I actually like his tone and sound much more from the early clip. Sure, could have to do with recording technicalities but both were professinally recorded live broadcasts.
Which recording to you prefer?
Also, a member from this board thought the table leg in the first vid is an early Seery. Wonder if anyone else has any ideas about it.
Speaking as a former student of Tom’s, he was my flute teacher for 3 out of 4 years while I was studying trad music at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), he did indeed play a Seery before he got his Olwell so that is what you see in the first clip. FWIW it is also his brother Eammon in the second clip just with a different bouzouki (for zouk players the earlier one is a Fylde the later is a Joe Foley.)
I think he sounds great in both clips, but I do prefer the tone of the first clip/flute. However, so much of that can be what it’s recorded on and the tone of the room that it’s really hard to differentiate those items from the flute’s tone.
Unseen - what a great opportunity to study for 3 years with Tom Doorley!
Again, I’m quite certain it’s a Seery flute. I’ve seen them many times in Ireland. Here’s a thread where someone was selling one of the older wooden Seery instruments. It’s the same make as what Tom plays in that footage. Look closely at the footjoint. The word “Seery” is clearly engraved.
The audio technician probably opted for a softer sound (and some tiny reverb?) on the second clip.
Olwell is more free blowing and more resonating and refined, Seery gives more resistence which asks for a stronger blowing resulting in a harsher sound. IMO…
Bretons are usually less keen on providing names to tunes than the Irish. As to the tune type, this one is a kas a barh, only played at leisurely pace.
Liney - I think everyone agrees the first is a Seery…just an older Seery. It was a delrin one that he played, right Avery?
Othannen - interesting you’d say “harsher” for Seery and refined for the Olwell. Personally, the Seery just has a drier, prattenish sound to me. I have that CD (well, it’s all MP3s really) that is of 3 guys playing a Seery, and one of them has that really dry sounds whereas the other 2 players don’t.
I think the differences between the two flutes are lost in the differences between the two rooms and whatever miking and sound systems were being used to record them. Doorley sounds great in both clips, very like himself, and the tonal differences between the two flutes were probably only apparent to him and maybe his brother.
I completely agree with Gordon: Different rooms, different recording equipment, different person setting up/running the sound, etc., negates the ability to make any meaningful comparisons between the flutes. Those of us who have spent significant time around live music recording and sound know all too well that the exact same instruments can sound quite different when played in different rooms and/or with different mics, etc. etc. it’s just the nature of the beast.
And without asking Mr. Doorly directly, we also can’t rule out whether or not he’s made a change in his general playing tone. I remember hearing or reading something from JMV about how his tone evolved with regards to playing: He talked about having a very reedy tone for ITM at one point but finding it somewhat limiting and moving away from that, for particular types of music and perhaps even overall. I honestly don’t recall all the details exactly, but as Tom was playing a Bretton tune it got me thinking about that as well. Not that the ramblings of my thoughts mean spit lol, but JMV knows a thing or three about “Zee Flute”, so I just thought I’d share
OK, I’ll say exactly what I’m hinting at: I’m not a big fan of the “Olwell” sound. Not focused enough, not enough ‘bottom’ for me; too many overtones, not enough fullness/roundness to the tone; tends to get buried easily, over blends. Obviously, very personal opinion and very sweeping generalizations, but it is my perspective nonetheless. No reflection on the greatness of Olwell flutes or those who play them.
I have no bias toward or against Olwells - the few I’ve tried or heard in person were clearly very good, well made flutes. Probably more importantly - they sounded significantly different from each other (other Olwells) in every players’ hand, including my own, and the players sounded much more like themselves than better or worse because of the flute. As it should be. A good flute does not impede the player - the rest is on the player.
Doorley’s playing in these two clips is similar, but - as noted - the tone is a different. The flute will play a big part in this, but - and this was my point - it’s virtually impossible to compared two flutes recorded in completely separate settings, through mikes and PA systems, and ultimately played through a YouTube video, what the actual tone of the flute was, beyond the fact that neither impeded Doorley’s playing, and he sounded quite good in both clips. What most often seems to happen in these instances, in fact, is that some flutes (the Seery, in this case) often sound brighter (and therefore more alive) in comparison after all this electronic buffering, because many of the subtler harmonics of the other instrument (in this case, the Olwell) were lost in translation.
Here’s the beastie (Eb version) as close to in the rough as we can get it here.
The musician is a large part of the sound, but no accident that he’s chosen this
maker’s flute. I’ve heard him play his D pratten in the same sort of venue
and he gets the same sort of sound. A study in contrasts tween him and Doorley.
