Pass the Medicine

[Jim Nollman]

Here's a recording I've produced of a song of mine entitled "Pass the Medicine", on the subject of dying with dignity, that makes great use of a Godin electro-acoustic mandolin playing lead. Comments, both positive and negative, are most welcome.

[Paul Merlo]

Jim - that was sweet!

Certainly not what I was expecting at first, but I was drawn into it right away. Obviously this song has some heavy subject matter, and the music really brings out that feeling in so many ways. I think you nailed it with the Godin too. That tone you're getting out of it sounds like it's coming from some spooky eastern European mountainside. I also like the way your lyrics and (I'm assuming) vocals act as a whole other instrument in there. They kinda roll over the top of your heavy bass line and then drop in between notes when you make a point. The consistent bass line and drums keep everything grounded all the way through, which really lets that (something)caster adjust the tone between the chorus and overdrive. Nice work, you did a great job producing it!

I'm a fan of everything from Love & Rockets to John Coltrane to David Grisman and think this song is cool. Thank you for posting it.

[JH Murray]

Reminds me of Nash The Slash. Well done.

[Jim Nollman]

The mandolin was recorded dry, then modulated during the mixing process via Guitar Rig software developed by Native Instruments. As you might suspect, Guitar Rig presets are almost entirely for guitars, with a few for bass, but nothing at all for mandolin. So over the years I have generated 6 or 8 go-to mandolin presets of my own. This one is boosted hugely around the 2000 hz range and also at around 6500 hz. All the un-boosted frequencies are sent through a couple of very fat flanges. The result is a sound that is, at normal volume, ear-piercingly sharp on the high end, and yet with accelerating movement lower down. I placed the mandolin sound into the mix at very low gain, yet it is easily heard over the other instruments. I believe Carlos Santana spent years nurturing a guitar sound that possessed vaguely similar tonal characteristics.