i was just listening to the song “Ballybrolly Jigs” by flook. incredible. how do they produce that sound for the short parts of the song where there are more than one whistle? are there two whistles in different keys harmonizing? are the whistles played together in real-time or did they produce the heck of it by overlaying whistle playing numerous times to get that sound? anyone have any ideas?
c r a m e r
I just saw/heard them play that live in concert. I don’t think there is any multitracking of whistles on that particular track. (And they’re tunes, not songs 
).
It starts out with Brian Finnegan on his Colin Goldie Overton D (I think), backed by Ed on Guitar. Third time through on the first tune (North Star), Sarah joins in for some snatches, I think also on a high D whistle (May have been a Copeland, but I couldn’t really see what she is playing). Then for the second Tune (Ghost of Ballybrolly), Sarah switches to her alto flute (silver, Boehm system, in A), doing sort of a bass line against Brian’s melody playing. That would be about 1:30 min into the track. For the last tune, about 3:00 min in, Sarah plays a melody/harmony line. I think it’s still on the alto flute by the sound of it, but she does switch to her D flute at times. Brian plays the lead melody throughout.
HTH
If you want to see them play that song live go to kerrywhistles.com and look under downloads or videos and there should be about 5 or 6 videos of Flook, one of them is ballybrolly jigs. They both play whistle on the song Northstar. And it might be a chieftain that Brian Finnegan plays because the videos are supposed to be promoting Phil Hardy’s line of whistles.
I agree with what Bloomfield said. I caught the same show he did, and from the sound, I doubt if there is much multi-tracking on the recording.
Also, if you want to see the music for those, see this thread.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=10654
All the Best, Tom
Brian plays Colin’s Overtons, it’s all he played in concert last Friday. The only exception is a Kerry Pro F, according to the Rubai liner notes. But it wouldn’t be the first time that there has been some confusion between Overtons and Phil’s whistles in connection with Phil’s efforts to promote his business.
Just a note to mention that an alto flute is pitched in G. A flute pitched in A is a flute d’amour.
Micah
You got me on that one: Sarah said “the lowest note is G, but it plays like an A whistle”. (I confess that I am ignorant of anything with more than six holes.)
Hi everyone,
Beware about playing along with a D whistle! I’m fairly sure this is played on his Colin Goldie Eb, but there’s also lots of his high Db on the CD as well.
Barry
Barry, thanks for the pointer. I couldn’t tell if it was a D or an Eb (and I couldn’t give it a try at the office, either. )
Yep sure that they both play a high Goldie high Eb on the first tune in the set. They had them made as a pair, mainly to play the Eb Tunes from the first CD (Which was originally recorded with Generations!)
On the Ballybrolly set, Brian HAS overdubbed some quirky harmony parts from 2:39 until the start of the final tune. There’s also some additional alto flute harmony overdubbed in the final tunes (1-2 additional sustained notes lower in the mix).
Barry
As I maintain our website I have been tempted for a long time to add to the Overton Reference CD list another link to webpages which have videos of Overton whistles being played. Kerrywhistles would be one of my first choices as there is quite a lot of material on it useful for reference… but I can’t do that… can I ? 
3 - 2 - 1 
The whistles that are used on Ballybrolly are Eb whistles as said.
Brigitte
Hi Brigitte, wie geht’s? Alles palletti, hoffe ich mal.
It was great chatting with Brian after the show about Overtons. He loves them, and loves dealing with Colin and you (mentioned you particularly!). He said that Colin’s whistles keep getting better and better, and we were chatting about how to play them. Great stuff. Then I had him sign my Overton low A (cheesy, I know, but hey). It’ll rub off, I fear, but it’s fun while it lasts. If ever anyone needs to be convinced about Overtons, they should just watch Brian & Sarah play them… ear candy.
Alles Gute!
Blumi,
all back to normal here. Great to hear you enjoyed the gig and got to talk to them. Don’t worry about the autograph and you never know, if you manage to preserve it it may be worth a fortune in the future 
your Avatar brings great memories up whenever I see it…
Brigitte
The Low F is also an Overton (Tuneable), I saw it a few weeks ago when Flook were in Asheville, NC. The liner notes likely refer to the Low F Brian was using before he purchased his new Low F from Colin.
Loren