Trying out a K&K Silver Bullet microphone on the mandolin.
I selected this Renaissance piece to test it with since it crosses a wide enough range of the instrument.
Sheet music available in http://www.guitarandlute.com/early_mandolin.html

Bransle Charlotte

Three medieval tunes: Saltarello, La Rotta and Trotto played on mandolin.  It makes me happy to think of the upheavals these tunes have survived to make it to our times.
Recorded using a K&K silver bullet microphone into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 connected to Audacity. 

Released under a Creative Commons attribution license. 
If you do use it let me know, and I'll post a link to your content.

Update: This one is proving to be quite popular. Here are a few derivative works where it appears:
https://www.ivoox.com/19-caballeria-guerra-medieval-fin-temporada-audios-mp3_r6_11830024_1.html
https://youtu.be/t2XRFZmTX3w
https://youtu.be/ocr_sVMcp8U
and in the soundscape at the castle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort-la-Latte

Medieval Medley - Saltarello / La Rotta / Trotto

Variations on "Black Is The Colour".  
I play it straight the first pass and then play a couple of variations.

Variations on Black Is The Colour

Cantiga 182 from the Cantigas de Santa Maria on mandolin where I also play a simple guitar track in the background.
From 1200 AD; I feel part of something very old sometimes.


Deus Que Mui Ben Barata

An arrangement from John Playford's renaissance-era "The English Dancing Master". Modern folk rhythm meets renaissance melody. 

I play the melody on my Breedlove Quartz OF mandolin and the accompaniment on a borrowed nylon-string Tatay flamenco guitar; I found that my steel-string acoustic was a too harsh-sounding accompaniment for the material.

Released under a Creative Commons attribution license. Go nuts!
If you do use it let me know, and I'll post a link to your content.

Childgrove

A new recording of this piece. I wasn't very happy with the previous one.
This renaissance tune on guitar is followed by a medieval tune on mandolin + drone on guitar. I found these two pieces went well together.
The mandolin is a Breedlove Quartz OF and the guitar is a Levin WR 34 steel string.

Medieval Dance (Take 2)

Erik Satie 's 1st Gnossienne arranged for Mandolin &  Guitar (originally on piano).
The bass clef is on guitar transposed up and the treble clef is on mandolin.

You can hear about the making of these in my podcast episodes 14, 18 and 24.
https://anchor.fm/s/110b41c/podcast/rss

Gnossienne No. 1 (Mandolin & Guitar)

I heard this fiddle tune on the Thistle & Shamrock NPR radio program and liked it so much that I made an arrangement for mandolin and guitar.

Blackberry Festival Footrace

A short soundbite of a flute passage in Sibelius' Concerto for Violin in Dm - which I arranged and played on mandolin.
Available with a Creative Commons license and downloadable. Can be used as a ringtone or for your own works or anything you like.

Sibelius Soundbite

Melody from Verdi's "La forza del destino" and also from the soundtrack to "Jean de Florette". On Mandolin.
Part of my Free February Friday series. Available with a Creative Commons license and downloadable. Can be used as a ringtone or for your own works or anything you like.

Verdi Soundbite - Long

Melody from Verdi's "La forza del destino" and also from the soundtrack to "Jean de Florette". On Mandolin - short version.
Part of my Free February Friday series. Available with a Creative Commons license and downloadable. Can be used as a ringtone or for your own works or anything you like.

Verdi Soundbite - Short

A short bit from Vivaldi's concerto for two mandolins - first movement.
I always liked how this bit teases around the G before finally nailing it.
Part of my Free February Friday series. Available with a Creative Commons license and downloadable. Can be used as a ringtone or for your own works or anything you like.

Vivaldi Soundbite

A few bars of Bach's Menuet II from his first Cello suite.
Part of my Free February Friday series. Available with a Creative Commons license and downloadable. Can be used as a ringtone or for your own works or anything you like.

Bach Soundbite

A Tarantella from southern Italy. This was meant to be danced to frantically as a cure for the evil eye.
The next time someone gives you the stink eye put this on repeat and dance until you drop!

Tarantella di Ogliastro

Rounding out the trilogy, here is my rendition of Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 3.
I added some chord tones to the melody to fill out the sound.

You can hear about the making of these in my podcast episodes 14, 18 and 24.
https://anchor.fm/s/110b41c/podcast/rss

Gnossienne No. 3 (Mandolin & Guitar)

Rondeau composed by Jean-Joseph Mouret.
Usually when I'm flipping through a book of sheet music the melodies don't jump out at me, but this was an exception. This piece was so familiar that it leapt right out of the page.

Rondeau (theme of Masterpiece Theatre)

I heard this tune played by someone on YouTube and liked it so much I had to learn it. Here's the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4csYgR39SR8

Ay Triste Que Vengo

This tune I heard on the Thistle and Shamrock NPR radio show. It was on harp with an electronic backbeat. This is just the acoustic portion I'm playing on mandolin.
I recorded it as part of the #AudioMo challenge where in the month of June every participant records audio on a daily basis. This was one of mine.

Lusignac

Just messing around with the Sakura scale.

Sakura

I just got myself an octave mandolin. This is a mandolin but twice the size and tuned an octave lower than a regular one.

This particular one is an Eastman. Archtop A-style with F-shaped sound holes.

I always do this to myself. I went in to an instrument repair shop to get a classical guitar fixed and this Octave was on display. 
I played it for about 10 minutes and knew I had to get it.

Trotto - Octave Mandolin

Mandolin Minute Podcast
S02E01. Octave Minute

Released Feb 24, 2019

I just got myself an octave mandolin. This is a mandolin but twice the size and tuned an octave lower than a regular one. This particular one is an Eastman. Archtop A-style with F-shaped sound holes. Come have a listen!

Mandolin Minute S02

S02E01. Octave Minute

S02E02. Guitar and Lute (and Mandolin)

Released March 3, 2019

1. A Great Call-In (*) 
2. Summertime, motorcycles and the Dead 
3. Allan Alexander 
4. Bransle Charlotte (Octave) 
5. Rhythmic Variations 
*If you'd like to call in you can leave me a voice message on the Anchor.FM app at Mandolin Minute. If voice messages are not your thing, I can also be reached at Twitter @ron_mckinnon. I would be delighted to hear from you.

S02E02. Guitar and Lute (and Mandolin)

S02E03. Fiddling Around

Released March 10, 2019

1. Intro / News  
2. Fiddler's Fakebook  
3. 6/8 and 9/8  
4. K-What?  
5. The Irish Washerwoman  
Mandolin re-tweet: https://twitter.com/HilaryJamesUK/status/1102876479032049666

S02E03. Fiddling Around

S02E04. St. Patrick's Day

Released March 17, 2019

Welcome to my St. Patrick's Day Party. Stay a while... 
1. Two Polkas  
2. O'Neill's Cavalry March \ Tralee Gaol  
3. Two Jigs  
4a. The Irish Washerwoman  
4b. Morrison's Jig  
5. Two Slip Jigs  
6 The Butterfly \ The Kid on the Mountain  
7. A Reel  
8. The Musical Priest  
If you'd like to call in you can leave me a voice message on the Anchor.FM app at Mandolin Minute. If voice messages are not your thing, I  can also be reached at Twitter @ron_mckinnon. I would be delighted to hear from you.

S02E04. St. Patrick's Day

In this episode I give a shoutout to the other mandolin-themed audio podcasts available out there. 
Contents: 
1. Intro \ Review 
2. Mando-Show Podcast 
3. Mandolin Cafe Podcast 
4. Musical Number 
5. Ay Triste Que Vengo (Octave) 
Links mentioned in the episode: 
Mando-Show: https://mandomontreal.squarespace.com/en/mando-show?format=rss 
Mandolin Cafe: https://www.mandolincafe.com/mp3/mp3.xml 
Youtube video where I first heard the song "Ay Triste Que Vengo":  https://youtu.be/4csYgR39SR8
and the process of making that instrument, très cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_18qReD5MZg

S02E05. Other Mandolin Podcasts

A second foray into what might become a series of episodes on the topic of copyright, the protections it provides for you, and who's trying to undermine these laws and who's trying to prop them up. 

1. Introduction 
2. Article 13 \ 17 
3. Don't Cover Supertramp 
4. Copyright 101 
5. Third episode? 
6. Minuet 
7. Until Next Time 

Links mentioned: 
Google astroturfs the EU: https://musictechpolicy.com/2018/08/08/the-times-of-london-confirms-that-google-is-behind-astroturf-opposition-to-article-13/ 
The Future of What - Copyright 101: https://soundcloud.com/thefutureofwhat/copyright-101

Mandolin Minute

S02E06. Copyright 2.0

A mandolin duet by Bach. I recorded the melody on mandolin (Breedlove Quartz OF) and the counterpoint on an Octave Mandolin (Eastman A-style) separately and combined them using digital trickery.

Mandolin

Minuet

Show notes for episode S02E07

1. TheSession.org 
2. Conversion to a score with tabs 
3. Mandolintab.net 
4. An example 
5. Under a Breton Sky 
6. Transposition 

The Session website with tons of scores: https://thesession.org 
Generate score (and mandolin tabs) from abc notation: http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php 

“Under a Breton Sky” in abc notation: 

X: 1
T: Under a Breton Sky
R: Polka
C: Aurora Celtic
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Am
Q: C2=120
"Am"A/2B/2c BA | (ec dc | "Em"Bd cB) | "Am"(AE FE) |
"Am"A/2B/2c BA | (ec dc) | "Dm"BA Bc | "E"B2 cd |
"C"ef (ec | "G/B"d2 dc | "F/A"B)d cB | "E"(AE FE) |
"Am"A/2B/2c BA | (ec dc) | "Em"Bd cB | "Am"A3 "coda"z  :||
||: "Am"EF (AF | E3 D | "C"(C)D E(C) | "Dm"D/2E/2F ED) |
"Am"EF (AE | "Dm"D3 E | "C"(C)D EF | "E/B"E4) | 
"Am"A/2B/2c B(A | E3 D | "C"(C)D E(C) | "Dm"D/2E/2F ED) |
"C"(CD ED | "Dm"EF EF) |1 "Esus4"^GF ED | "E"E4 :||2 "Esus4"^GA Bc | "E"B2 c"D.C. al coda"B ||

S02E07. Session Music Online

A ringtone I made using the Behringer Neutron analog synthesizer, It's the one I currently use on my phone. Cuts through ambient noise. 

If you like it and want a copy let me know and I'll make it downloadable. It's already in .m4r format.

I do one pass of the sequence, then turn the low-frequency-oscillator (LFO) knob for one pass (listen for the warble), then back again. On the last pass I turn on the echo until it just starts feeding back as it fades out.
The first attempt was too quiet so I patched the output trig into the LFO and boosted the signal. Plus a bit of filtering to make it bell-like.

I'm enjoying this creating waveforms from scratch approach.

Ringtones

Beh-Ringer

More goofing around with the Kaossilator.

Ïa! Ïa!

Going through some recordings and on re-listening to this one I thought it was worth uploading to here. 

A simple solo recording of The Irish Washerwoman on octave mandolin. No filters or compression, just a microphone.

I'm putting it up with a Creative Commons and made it downloadable. If you want to use it be my guest. Let me know if you do and I can link to your creations here.

The Irish Washerwoman

Bach piece performed as a duet with myself on mandolin and Dave Schryer on guitar.
Recorded on a Zoom H2.

Wisset ihr nicht

My brother-in-law who plays bass professionally was feeling bored during the COVID-19 lockdown and offered to add some bass partitions to some of my recordings. Here's the first. Best heard with headphones! 
Thanks Dan!

Blackberry Festival Footrace (now with bass)

With Netflix down, I may as well practice a bit.
Morrison's Jig.

Morrison's Jig

I'm a programmer from Ottawa, Canada.  In my spare time I like to make music.
If you want to hear about the production or the history of some of these pieces, check out my podcast "Mandolin Minute". RSS feed below.
Thanks for listening!

Ron McKinnon

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