i even like the audible clicks that i assume are the noises made by the tapes being played

you rule!

[tronfan66]

Thanks for that, I really appreciate it!

[djmikedee]

Amazing!! It sounds just like the original.

[Drummelskrudd]

I guess it is the original sounds! Or?

[tronfan66]

It is the same flute sound.

[tronfan66]

Thanks, it's all part of my mission to get my M400 to sound more like a MKII at every opportunity!

[rjkahlon]

You're playing it in G. Isn't the song in E though.

[tronfan66]

Yes, it is in E - to look at the keys I'm playing, you're absolutely right, it appears that I'm playing it G, but the pitch is tuned down to E to make it sound closer to the original, as that's also what happens there. It's all to do with the characteristics of each note, with them all being individual recordings with their own different qualities.

[rjkahlon]

Cool, I understand. Sounds Great Man

[GrayLeader2184]

Still one of the best intros ever.

What wouldn't I do for a Mellotron?

[Flavien]

Mellotron is awesome, how much did you have it for? (just out of curiosity)

[tronfan66]

Thanks - I bought it for £300 in 1989.

[justinlawes1987]

bargain! even tho it was 300 quid then still its kinda cheap

[tronfan66]

Absolutely - that was one of the few good things about Mellotrons being so unfashionable at that time - most people were going nuts over all things digital, so most analogue stuff you could still pick up almost dirt cheap. Eee, them were the days....mind you, finding Mellotron tapes at that time was practically impossible (unlike now), so definitely a case of swings and roundabouts.

[ratsouffle]

I actually dreamt that I was playing a mellotron a couple of days ago. Very odd.

[DrHeathenScum]

Goddamn. That thing sounds fantastic.

[stivhu]

orale donde puedo conseguir uno

[MikeJohnstonguitar]

gr8 work...

[Chavvvvvvv]

The tone seems to be pitched (your C chord sounds like a A chord)

Does it comes from a mellotron option, or the set of tapes ?

[tronfan66]

That was just from adjusting the pitch control on the Mellotron - I tuned it down to give it the same characteristics as the original, as the Beatles' version is also slowed down/detuned.

[toresbe]

excellent. But you're not taking advantage of the Mellotrons ability to pitch down, which is half the point!!

[toresbe]

excellent. But you're not taking advantage of the Mellotrons ability to pitch down, which is half the point!!

[DaedalusWolf]

Fantantis too, I tought that YOU WERE the mellotron player on Strawberry Field