My Favorite Sounds Are 8 Seconds Long

A reference to the fact that a Mellotron key held down will produce a sound that lasts for only 8 seconds at most.

Although they take quite a while to download and these clips are short, they capture the essence of the sound of these wonderful warm instruments. Please take the time to listen. All are different yet quite distinctly 'Tron'.

Paul McCartney played Mark II flutes in what is perhaps the most well known and celebrated Mellotron part of all in the Beatles' " Strawberry Fields Forever". (223K .wav file)

King Crimson's first album In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) has lots of great Mellotron played by Ian McDonald. Here is the haunting Mellotron theme from the title track. This is the Mark II set for '3 Violins'. (182K .wav file)

Michael Penn's keyboard player Patrick Warren has a very distinctive style which is due in part to his directly manipulating the Chamberlin flywheel to produce wonderful steel guitar-like pitch bending effects. This is beautifully demonstrated in " Long Way Down" from the 1992 release Free For All. (213K .wav file)

Justin Hayward sings 'Time Will Tell of Stars That Fell a Million Years Ago' in "You Can Never Go Home" from the Moody Blues 1971 release Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. (131K .wav file)

Mike Pinder, founding member of the Moody Blues, is perhaps the greatest master of the Mellotron, and even worked at the Streetly Electronics factory. Here he gives an eerie introduction to " House Of Four Doors" from the Moody's In Search Of The Lost Chord from 1968. (180K .wav file)

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