Mellotron (Mellotronics Manufacturing)
ActiveStreetly, West Midlands, United Kingdom
BiographyAlthough the instrument is often colloquially referred to as the Mellotron, ‘Mellotron’ in fact refers to the manufacturer. The story of the development of Mellotron involves a number of individuals, and originates with the California-based inventor, Harry Chamberlin.
Chamberlin had conceived of an instrument that could play back pre-recorded samples of sound from a keyboard and, throughout the 1940s, began to develop the first of such instruments, including the Rhythmate and the MusicMaster, the former of which played back drum samples. Patented in 1949, the MusicMaster employed a similar design to the earliest Mellotron instruments, with each pitch corresponding to an open loop strip of magnetic tape that, when pushed down by the depression of a key, contacted a tape head that enabled the sound recorded on the tape to be played back through the instrument’s internal amplification system. The MusicMaster was also the first instrument to employ two keyboards placed side by side, with the right hand side used for melodic phrases and the left hand side used to produce accompanying chords. Chamberlin’s innovation garnered the interest of Bill Fransen, a California-based window cleaner and former uranium prospector, who eventually began managing the sales and marketing of these instruments. The MusicMaster suffered certain technical obstacles, including producing an insuperable hum and containing a highly unreliable mechanism, however Chamberlin’s instruments remained the only ones of their kind throughout the entirety of the 1950s. This changed in 1962, however, when Fransen sought to obtain a matched set of 70 tape heads – one of the foremost problems with the Chamberlin machines was that they did not employ matching tape heads, thus producing inconsistencies in the sound – from the Bradmatics, Ltd. company of Birmingham, England. Founded in 1932 by Leslie C. Bradley, the company originally manufactured machine tools for the Second World War. Following the war, Bradley’s sons, Frank, Norman, and Leslie, all mechanical engineers, rebranded the company as Bradmatics and focused on the production of amplifiers, tape recorders, and tape replay heads. Without notifying Chamberlin, Fransen had traveled to the United Kingdom with two MusicMaster instruments, and, upon contacting the Bradley brothers, demonstrated the need for his somewhat unorthodox order by introducing them to the innovative mechanism. Fransen was acutely aware of the fact that Chamberlin was not capable of taking the technology to the level of production he believed it deserved, and the Bradleys were keen to accept Fransen’s further proposition to be involved in the development of the instrument. And, so, also unbeknownst to Chamberlin, the two came into a business arrangement wherein Bradmatics would refine the instrument, so as to make it more reliable and stable, as well as produce it on a mass scale. At the time, the Bradley brothers were not aware that Fransen was not the owner of the technology, with the knowledge that they had infringed on someone else’s intellectual property not emerging until one year later. Chamberlin also became aware of this agreement in 1963 and, in 1966, settled the dispute by selling the technology to Bradmatics for $30,000. In order to finance their project, Bradmatics enlisted the help of radio broadcaster and orchestra leader Eric Robinson and television celebrity David Nixon, who both became partners in the firm. The Mellotronics Manufacturing subsidiary (from which the more common term ‘Mellotron’ was derived, also a combination of the words ‘melodic’ and ‘electronic’) of the Eric Robinson Organization was established in London as a sales office to market the instrument, and recording sessions for the tape samples began at IBC Studios, also located in London, of which Robinson was a co-owner, with Fransen serving as the recording engineer. Masters were recorded to quarter-inch tapes, however in order to be used with Chamberlin’s original design, Bradmatics had to convert them to 3/8” tape. In keeping with the terms of their agreement, Chamberlin continued to manufacture his own instruments independently, including the compact M1 system, and the more extravagant Riviera. Production of the Mellotron instruments took place at a new factory located in Streetly, an English town located in the West Midlands, near the borough of Walsall, just north of Birmingham.
The first commercial models of the Mellotron were the double-manual Mark I (or Mk I), which was manufactured between 1963 and 1964, and the double-manual Mark II (or Mk II), which was manufactured between 1964 and 1968 and accompanied by an extensive bank of instrument samples. These instruments were followed by the Mark II FX Console in 1965, which was backed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and featured a bank of unique sound effects as well as a solid-state power amplifier, and the M300 in 1968, which was the first model to employ only a single manual. In 1970, Bradmatics retired its name and rebranded itself as Streetly Electronics. In the same year, the company released the model M400, which is generally considered to be the most iconic of the Mellotron instruments, and the model 400FX, similar to the earlier Mk II FX Console. The M400, a portion of which were also assembled and sold in the United Kingdom under exclusive license by EMI, featured 35 notes, a portable design, and a removable tape frame, which allows for ease of interchangeability. The M400 was also the first to employ tapes equipped with three different samples each. The M400 was superseded by the double-manual Mark V in 1975, which was essentially comprised of two M400s. Only nine of these larger instruments were produced. In 1976, Streetly Electronics came into a trademark dispute on account of several overlooked terms of an American distribution agreement, and the Mellotron name, as well as the company’s inventory and rights, were taken over by the U.S.-based Sound Sales company. Sound Sales was founded by Bill Eberline, whose former company, the New Jersey-based Dallas Musical Instruments, served as the American distributor and servicing company of the Mellotron. DMI eventually collapsed and in the legal aftermath of its reconstruction, was able to retain the Mellotron name despite having never manufactured a single instrument. Following this, Streetly Electronics continued to manufacture their instruments under the name Novatron, including the Mark V in 1977 and the model 400 in 1978, which were identical to the Mellotron Mark V and M400 units, respectively. Sound Sales continued distributing Mellotron instruments and designed the Four-Track instrument in 1980, producing only a few units. In 1981, the Novatron T550 was released by Streetly Electronics, and consisted of a model 400 instrument built directly into a road case. The final instrument produced by Streetly was the Studio Symphony, a 16-bit sampler that resembled the Synclavier computer music instrument. Only a single prototype of this instrument was built in 1985, and it was never brought into production. By the middle of the decade, both Streetly Electronics and Sound Sales suffered financially with the steadily increasing momentum of the synthesizer and digital sampler market, and Streetly ceased operations in 1986. In 1997, however, following Leslie Bradley’s death, his son, John Bradley, and business partner Martin Smith resurrected the venture. They established a new factory in Stockholm, Sweden, and began producing instruments under the Mellotron name, including the Mark VI in 1999, which was a revised Mellotron M400 invented by Markus Resch and David Kean, the latter of whom currently owns both the Mellotron Archives and the rights to the Mellotron name. The Mark VII, which was a revised Mark V, followed shortly thereafter, as well as the M4000, which was released in 2007 and features the same chassis as the classic M400, but employs a digital bank selector instead of tapes. Unfortunately, all of the original players in the Mellotron story have since passed away: Eric Robinson passed in the 1970s, Frank Bradley in 1979, Bill Fransen and Harry Chamberlin in the 1980s, and Les Bradley in 1997, after having had the opportunity to witness the instrument’s renaissance.
Chamberlin had conceived of an instrument that could play back pre-recorded samples of sound from a keyboard and, throughout the 1940s, began to develop the first of such instruments, including the Rhythmate and the MusicMaster, the former of which played back drum samples. Patented in 1949, the MusicMaster employed a similar design to the earliest Mellotron instruments, with each pitch corresponding to an open loop strip of magnetic tape that, when pushed down by the depression of a key, contacted a tape head that enabled the sound recorded on the tape to be played back through the instrument’s internal amplification system. The MusicMaster was also the first instrument to employ two keyboards placed side by side, with the right hand side used for melodic phrases and the left hand side used to produce accompanying chords. Chamberlin’s innovation garnered the interest of Bill Fransen, a California-based window cleaner and former uranium prospector, who eventually began managing the sales and marketing of these instruments. The MusicMaster suffered certain technical obstacles, including producing an insuperable hum and containing a highly unreliable mechanism, however Chamberlin’s instruments remained the only ones of their kind throughout the entirety of the 1950s. This changed in 1962, however, when Fransen sought to obtain a matched set of 70 tape heads – one of the foremost problems with the Chamberlin machines was that they did not employ matching tape heads, thus producing inconsistencies in the sound – from the Bradmatics, Ltd. company of Birmingham, England. Founded in 1932 by Leslie C. Bradley, the company originally manufactured machine tools for the Second World War. Following the war, Bradley’s sons, Frank, Norman, and Leslie, all mechanical engineers, rebranded the company as Bradmatics and focused on the production of amplifiers, tape recorders, and tape replay heads. Without notifying Chamberlin, Fransen had traveled to the United Kingdom with two MusicMaster instruments, and, upon contacting the Bradley brothers, demonstrated the need for his somewhat unorthodox order by introducing them to the innovative mechanism. Fransen was acutely aware of the fact that Chamberlin was not capable of taking the technology to the level of production he believed it deserved, and the Bradleys were keen to accept Fransen’s further proposition to be involved in the development of the instrument. And, so, also unbeknownst to Chamberlin, the two came into a business arrangement wherein Bradmatics would refine the instrument, so as to make it more reliable and stable, as well as produce it on a mass scale. At the time, the Bradley brothers were not aware that Fransen was not the owner of the technology, with the knowledge that they had infringed on someone else’s intellectual property not emerging until one year later. Chamberlin also became aware of this agreement in 1963 and, in 1966, settled the dispute by selling the technology to Bradmatics for $30,000. In order to finance their project, Bradmatics enlisted the help of radio broadcaster and orchestra leader Eric Robinson and television celebrity David Nixon, who both became partners in the firm. The Mellotronics Manufacturing subsidiary (from which the more common term ‘Mellotron’ was derived, also a combination of the words ‘melodic’ and ‘electronic’) of the Eric Robinson Organization was established in London as a sales office to market the instrument, and recording sessions for the tape samples began at IBC Studios, also located in London, of which Robinson was a co-owner, with Fransen serving as the recording engineer. Masters were recorded to quarter-inch tapes, however in order to be used with Chamberlin’s original design, Bradmatics had to convert them to 3/8” tape. In keeping with the terms of their agreement, Chamberlin continued to manufacture his own instruments independently, including the compact M1 system, and the more extravagant Riviera. Production of the Mellotron instruments took place at a new factory located in Streetly, an English town located in the West Midlands, near the borough of Walsall, just north of Birmingham.
The first commercial models of the Mellotron were the double-manual Mark I (or Mk I), which was manufactured between 1963 and 1964, and the double-manual Mark II (or Mk II), which was manufactured between 1964 and 1968 and accompanied by an extensive bank of instrument samples. These instruments were followed by the Mark II FX Console in 1965, which was backed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and featured a bank of unique sound effects as well as a solid-state power amplifier, and the M300 in 1968, which was the first model to employ only a single manual. In 1970, Bradmatics retired its name and rebranded itself as Streetly Electronics. In the same year, the company released the model M400, which is generally considered to be the most iconic of the Mellotron instruments, and the model 400FX, similar to the earlier Mk II FX Console. The M400, a portion of which were also assembled and sold in the United Kingdom under exclusive license by EMI, featured 35 notes, a portable design, and a removable tape frame, which allows for ease of interchangeability. The M400 was also the first to employ tapes equipped with three different samples each. The M400 was superseded by the double-manual Mark V in 1975, which was essentially comprised of two M400s. Only nine of these larger instruments were produced. In 1976, Streetly Electronics came into a trademark dispute on account of several overlooked terms of an American distribution agreement, and the Mellotron name, as well as the company’s inventory and rights, were taken over by the U.S.-based Sound Sales company. Sound Sales was founded by Bill Eberline, whose former company, the New Jersey-based Dallas Musical Instruments, served as the American distributor and servicing company of the Mellotron. DMI eventually collapsed and in the legal aftermath of its reconstruction, was able to retain the Mellotron name despite having never manufactured a single instrument. Following this, Streetly Electronics continued to manufacture their instruments under the name Novatron, including the Mark V in 1977 and the model 400 in 1978, which were identical to the Mellotron Mark V and M400 units, respectively. Sound Sales continued distributing Mellotron instruments and designed the Four-Track instrument in 1980, producing only a few units. In 1981, the Novatron T550 was released by Streetly Electronics, and consisted of a model 400 instrument built directly into a road case. The final instrument produced by Streetly was the Studio Symphony, a 16-bit sampler that resembled the Synclavier computer music instrument. Only a single prototype of this instrument was built in 1985, and it was never brought into production. By the middle of the decade, both Streetly Electronics and Sound Sales suffered financially with the steadily increasing momentum of the synthesizer and digital sampler market, and Streetly ceased operations in 1986. In 1997, however, following Leslie Bradley’s death, his son, John Bradley, and business partner Martin Smith resurrected the venture. They established a new factory in Stockholm, Sweden, and began producing instruments under the Mellotron name, including the Mark VI in 1999, which was a revised Mellotron M400 invented by Markus Resch and David Kean, the latter of whom currently owns both the Mellotron Archives and the rights to the Mellotron name. The Mark VII, which was a revised Mark V, followed shortly thereafter, as well as the M4000, which was released in 2007 and features the same chassis as the classic M400, but employs a digital bank selector instead of tapes. Unfortunately, all of the original players in the Mellotron story have since passed away: Eric Robinson passed in the 1970s, Frank Bradley in 1979, Bill Fransen and Harry Chamberlin in the 1980s, and Les Bradley in 1997, after having had the opportunity to witness the instrument’s renaissance.
Contemporary Country Singer-Songwriter | born 1961
