Recording my DIY mellotron : Any Advices?

[DiodeMcRoy]

I'm working on crafting my own Mellotron-inspired sound and thought I’d share my process in case anyone has feedback or suggestions. Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of what I'm trying to achieve. This is highly experimental.

• I. Recording Flute Notes

I'll start recording a Bb tin whistle I own (I'm not a flute player, I'll do this with what I have), using a mobile app that allows me to layer recordings. I'll record ((with my phone, well I don't mind about quality here, it'll do fine and I still havent purchased a microphone, but will probably record all on pc once I own one) each flute note across roughly two octaves (even though the original had 35keys I think, I'm not even sure I can play them all on the whistle), recording each note twice and layering them in unison. This double-layering will creates a subtle "shimmer" effect (I don't think that was done originaly one the original mellotron, but that's an idea I tried and It worked thickening the sound and making it's texture more Pleasant)

• II. Transferring and Editing in my DAW

Next, I transfer the recording to my PC and load it into my DAW (FL Studio). Here, I'll chop the recordings into individual note samples, adjusting the attack to make it smoother and applying vibrato via an LFO. This will let me control the vibrato digitally, maintaining consistency across notes without manually playing the vibrato directly on the instrument. I'm not sure if the vibrato speed needs to be the same for each note.

• III. Cassette Tape Recording for Vintage Texture

To get a vintage, slightly saturated sound, I plan to record the samples onto a cassette tape. I connect the PC output to the microphone input of a cassette recorder and then play back and record each note.

• IV. Re-import and Final Setup in FL Studio

Once the tape recordings are complete, I'll transfer them back to my PC, crop each note, and set them up in FL Studio’s DirectWave sampler. DirectWave lets me map each note to different keys. The decent sampler pluggin would be nice too if I managed to learn how it works, but I'm to lazy coding stuff.


Maybe I should make blend the original recording with the cassette tape.

• Questions or Suggestions?

I’d love any input on this process, especially if there are ways to improve it or avoid any potential technical issues.I'm sure there's better way to do it. I'm not sure people usually do that, but this sounds fun, and in my mind, I'm pretty sure this will be more rewarding that just downloading another plugging. This is quite experimental, I'm not sure what tone I'll get from that, I only tried it on a few notes and it was ok. I need to sample a whole keyboard and doing it seriously. I don't even know how to properly play sharps and flats on the whistle lol; i'll maybe have to pitch some notes

I'll report back when I do. Thanks in advance if you have any suggestion. I'd love to try the same process on glass wine if this works.

 

[rob aylestone]

I have one question. Why?

So many things make me think you have gone a bit mad? Is the excitement trying to make it work, or a challenge?

I sort of got it as a quest for somebody with minimal kit and technology roadblocks to overcome, but then you said you have a DAW and it has a proper sampler. You dont have a microphone but have a DAW? You want to record to a cassette? You say quality isnt an issue? It wont be. It will be terrible! You dont play the instrument, you dont have a mic, and i guess want to press a key on your keyboard and have it make a tin whistle sound. Remember at best a brilliant sample is only as good as the player who blew it.

I totally get this from an experimental perspective, but the time and effort to get a low fi recording of a bad player seems totally bonkers. Mellotrons never sounded that good and they had the best musicians and recordists involved, with great spaces and mics to get the best they could, quality wise.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I applaud it. You've got an idea, you've got a plan, and, presumably, you've got the time.
Even if the results end up being useless it sounds like you'll learn a lot from the experience.

Be sure to come back and share your results!

 

[ecc83]

I applaud it. You've got an idea, you've got a plan, and, presumably, you've got the time.
Even if the results end up being useless it sounds like you'll learn a lot from the experience.

Be sure to come back and share your results!

This ^ is true but even a very modest USB microphone would hugely simplify the process AND deliver vastly better quality.

The cheapest AI setup I can think of is a Behringer UMC 202HD and a pair of their C2 cap' mics.

Dave.

 

[grimtraveller]

I have one question. Why?

Always beware of opinions being so elevated that they completely crowds out those that have their own reasons for having a different one. It's something I notice a lot {and have done for years} in people who champion modern technology.
One of the great complaints that DIY-ers have with the way a lot of modern musical innovations {in terms of instruments and plug-ins} have taken over is that creation becomes secondary and convenience takes over primacy. As George Martin put it, one just selects. So much of the fun of discovery and subsequent usage of those discoveries has gone right out of recording.
No offence, but I think the question "Why ?" has no relevance to this thread. DiodeMcRoy wants to try something out and is looking for advice, suggestions and encouragement in achieving a particular goal. Their question is not "Let's all have a debate on whether I should try this" or "Lets look at the pros and cons of whether or not this is a good idea." They are way past that point. Even if they give up ⅞ of the way through, that wouldn't matter because they were looking to do something and were looking to more experienced heads for possible ways.

So many things make me think you have gone a bit mad

Ouch !

Mellotrons never sounded that good and they had the best musicians and recordists involved, with great spaces and mics to get the best they could, quality wise.

Now, as an opinion, I do respect that.
But I disagree with it. I have long thought mellotrons {and their forerunner, the Chamberlain} to be one of the greatest instruments ever created. As unreliable and delicate as they were they revolutionized rock music and their presence on so many songs and albums is as important as those of the vocalists, guitarists, bassists and drummers.
In my opinion.
I love mellotrons and think they sound[ed] fantastic.

 

[grimtraveller]

Questions or Suggestions?
I’d love any input on this process, especially if there are ways to improve it or avoid any potential technical issues

even a very modest USB microphone would hugely simplify the process AND deliver vastly better quality.

That's what I was thinking as I read. A mic. Oh, and learn to play sharps and flats on that tin whistle, even if only for when you record your sample. You want a confident, smooth-toned recording.

I'm not sure people usually do that, but this sounds fun

It does, and I trust you will have lots of it, even where there are frustrating or challenging moments.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

Before ordinary folks had computers, I did a simiar thing with a tenor recorder (all I had), and a cassette recorder.
Blow long constant notes of each pitch to a length of tape.
Then cut them up into short bursts.
Then selotape the bursts together to make a tune.
Then play back that spliced concoction on the tape recorder.
Use the tape recorder's volume dial to manually 'ADSR' modulate each note as it plays.
A fun exercise. Another student heard the sound outside the room, and asked what synth I was using.

 

[grimtraveller]

Just reading that, it sounds like great fun.

 

[rob aylestone]

I didn't mean any disrespect - but I just kind of feel it's reinventing the wheel? Sort of like wanting to create a gizmo to reproduce the sound of a casio VL1 - which while having a certain appeal, was pretty awful for anything other than the beepy noises? Like a Chinese manufacturer making a counterfeit of a really nasty microphone?

I can appreciate the fun and experimentation behind it, and the challenges - but is there actually something you could do with it? Ignore me - perhaps my experimental period expired and I'm not quite getting it. I do hope you get it done, because I think many of us are intrigued by the process, so maybe you're onto something? Forgive me for the pessimism!

 

[Serendipity Records]

I wish there was a worthwhile free Mellotron VST for Mac, that you could record your own samples to... in fact I was looking for one yesterday, no luck.

Have fun with this, @DiodeMcRoy, I would love to hear what you come up with!

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

I wish there was a worthwhile free Mellotron VST for Mac, that you could record your own samples to... in fact I was looking for one yesterday, no luck.

Have fun with this, @DiodeMcRoy, I would love to hear what you come up with!

Once I finalize it I'll try to upload the samples for anyone interested (not sure anyone will be though haha)

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

I didn't mean any disrespect - but I just kind of feel it's reinventing the wheel? Sort of like wanting to create a gizmo to reproduce the sound of a casio VL1 - which while having a certain appeal, was pretty awful for anything other than the beepy noises? Like a Chinese manufacturer making a counterfeit of a really nasty microphone?

I can appreciate the fun and experimentation behind it, and the challenges - but is there actually something you could do with it? Ignore me - perhaps my experimental period expired and I'm not quite getting it. I do hope you get it done, because I think many of us are intrigued by the process, so maybe you're onto something? Forgive me for the pessimism!

No problem. Yeah there's countless other pluggings I could use. But I don't know, maybe I'll find something interesting along my way. I know I might not get an usable sound, but who knows. Sometimes it's just a matter of taste. Guitar Distorsion used to be heard as a flaw before it became synonymous with rock music. So yeah it will probably nasty, but I don't know...

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

Before ordinary folks had computers, I did a simiar thing with a tenor recorder (all I had), and a cassette recorder.
Blow long constant notes of each pitch to a length of tape.
Then cut them up into short bursts.
Then selotape the bursts together to make a tune.
Then play back that spliced concoction on the tape recorder.
Use the tape recorder's volume dial to manually 'ADSR' modulate each note as it plays.
A fun exercise. Another student heard the sound outside the room, and asked what synth I was using.

That sounds interesting. Thanks, I might try this.

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

That's what I was thinking as I read. A mic. Oh, and learn to play sharps and flats on that tin whistle, even if only for when you record your sample. You want a confident, smooth-toned recording.

It does, and I trust you will have lots of it, even where there are frustrating or challenging moments.

Yeah, I plan to buy a mic anyway, I already have an audio interface and a daw. This will improve the workflow.

 

[ecc83]

Yeah, I plan to buy a mic anyway, I already have an audio interface and a daw. This will improve the workflow.

Ah! What is the interface pray? For mics and staying bargain basement the aforementioned C2s are really not bad but check them as soon as you get them. QC can be an issue. A decent LD capacitor is the Mackie EM-91C, my son has one and says it is good on classical guitar. For a very cheap, knockabout dynamic try the Behringer XM8500.

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

I once found a bunch of Mellotron samples, and found that I could paste them into a group of tracks and it sounded quite like a Mellotron when played back, but it was WAY more work that it was worth.

It's probably possible to trigger them via a midi track, but I never got that in depth to try it.

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

Hello,

I finally sampled my material, and it was honestly pretty tedious and time-consuming, haha. Not sure if it was worth all the effort, though.

I recorded all the notes on BandLab using my phone, recording each note twice to create a shimmer effect. I used my Bb whistle to capture all the flats and sharps, along with a D whistle for some other notes, mixing the two for certain sharps, etc.

After recording, I cropped everything in Reaper and normalized the files. I also pitch-corrected the notes by adjusting the playback rate slightly, tweaking the speed of each sample. Each sample is around 10 seconds long.

Then I exported these samples and created additional ones an octave lower by reducing the speed by half.

From there, I moved over to FL Studio (yeah, I know, not the most efficient workflow). In FL, I adjusted the attack and release times, and I also added some vibrato by tweaking the pitch LFO. (I exported the Octave before mapping it on DirectWave so that I could edit a constant vibrato speed on each notes by editing them before exporting them)

After exporting everything, I used DirectWave to map out all the notes. Not sure what’s going on with that plugin, but everything sounds super low. I also expanded the notes so that I could play the C of 3octaves on my keyboard. So Under Bb3 and higher than Bb5, the notes are the copies of these notes, so the vibrato changes slightly)

Here are a few examples of what I recorded. I’m still not sure if it was worth it, so let me know what you think. For these examples, I added some EQ to boost the mids and cut some high frequencies, along with light compression. I also experimented with a few effects (a bit of delay and a very slight chorus).

I haven’t yet tried exporting all the notes onto my cassette recorder, but I’ll keep you posted once I do. Let me know what you think, even if you think it's garbage (well don't compare it to an actual Mellotron, this sounds completly different)!

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[Serendipity Records]

Hello,

I finally sampled my material, and it was honestly pretty tedious and time-consuming, haha. Not sure if it was worth all the effort, though.

I recorded all the notes on BandLab using my phone, recording each note twice to create a shimmer effect. I used my Bb whistle to capture all the flats and sharps, along with a D whistle for some other notes, mixing the two for certain sharps, etc.

After recording, I cropped everything in Reaper and normalized the files. I also pitch-corrected the notes by adjusting the playback rate slightly, tweaking the speed of each sample. Each sample is around 10 seconds long.

Then I exported these samples and created additional ones an octave lower by reducing the speed by half.

From there, I moved over to FL Studio (yeah, I know, not the most efficient workflow). In FL, I adjusted the attack and release times, and I also added some vibrato by tweaking the pitch LFO. (I exported the Octave before mapping it on DirectWave so that I could edit a constant vibrato speed on each notes by editing them before exporting them)

After exporting everything, I used DirectWave to map out all the notes. Not sure what’s going on with that plugin, but everything sounds super low. I also expanded the notes so that I could play the C of 3octaves on my keyboard. So Under Bb3 and higher than Bb5, the notes are the copies of these notes, so the vibrato changes slightly)

Here are a few examples of what I recorded. I’m still not sure if it was worth it, so let me know what you think. For these examples, I added some EQ to boost the mids and cut some high frequencies, along with light compression. I also experimented with a few effects (a bit of delay and a very slight chorus).

I haven’t yet tried exporting all the notes onto my cassette recorder, but I’ll keep you posted once I do. Let me know what you think, even if you think it's garbage (well don't compare it to an actual Mellotron, this sounds completly different)!

Gofile - Cloud Storage Made Simple

Secure, fast and free cloud storage solution. Upload and share files instantly.

gofile.io

Interesting results from an unconventional approach -- I'll take it! It's not garbage, just quite unusual, and refreshingly so. Flute is already massively underrated as it is

 

[DiodeMcRoy]

Interesting results from an unconventional approach -- I'll take it! It's not garbage, just quite unusual, and refreshingly so. Flute is already massively underrated as it is

Yeah I guess, I tried to find people having done this before but couldn't. If someone is interested in the .wav samples, let me know. Next step it to put it on analog tape and hope for the best. Then to use it in an actual composition.

But it's nice to have an unique sample bank I know I'm the only one having ever used in a song. Kinda rewarding.