Eclectic Mandolin

This Mandolin from the late 1800’s was a wedding gift from my wife, so obviously there is some sentimentality involved! But that aside, it definitely has a certain rustic charm about it. I’ve recorded with it MANY times.

For this one however, I wanted to make an instrument that did not necessarily sound like a mandolin. I was working on a world music project and wanted something sounding more uh… worldly in nature. And ‘Eclectic Mandolin’ was born. I recorded the Mando multiple times with two velocity layers. I used a Telefunken Copperhead mic and an Avalon 737 Pre. I re-amped some of the recordings through an old Fender amp. I wanted to process each group slightly differently to created random unpredictability . It’s very raw, slightly out of tune (on purpose) and to me sounds more like a Kora at times, than a Mandolin. There is a muted version which is my favorite one, and also a sustained one. There are two pitched down versions that I combined into one multi called “Low And Wide” .
I also included an Ensemble Multi which features them all together! And last, I created a pad using multiple reversed loops from different groups.

I hope you enjoy this strange, little instrument!