Sound descriptions

[djdell]

I get confused when tone is described as woody, etc. Is there a description of the various tones that describe mando sounds?

[John Bertotti]

I have found some of the descriptions used only make sense after you hear them. Then it's like a light bulb in my head, oh that's what they meant! It would be nice if one of these places with a nice assortment of Mandos had a vid with the tone description for each, a point of reference.

[yankees1]

Kind of like describing the taste of wine ! Woody, fruity, full,light, medium, bouquet, oak, citrus, earthy,floral, buttery, chewy, etc ! I don't taste any of these characteristics ! I just either like it or not ! My tongue and nose are not that sensitive or discriminating ! All the sound descriptions made by others of mandolins also don't register with me ! I just either like the sound or don't like it !

[Hudmister]

And to further complicate things, so much depends on the ability of the person playing the mandolin. There is a knack to pulling the best sound out not to mention pick and string selection and its effect on tone.

[Simon DS]

These words are more banjo than mandolin...

Babble
Babel
Bang
Bedlam
Bellow
Bewailing
Blare
Blast
Blatant
Blustering
Boisterousness
Boom
Booming
Buzz
Cacophony
Callithumpian
Caterwauling
Clamor
Clamorous
Clang
Clangorous
Clatter
Commotion
Crash
Cry
Deafening
Deep
Detonation
Din
Discord
Disquiet
Disquietude
Drumming
Ear-Rending
Ear-Splitting
Enough To Wake The Dead
Eruption
Explosion
Fanfare
Fireworks
Forte
Fracas
Fremescent
Full
Full-Mouthed
Fulminating
Fuss
Heavy
High-Sounding
Hubbub
Hullabaloo
Hypnopompic
Intense
Jangle
Lamentation
Loud-Voiced
Megalophonic
Multisonous
Noisy
Obstreperous
Outcry
Pandemonium
Peal
Pealing
Perstreperous
Piercing
Polyphloisboian
Powerful
Racket
Rackety
Randan
Raucous
Resounding
Ringing
Rings
Riotous
Roar
Roaring
Routous
Rowdy
Rows
Shots
Shouting
Shrill
Sonorous
Squawk
Stentophonic
Stentorian
Stertorous
Strepent
Stridency
Strident
Strong
Talk
Thud
Thundering
Tonant
Tonitruous
Trumpet-Tongued
Tumult
Tumultuous
Turbulence
Turbulent
Uproarious
Vehement
Vociferous
Yell
Yelp








bangbark
bedlam
blare
bleat
bluster
boom
brawl
bray
bump
caterwaul
clamor
clap
clash
crash
deafening
din
discord
earsplitting
grate
hubbub
jangle
noise
pandemonium
piercing
racket
rage
rasp
raucous
riot
roar
rowdy
rumble
scream
screech
shout
slam
smash
squawk
stamp
stomp
thud
thump
thunder
tumult
whine
whistle
yell

[Kevin Briggs]

Heya....

I agree. Describing tone can be difficult, but the wine analogy makes a lot of sense. As a point of entry into this conversation, I'll say my Collings MT2 has evolved over the first two weeks of having it. When I first played it, I liked the resonant tone. it was clearly a very good instrument. It played like butter, or glass, and it had cutting highs. The lows were a bit tubby at first, so I adjusted the action and now they're smoother and maybe even a bit punchier.

Yesterday, I watched a video of Chris Thile practicing a Bach composition, and it must have been his Loar, because it had that ancient, hard, woody tone that I suspect only a Loar has. It made me feel like my mandolin was far inferior, and that I was silly to like my mandolin so much. But, when I went home and played my mandolin, I was very happy to hear how sweet, responsive and woody it was, even in comparison to the Thile video, and to think, it's only a little over two weeks old. After some break-in, it will no doubt open up and get that mature sound we all know and love.

[Br1ck]

Describing sound with words is one of the more difficult things we do here. What woody sound like if you'd never experienced it? But experience it and you get it. The only logical way out of this is to play a bunch of mandolins. If you've never played a Gibson, you've never really known the Gibson chop. We can call something bright and relate it only to our own experience. Maybe it's really toward the middle of the mandolin range, but if someone says it is somewhere between a Collings and a Weber, I've played enough of both to get what is being said. Then there is the G string sound on most imports I've played. Don't like it, but I can't really describe it other to say, play a Collings or Weber or Northfield and see what I mean.

But descriptions in the context of experience is far easier to communicate. Then you are just needing to overcome what others might think is bright not being what you think is bright.

I like to try wine. I like it or don't. Same applies to mandolins. Asked how mine sounds I usually reply fantastic. I can relate to that. But it may be only fantastic to me.

[Simon DS]

Apparently there are programs on computers that can distinguish between one human voice and another.
So when are we going to see a computer that listens to a mandolin and says, ‘oh, that’s a nice Collings!’?

[trodgers]

This would be a great subject for one of the big dealers to make a video about. Get a good player or two with a bunch of new and vintage mandos and play through them specifically talking about tone terminology. Show us sound samples of tubby, bright, dark, woody, etc.

[V70416]

There was a forum member here who described one mandolins high doublestop tone as sort
of like a dental drill. I got it right away. Shrill and piercing yet smoothly harmonizing tremolo with just a hint of
forest-floor finish.

[Marty Jacobson]

It is difficult, for sure.
Another wrinkle is how we interpret those words. Some people think of "woody" as being like a marimba - high pitched, bell-like. Other people think of "woody" as being like the sound of an old dusty wooden cigar box closing - kind of a muffled woosh of air. So one might ask for an example of "woody" tone, expecting to hear an airy/breathy/atticky sound, and then hear the example where a demonstrator had more of a marimba in mind, and say "that's not woody, that's glassy!".

[Br1ck]

Does not every single mandolin sound woody? They are after all, wood. In that sense, woody is a very broad term.