Noam Pikelny on a National Plectrum Tricone - No 5th String!

[BradKlein]

Apparently the IBMA's banjo player of the year has sinned - not only by playing that crazy music with the P-Bros - but now he's gone out without his 5th string. Someone call the Bluegrass Police!

My latest video production just premiered HERE in the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, and I shamelessly offer it to the 4-String folks. And I think that the lovely, Aoife O'Donovan makes up for any missing strings anyhow.



It was a windy day to shoot outside in Aoife's yard, and a friendly Northern Mockingbird decided it was an open jam session... but what the heck, that's life in Brooklyn.

[loess]

Dig the bird! Your productions are always stellar, Brad. If you don't mind me asking, what did you use for mics on this?

[BradKlein]

Thanks, Loess (is that your name?)

I wasn't planning to record outside that day, but luckily I brought a 'secret weapon' mic with me. My Sennheiser MKH418S which is a short, stereo, MidSide shotgun. It's becoming familiar to folks as the 'Tiny Desk Concert mic' that my former colleague, Bob Boilen uses for those NPR videos. If I recall correctly, the engineering staff bought one or two for recording natural sound in a series that NPR did with National Geo. In the end, they decided on a more elaborate, two mic in a zeppelin M-S rig - but I think that Bob has proved that with careful placement, you can do a very nice single mic set up for a small music ensemble with that mic.

And I think it captured a lot of detail in both Aoife's sweet voice and that old tritone!

[Jim Garber]

That is wonderful soulful performance by both of these folks. I love the sound of these instruments together as well as the birds who provided some great backup chirping. Ain't nature grand!

[bruce.b]

Wow! Is that ever great. I love it.
I wonder if they are going to add to the tour and come to the northeast?

[SincereCorgi]

Thanks, Loess (is that your name?)

I wasn't planning to record outside that day, but luckily I brought a 'secret weapon' mic with me. My Sennheiser MKH418S which is a short, stereo, MidSide shotgun. It's becoming familiar to folks as the 'Tiny Desk Concert mic' that my former colleague, Bob Boilen uses for those NPR videos. If I recall correctly, the engineering staff bought one or two for recording natural sound in a series that NPR did with National Geo. In the end, they decided on a more elaborate, two mic in a zeppelin M-S rig - but I think that Bob has proved that with careful placement, you can do a very nice single mic set up for a small music ensemble with that mic.

And I think it captured a lot of detail in both Aoife's sweet voice and that old tritone!

That's for sure- that sounds astonishingly good for an outdoor performance. Very nice work on both sides of the microphone. Bird did a good job too.

[Mandocarver]

Exquisite. I'm assuming that's some type of open tuning on the tricone?

[BradKlein]

Noam says, "Tuned just like the top strings on my banjo: DGBD", which I figured was the case, but I thought that I'd check.

Almost 5K views in the first few days. That may be a record for plectrum resonator-backed, old-time duets!

[bigbendhiker]

Not to be greedy, but do you have anything else by Noam on his 4 string that you would like to share?

[BradKlein]

Well that's up to Noam and Aoife, not me. I'm just the old hired hand. But write nice comments on youtube and the WSJ and maybe they'll produce some live videos from the concerts. Here are the show dates:
Nov. 1 Ogden, Utah—Peery Egyptian Theatre
Nov. 2 Phoenix—Musical Instrument Museum
Nov. 3 Boulder, Colo.—Fox Theatre
Nov. 4 Steamboat Springs, Colo.—Strings Music Festival
Nov. 6 Stoughton, Wis.—Stoughton Opera House
Nov. 7 Skokie, Ill.— North Shore CPA
Nov. 8 Columbus, Ohio—Lincoln Theatre
Nov. 9 Bloomington, Ind.—Buskirk-Chumley Theater
Nov. 11 Ann Arbor, Mich.—The Ark
Nov. 12 Cleveland—Music Box Supper Club

[Lord of the Badgers]

Noam says, "Tuned just like the top strings on my banjo: DGBD", which I figured was the case, but I thought that I'd check.

Almost 5K views in the first few days. That may be a record for plectrum resonator-backed, old-time duets!

I do that tuning on my tenor guitar sometimes it's nice.

[BradKlein]

*** THREE YEARS LATER ***

Well I've been gratified by the sweet reaction to this video. Over 100,000 views and so many nice comments. It shows how much love there can be for a sweet old song, nicely rendered. And in the meantime Aoife and Noam have so many professional and personal accomplishments to be proud of.

[Cornfield]

That is a very nice video. Add one more view.