Mandolin sound - what is bloom?

[journeybear]

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

[Steve 2E]

If the definition of tubby as a sound below is correct, is this what people really think a Gibson A mandolin sounds like? Really?

Tubby

1.
INFORMAL
short and rather fat.
"a small, tubby man"

2.
(of a sound) lacking resonance; dull (as that of a tub when struck).
"historic classical recordings with a tubby overall sound"

Definitely not #1. I would describe my Gibson A as the opposite of definition #2. I give up.

I would say my Gibson A is more like Laa-Laa. Time for Teletubbies. Time for Teletubbies.

[mandroid]

Bloomsday is June 16, So, get out your copy of Ulysses, and read along with the rest of the world.

Maybe play a Jig or 2 ...

[Bazz Jass]

In case you're in Canada, this is the mandolin I was told had good bloom. It's back up for sale again at the same shop:

https://folkwaymusic.com/vintage-ins...s/item/id.4437

[journeybear]

The seller doesn't venture into the flowery description area, with "bloom" and all. But he still can't resist offering a bit of this sort of description: "An open and responsive mandolin with good dynamics and reactivity, dark overtones, and woody low-end."

BTW, the jukebox in my mind has started playing, as an example of "bloom," Steve Howe's intro to "Roundabout." There are a couple of times where the figure rests on a held note, which grows in volume. Is that the sort of thing the term is intended to convey? Or is that something produced through studio technology (as I suspect).

Just the first half-minute - unless you like this sort of thing. (I'm still amazed this was on a single and in jukeboxes. )

[Timbofood]

JB, you have a very entertaining outlook! Stay happy!

[lowtone2]

I've never heard the term used to describe anything other than double bass tone. The note tends to swell, under the right circumstances. You can hear it in Ray’s bass.

https://youtu.be/4Zx9cu03F7k

[catmandu2]

I've never heard the term used to describe anything other than double bass tone. The note tends to swell, under the right circumstances.

DB, wire harp, and of course in elec sound synthesis where we control these parameters of attack, decay, sustain, and release.

It's one of the fundamental characterisitics of my large wire harp - I'd record an example, but it wouldn't be evident on a phone recording.

[Sheila Lagrand]

Definitely not #1. I would describe my Gibson A as the opposite of definition #2. I give up.

I would say my Gibson A is more like Laa-Laa. Time for Teletubbies. Time for Teletubbies.

I have never watched that Teletubbies introduction (I'm not known as the TV grandmother). That sun is creepy. And my grandchildren call me Lala. So I think it's probably a good thing that I hadn't seen any Teletubbies clips before. I may have gone mad.