(More added) Tweaked Mellow Dog sample soundclips ...

[dfernandez77]

Thank you everybody for all the kind words.

OT response, but I must say - what a great attitude to (reasonable) responses ranging from "learn to play" to the other end of the spectrum.

Welcome!

[Kansas]

I am a newbie as well. I have about 2 1/2 months in this wonderful hobby now.
BY ALL MEANS - get a Freeman tweaked whistle. I got a Freeman tweaked Generation in D and finally my whistle playing started to "fall in place". I just got a Generation C from Jerry - another winner. I'm planning on getting a Mellow Dog from him too. You will be amazed how his magic helps make these whistles playable. And such a reasonable investment.
Good luck!
And as the others have said - practice a lot!

[stratochicnic]

How much are the Tweaked Mellow Dogs btw?

[Kingfisher]

They are selling on Ebay for $ 36.50 + $ 3.85 S&H = $ 40.35 Not sure about anywhere else , but , for such a tuneful bit of Freeman magic , that's a pretty good deal! IMO

Have a Great Day and Fun Whistling !

[benbrad]

I listened to the recordings you posted and I would really like to know how you have your reverb/echo settings. Did you record these on your computer? I use the Goldwave recorder software and would really like to get my reverb/echo setting like you have on your recordings. Thanks in advance for you help.

[Wanderer]

I listened to the recordings you posted and I would really like to know how you have your reverb/echo settings. Did you record these on your computer? I use the Goldwave recorder software and would really like to get my reverb/echo setting like you have on your recordings. Thanks in advance for you help.

I never got goldwave's reverb to sound anything other than terrible. I use Audacity now.

[benbrad]

I have the Audacity program too. What settings do you use for the Delay Time and Factor?

[Jerry Freeman]

I emailed a link to this thread to the person who recorded the clips for me. Here's the response:

I did the reverb two ways, and I can't remember which I did on which clip. One way was to add the reverb effect on my Fostex digital recorder--and since I don't think the person who asked the question has that, I imagine the other way is the one to report back on. I did use GoldWave, but I adjusted all three of the variables for the reverb downward, just a little. I was highly unscientific about it...I just moved the settings slightly to the left of where they are in the default.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[StevieJ]

The reason I said they where crap is because of the volume between the lower and upper register. My Clarke Megs, both the C & D play just fine. But the others in the upper register in order to get a good clean note the volume so so much higher then the lower register it makes the song sound bad.

It's the nature of the beast. The high B on your standard tin whistle is subjectively anyway about 10 times louder than the lowest note. You have to think of it as a feature, not a defect. It is generally held that conical whistles are better balanced between the octaves, but I have heard many Copelands with screaming top registers.

Anyway the loud top end actually suits Irish music very well, where the turn of a dance tune, which is generally higher than the first part, wants to be louder, it's how the music works.

OTOH the disparity between the high and low registers becomes a pain in the arse if you play whistle in a band with other melody instruments, since the whistle tends to be totally lost in the lower register and totally dominant in the upper, unless you keep dodging in and out of the microphone, which is very difficult to manage and makes you look even more of an eejit than you do playing the whistle at the best of times!

If you worry about this volume imbalance you'll probably end up wasting lots of time and money on a quest for the perfect whistle, time that you would better spend on practising and money that I'm sure you could find a better use for.

So I'd say, stop being afraid of the loud high notes, blow the whistles as hard as they want to be blown, and enjoy the sweet music you make (when you get the hang of playing high notes that don't rasp and scream).

And get used to the idea that the whistle is really at its best as a solo instrument.

Steve

[Wanderer]

I have the Audacity program too. What settings do you use for the Delay Time and Factor?

I just fiddle with it until it sounds good Sorry I can't be more precise than that. I haven't had Audacity long enough to really know it well yet.