Nick Mason's Flute and Mellotron Trick on 'The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party'

Nick Mason handled more than drums on his solo piece from Ummagumma. Besides the usual kit and percussion, he played flute, Mellotron, glockenspiel, and employed tape effects. The “Entertainment” section is where he got weird with the flute and Mellotron—he recorded a real flute part, then played it backward while simultaneously layering it with the Mellotron’s built-in flute voice. The result is that swirling, slightly disorienting melody that sounds like it’s breathing in and out of phase.

Mason didn’t consider himself a flutist, so he took a brute‑force approach: he kept recording short phrases until he got a usable take, then manipulated the tape. The Mellotron’s flute samples (from a library of real flutes) gave a choral thickness