The Mellotron is a keyboard instrument that plays prerecorded tape loops, invented as the Chamberlin organ in Harry Chamberlin's California backyard in the late 1940s. It was originally designed to be sold to every Aunt Mable in America, but its fate changed when a salesman took two instruments to England and found manufacturers to replicate it, giving birth to the Mellotron. The instrument gained popularity through the music of the Beatles, the Zombies, and the Moody Blues, becoming known as the "instant magic sound."
Mellodrama
The documentary "Mellodrama" chronicles the story of the Mellotron, the pioneering electronic keyboard that revolutionized music by sampling sounds from other instruments, from its humble beginnings in a California garage in the 1950s to its impact on the music world.
