This improv is in G dorian (a scale close to the minor mode). It has a blue feel to it (not a blues but a bit bluesy?). I used an electric mandolin (a Mandoblaster) and, for the first time in this series, I did an overdub of a second part. I also doubled each part at both the unison and the lower octave and added some delays and reverb. Sorry about the pun in the title...

-William Bradbury

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For this improvisation I limited myself to the whole tone scale beginning on G (the lowest string of the mandolin). A recurring motive, a few harmonics, a “cathedral” reverb setting. Kind of quiet. In the middle of the improv I did hit a couple of notes outside the scale (by mistake); see if you can hear them...

-William Bradbury

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This improv is in G dorian (a scale close to the minor mode). It has a blue feel to it (not a blues but a bit bluesy?). I used an electric mandolin (a Mandoblaster) and, for the first time in this series, I did an overdub of a second part. I also doubled each part at both the unison and the lower octave and added some delays and reverb. Sorry about the pun in the title...

-William Bradbury

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Last night I had the incredible experience of performing with Katsura Kan, a Butoh master. He was on campus (Cal State, San Marcos) for a three-week workshop with our students; I was invited to play with our student gamelan ensemble to accompany his performance. Kan is an amazing performer... it’s impossible to describe his focused, expressive, moving work. Suffice it to say the audience was enthralled (as was I...). His work incorporates lots of improvisation and stylized body and facial movements and is influenced by the work of playwright Samuel Beckett (as is Butoh in general). The music ensemble improvised in response to his performance. It was a great night... I brought my electric mandolin (a Mandoblaster five-string), an EBow (a magnetic device that lets you sustain notes forever..) and my computer, using Pro Tools and various synth and effects plug-ins. This morning I woke up early and had to do an improvisation based on last night’s experience. It was recorded in one take on the Mandoblaster using the Ebow and delays and effects in ProTools.

-William Bradbury

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“Slapback” is an improvisation using a slapback effect (a longer delay time that feels like the sound is “slapping back” at you). I set up the effect in Pro Tools first (using the CSR Inverse plugin from IK Multimedia). After recording the improv, I duplicated the melody at the lower octave by using AmpliTube 2 from IK and adding a pitch shift pedal to the Detuned Jazz preset (you hear this effect alone at the opening). It’s fun to hear my instrument as a “bass” mandolin... When you hear two instruments playing, it is the original signal plus the octave transposition effect.

-William Bradbury

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“What if...” is a simple improvisation with the initial idea of making a piece out of three notes (D, E C# with octaves). As I played through, it spontaneously developed into something a little more elaborate... I will try the three-note idea again soon. The title comes from the questioning sound of the opening motive.

-William Bradbury

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“What if...” is a simple improvisation with the initial idea of making a piece out of three notes (D, E C# with octaves). As I played through, it spontaneously developed into something a little more elaborate... I will try the three-note idea again soon. The title comes from the questioning sound of the opening motive.

-William Bradbury

Please feel free to add a comment on the Feedback/Contact page.

This brief improvisation for mandolin made me think of the composer Edgard Varèse. He was one of my early influences; I was a big fan of his music when I was in undergraduate school at Hamilton College. Many wintery evenings were spent listening to scratchy records of his music in the drafty old Listening Library. The sounds are all made directly on the mandolin (with lots of reverb added in the mix!). I also added some scratchy record noise to the final mix using Nomad Factory’s RetroVox. I imagine this as a long lost recording from Varèse’s Blue(grass) Period. :-) I’m in the photo playing a Summit F-style mandolin. The lighting effect is created by using a slow camera exposure with me sitting VERY still while quickly moving a multi-colored light “box” in my right hand. Photo by my talented son, Chase.

-William Bradbury

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This brief improvisation for mandolin made me think of the composer Edgard Varèse. He was one of my early influences; I was a big fan of his music when I was in undergraduate school at Hamilton College. Many wintery evenings were spent listening to scratchy records of his music in the drafty old Listening Library. The sounds are all made directly on the mandolin (with lots of reverb added in the mix!). I also added some scratchy record noise to the final mix using Nomad Factory’s RetroVox. I imagine this as a long lost recording from Varèse’s Blue(grass) Period. :-) I’m in the photo playing a Summit F-style mandolin. The lighting effect is created by using a slow camera exposure with me sitting VERY still while quickly moving a multi-colored light “box” in my right hand. Photo by my talented son, Chase.

-William Bradbury

Please feel free to add a comment on the Feedback/Contact page.