More than one Mandolin track?

[Tim Barron]

The liner notes credit Chris as the only Mandolin player. A couple of the songs sound as if there are two separate mandolin tracks (i.e. dubbed together in the recording process, not all songs are recorded live in the studio). I can recognize two guitar tracks/players when I hear them, but I still new to listening to a Mandolin. True, or just my mandolin naivity?

[mandoBob]

never underestimate the power of musical genious! I dont think Chris is overdubbing here. He's just that good. On a few tracks where there's mando and bouzouki I bet they did different tacks, but who knows?
as an avid mando listener, I only hear one mando played astoundingly well. I'd be VERY disappointed if there was overdubbing going on.

[sarah]

it does sound like 2 mandos on big sam because towards the end i think i hear chops or whatever

[matt the fiddler]

there are places where i have heard overdubs- pretty common thing to do that-

[mandofocus]

I'm not sure if Big Sam Thompson was overdubbed. I was messing around with my guitar with a couple of friends and have found that you can do chops and chord close enough to sound like two instruments. All you have to do is do a heavy chop on the downstroke and chords on the upstroke. Also my friend showed me that a bass can do chops as well using the slap bass mode.
-PJ-

[NCFan4Ever]

Well, ya know, Sean plays mandolin too....that's actually how he and Chris started getting to know each other...their parents would take them to this cafe where this bluegrass band would play like, every week or something and Chris and Sean would bring their mandolins and jam together in this little hallway...maybe Sean played mando on some of the tracks too?

[Chip]

That last post reminded me of something... I was unpacking and sorting my CDs yesterday (I just moved about 10 days ago) and I came across the Little Cowpoke CD recorded by Nickel Creek when Chris and Sara were 12 or so and Sean was 16.

One thing I hadn't noticed before was that on almost all of the tracks, Chris was playing guitars and Sean was playing mandolins. I knew that Sean played mandolin, but I guess I didn't realize that Chris was also a guitarist.

For those who don't own the record, it's fun, but bears about as much resemblence to the current Nickel Creek fare as, oh, a 1966 Dodge Dart might compare to a Miata or something... Chris described the recording process to me once as a not particularly pleasant memory But nonetheless, interesting to own as a chronicle of where the band has been and where it is now.

[NCFan4Ever]

Wow, I didn't know that Chris played the guitar either...but the reference to little cowpoke gave me another thought..

I know that Here To There is no longer in print and is very hard to get because the band doesn't want it in circulation anymore (at least that's basically what I heard when I e-mailed the official site about it)....so I have been reluctant to order Little Cowpoke because I was afraid that they might not want that one in circulation anymore too...I found it for sale on a website called like Choo Choo Records or something like that....does anyone know how the band feels about people ordering Little Cowpoke?

[Chip]

Shooting from the hip here, but as I understand it, the band doesn't have control of the Little Cowpoke record, so the record company is still selling it (and undoubtedly raking in the extra bucks thanks to NC's current visibility). I would hope they're still getting royalties from it, but i have no idea either way.

I suppose if it's still in print, there's no ethical dilemma in buying it... just don't expect it to have much in common with current material. It's definitely a children's record, aimed at that audience, although it does have some quite impressive licks on it, particularly when you consider the age of the performers at the time.

On the other hand, Here to There was a self-published release, so when they ran out of the last pressing, my impression is that they just decided it was so different from where they are now that they didn't really want it out there.

[NCFan4Ever]

OK Thanks!

[Rigelmando]

There is definitely more than one mando track. If you listen really close when the fast part is really cookin', the mando doubles the fiddle on the melody, and there is a mando chopping. He can't do both, even though he's probably the best mando player yet. It's like there is two bands playing. Also when the transition back to the slower part comes I am certain there are two mando's playing the exact same line (listen to the tremelo really close at the end of the transition and that will prove my point).:D

Rigelmando

[NCFan4Ever]

well, you know, when they record an album, they record each part seperately (don't they?) so maybe there are two parts, and chris is playing both of them.