Hootenanny! DVD

[bluesmandolinman]

Hey , I justed wanted to let you know that the " Hootenanny!! DVD " from Jim Richter is very cool! ( check the link on the Mandocafe home page) . I received it yesterday .... Blues Mandolin at it´s best !

Much of string bending-VIBRATO-slides-pull offs etc .

This DVD is worth every cent !! If you love the Blues and/or the Mandolin this DVD will satisfy your worried mind !!!

ira - duuuuude - Perry - .... check it out !

René

[JimRichter]

Thanks for the kind words. Not my greatest night ever, but a very satisfying performance nonetheless. Outside of the straight forward fiddle tunes I do, my mando playing comes from the years playing and listening to classic blues guitar, ala Earl Hooker, Magic Sam, Freddy King, Louis Meyers, or contemporary jump blues guys like Hollywood Fats, Kid Ramos, or Jr. Watson. Even though I'm from Indiana and was based in Indianapolis during Yank Rachel's last years, I don't do Yank's bag. I just feel there are too many guys who think blues mandolin means playing like Yank. Yank's style was just too unique.

What's cool is that the Taggart A5 I recently got has incredible natural sustain, which lends itself so well to bending. Last gig I did, I found myself playing all kinds of bending and sliding. Knowing how to tremelo is essential (Mike Compton is the king of the "slow" tremelo--much prefer that to Grisman's fast tremelo), but in blues, bending is king.

Jim

[bluesmandolinman]

Oh yes I agree, Yank is the most famous Blues Mandolin Player but not the only alley to go !

The issue with the "slow " tremolo is interesting because I noticed that I like the slow tremolo much more too.But I think it is harder to get it slow than fast( unfortunatly I am more of the fast ones I guess )

Jim , what I really like is someone doing what he loves. And if this thing is not mainstream he does it anyways. Not only looking for comercial success... and Blues Mandolin is a small market. You did it and I love it ! Hopefully some other board members give it a try too.

Thanks for the fun !

René:cool:

[steve in tampa]

Jim,

Finally sat down and watched the video. Good stuff! Got me all inspired to work on some blues stuff again!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[JimRichter]

Steve

Thanks for the kind words. Actually makes me want to work on my blues stuff! (realize how much more I have to practice!).

Mandolin is such a perfect instrument for doing Chicago/Texas blues type phrasing. There reallys is substantial potential to do more than country/jug band/hoakum type blues things.


Jim

____
to order the Hootenanny DVD, please go to
gordonbonham.net (http://www.gordonbonham.net)

[bluesmandolinman]

Hey Jim
I was watching the DVD again and was wondering what microfon you use there ? I noticed you don´t have to stay too close to it...

[JimRichter]

Well, I was surprised to look in the Blues section of the forum and see this thread revived.

The mic I use is one of the Shure KSM series. I use the base model which is a KSM27. The KSM series have become fairly ubiquitous in bluegrass because they are some of the best dual purpose (both live and recording) condenser mics out there for acoustic instruments. This is the mic series used by Skaggs, Fleck, Duncan, etc. Incredibly reliable, affordable ($250-$300 for my model), great sound on almost any acoustic instrument (fantastic for National steel guitar), and looks cool! Highly recommended!

Jim

[bluesmandolinman]

Thanks Jim
I will try to catch a used KSM27 on ebay the next weeks...

Finally , everybody that still hasn´t bought this DVD should do it right now.... it´s x-mas time soon... . Plenty of good mando playing for the $$$

René

[Perry]

Ditto on the KSM-27; though the KSM-32 look sinterestign too.
I've been able to get some good stereo recordign of small ensembles with a KSM-27 and KM-184. I record in my basement (dead sounding room) and keep the 27 up at mouth level and the 184 at soundhole level. It works pretty darn good.

I did notice that live ther eis a sweet spot woth the KSM-27 and it is not when you get right up on it. Anybody else notice this?

[JimRichter]

I've noticed that. #I very rarely get up on it. #I'm usually anywhere from 8 to 10 inches from it. #I like just enough air between me and the mike (without feeding back)to give the mando a fuller sound. #Kind of like recording guitar amps in the studio. #I've never been a fan of throwing a mic right in front of an amp. #I may do that, but I'd put an ambience mic 10 to 15 feet from the amp (if space allowed) and use that as my main sound (with the more direct mike giving a little definition). #Amps are heard from a distance and their quality is judged that way. #Sticking something right up on them doesn't accurately represent the sound. #I think's it's the same w/ live instrument micing. #I can personally tell the difference and I try to get a little more of a room sound w/o feeding back.

Jim

[Scott Tichenor]

This is a very enjoyable project. Here's a link (http://www.mandolincafe.com/news/publish/mandolins_00103.shtml) to some information published about it in late 2004. Highly recommended.

[JimRichter]

Thanks for the kind words, Scott. Coming from you, that means a bunch.

Jim