New Breedlove crossover recording

[Ron McKinnon]

I recently bought a Breedlove crossover OF mandolin, painted black. It's one of the made in China models.

I already own a US-made Breedlove Quartz OF which I love dearly and I wanted a similar model as a traveling or campfire instrument.

It sounds really good. It's a bit thinner than my American OF. The individual notes are less resonant but have more punch, which is good because it can fill a niche.

Here's a recording of it on a Zoom H2 portable recorder with a friend playing guitar accompaniment.

https://soundcloud.com/ron-mckinnon/sous-le-ciel-breton

That's a picture of it on the Soundcloud page.

About the piece:
I heard this piece "Under the Breton Sky" by West Virginia group "Aurora Celtic" played on flute and I really liked it so made a Mandolin arrangement. It was in Bm but I transposed it to Am to make better use of open strings.

Thanks for listening!

[Darren Bailey]

It's got a lovely tone made all the better by your playing. Enjoyed listening to that very much.

[Ron McKinnon]

It's got a lovely tone made all the better by your playing. Enjoyed listening to that very much.

That's so kind. Thank you!

[Paul Busman]

Very nice! I have one, but with a round hole. I was glad to have an opportunity to hear what one of the Crossovers sounds like from out front.

[Ron McKinnon]

Very nice! I have one, but with a round hole. I was glad to have an opportunity to hear what one of the Crossovers sounds like from out front.

Or in this case at about a 45 degree angle based on the mic's position. :)

[mandolinstew]

I have a 2007 US made Breedlove that is my favorite.I recently played the new China made in my local music store and was pleasantly surprised.

[Ron McMillan]

I enjoyed the sound clip, Ron. Every time I see one of your posts I think I don't remember writing that then I put my reading glasses on....

[Ron McKinnon]

I enjoyed the sound clip, Ron. Every time I see one of your posts I think I don't remember writing that then I put my reading glasses on....

Same here. I had to do a double take on a few occasions.

[foldedpath]

That's a lovely tune and nicely played! Reminds me I should knuckle down and learn a few Breton tunes I've always enjoyed but never taken the time to learn. Doesn't surprise me that the original is in Bm... it seems like that's practically the "standard" key for many of these Breton tunes!

One small recommendation from a recording geek perspective, and just a personal opinion so fee free to ignore -- I'd like to hear your mandolin a little more prominent in the mix, compared to the guitar accompaniment. If you do another recording like this with your H2, try placing the guitar a little further away from the the recorder.

[Ron McKinnon]

One small recommendation from a recording geek perspective, and just a personal opinion so fee free to ignore -- I'd like to hear your mandolin a little more prominent in the mix, compared to the guitar accompaniment. If you do another recording like this with your H2, try placing the guitar a little further away from the the recorder.

I noticed afterward that in the first part where the mandolin is playing in a higher range than the accompanying guitar that it stands out nicely but that in the second part where the melody drops to a lower pitch it gets muddled in with the guitar as you noted.

Part of that is that I should really accent that bass note more, and part of it is mic placement for sure.