The Mellotron and Chamberlin were keyboard based instruments that used tape loops as the source of their audio. each key had a corresponding 8 second tape loop that when the key was depressed would start playing. The Chamberlin loop would reset every time the key was released so that each note would have an attack and sustain, where as the Mellotron was a continuous loop. The sound from these instruments came out of a built in speaker, the Chamberlin using a standard speaker, while the Mellotron had a custom built speaker. The Harry Chamberlin started building the first Chamberlins in 1949. This was the first keyed instrument to mimic other instruments. Each chamberlin tape had 8 sounds on it, but were not replaceable, while the Mellotron had only three per tape, but different replacement tape cartridges where available.
The instruments for these keyboards were recorded specifically for them. Harry Chamberlin was meticulous in the hiring of musicians, quality of performance and the quaility of the recording for his tapes. Lawrence Welk was brought in along with members of his band to be the performers on the tapes. The great quality of these tapes greatly added to the specific sound of the chamberlin and made these tapes very highly prized items, and very sought after. The Mellatron on the other hand had much lower standards in terms of the quality of their tapes. The Mellotron tapes were recorded in the backroom of a studio, and sounds from the busy street running behind the studio were picked up on the tapes.
The Chamberlin was invented by Harry Chamberlin in the late 1940s. In the late 50s Harry hired Bill Franson as a salesman, and in 1962 he stole two Chamberlins and took them to England, where he showed them to the Bradly brothers and asked them to upgrade the design. The Bradly brothers had no idea the instruments were stolen, and immediately began working on the first Mellotrons. Some of these improvements included a metal frame, so that it would stay in tune better as well as a better speaker. Early users of these instruments include Mark Pindler from the Moody Blues, Brian wilson of the Beach Boys, Rod Argent of the Zombies, and Rick Nielsen of Cheaptrick. The Beatles used the Mellotron on Strawberry fields forever. Al Kooper used them on sessions he produced with Lynyrd Skynyrd as well.
Despite their widespread use in the 60s and 70s the Chamberlin and Mellotron remained cult instruments. The first reason for this is the lack of reliability. Both the Chamberlin and Mellotron were notorious for going out of tune. Depending on the weather the frame of the Chamberlin would warp, or if it was too cold the motors would slow down on both models. The tapes had a tendency to stick and any condensation would cause problems. These machines were very delicate and had to be transported very carefully, and as such were only economical for bands that had already become successful, and even then bands like Genesis would have to cancel shows if their Mellotron stopped working. Much like Leo Theremin, Harry Chamberlin never realized that he was focusing on the wrong market. While Theremin focused on using his instrument to perform violin concertos, Chamberlin focused his instrument solely on home use, and never saw the potential for use in the genre of rock n' roll. He limited the success of his own instrument by not thinking big enough. At his companies peak he only had 18 employees, and thus never pushed to make his instrument a great success, despite how much the people who did use it loved it. As the 1980s approached synthesizers became popular, and given how exponentially more reliable they were than the Chamberlin and Mellotron, they basically killed both companies off. The Mellotron Corp. was about $50.000 in debt when they finally shut down. Both companies also had trouble with the musicians union. The Musicians union was worried that these instruments would put professional musicians out of work, since they could mimic the sounds or real instruments and orchestras. They ended up having to pay the musicians union for every model they made.
All in all both of these instruments were incredible technological advancements and changed music history. From their inventive use of tape to the incredible sounds that these machines are capable of making, these instruments are a true and beautiful marriage of technology and music.
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