How to get old oud sound (with any oud)

Old oud sound…

I’ve been playing Oud for 23 years, and the first sounds of the Oud that I ever heard haunt me until this day.

It was the sound of Hamza el-Din’s Abdo Nahat Oud that I heard… and old oud sound.

Over the years I’ve played many Ouds, and experimented with different configurations and strings.

There are a few things anyone can do to get closer to an old oud sound, even if you have a newer oud, or even a cheaper oud.

First have a listen to this recording I made a couple days ago.

On first listen and sight, you would think you’re hearing an antique oud of some sort or an old recording.

But, this Oud is actually made by Sultan Instruments team and Yildirim Palabiyik in Izmir, Turkey. It’s their entry-level Yildirim Palabiyik model called “Sultan Plus“.

And, it’s not even a large Oud… but it sounds large. It sounds deep.

It’s not even a full-size Arabic Oud. It is 58.5 cm string length. Everyone who knows me, knows that I prefer larger Ouds.

So how do you get an old oud sound?

Use a traditional fixed bridge oud.
Use slightly thicker gauge strings than most Arabic oud sets.
Tune your oud down half a step or a full step lower than standard tuning.
If possible, try brass wound bass or copper wound strings (Pyramid yellow label), black or plain nylon, Aquila Nyglut, copper wound and nyglut custom Aquila Lute strings. This recording is using Pyramid yellow label strings with brass wound and black nylon.
Use the right risha/mezrab. Choose a risha that gives you a clunky sound. When I play an Arabic Oud, I tend to use cow horn, but when I play Turkish Ouds I use celluloid or those cheap soft plastic risha.

Finally, when I recorded this, I used an effect (iZotope) that reproduces the sound of vinyl record from the 1970’s.