Nagual

Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico

Nagual invites you into a sonic realm where Pre-Hispanic ceremonial instruments transform into playable polyphonic sound sculptures. Collaborating with their dear friend Ramiro Ramírez, MNTRA Instruments captured instruments whose purpose was shifting consciousness through ceremony, not just musical performance—then transmuted them into something built for intuitive expression.

Ramírez is one of Mexico's most revered pre-Hispanic musicians, a master whose decades of ceremonial knowledge and research form a living bridge to these ancient traditions. His profound understanding—demonstrated through his session work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider's Mesoamerican soundscapes, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's ceremonial sequences, and prolific collaborations with prolific artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre—enabled us to capture the authentic spirit of these sacred instruments. From flutter-tonguing on clay vessels to precise striking patterns on wooden drums, Ramiro's mastery provided the foundation that MNDALA 2 transforms into responsive playable sound sculptures, honoring tradition while venturing into entirely new creative territories.

Panoram Studio's live room in Mexico City provided the ideal environment—alive enough to resonate these unique sounds, yet controlled enough to enable extreme sound sculpting. We deployed our ultrasonic microphones in a newly developed array with multiple configurations that mix together seamlessly: mid-side close-miking, omnidirectional ambience capture, back-facing room microphones, and Eigenmike ambisonics for spatial representation blended into the final signals as sonic glue. Recording at 384 kHz/32-bit in Extended Resolution Audio format captured frequencies and resonances from these rare instruments beyond normal hearing, revealing hidden harmonic content that surprised us with how malleable the polyphonic transformations became. Sample Start Modulation ensures every note feels alive—no mechanical repetition, just expressive ceremonial character made infinitely variable.

Clay water flutes whose warbling tones shifted perception into trance states. Conch shell trumpets (Atekokolli) calling to ancestral forces from the four cardinal directions. Sacred Huehuetl and Teponaztli drums whose rhythmic intervals facilitated sonic shapeshifting between ordinary and non-ordinary reality. Haunting ocarinas connecting earthly and spiritual realms.

Within MNDALA 2, MNTRA's vision was to honor these ceremonial sources while transmuting them into something musicians worldwide could access and create with. The result is a living sound sculpture that retains its ceremonial essence while venturing into sonic dimensions these physical instruments could never reach. With Nagual, you're performing with responsive sonic entities that breathe, morph, and evolve under your hands—almost like a synthesizer, but one born entirely from ancient sources, transmuted through countless hours of sound design by a dedicated team into unique reactive presets.

While creating Nagual, the MNTRA Instruments team drew inspiration from Carlos Castaneda's concept of the Tonal and Nagual—the known world and the unknowable realm beyond. Nagual embodies both realities: authentic recordings captured with pristine fidelity meet polyphonic transformations, blended sources, and hidden frequencies revealed through our recording approach. Presets are designed as passages between dimensions: "First Attention" grounds you in ceremonial tradition, "Second Attention" begins the transformation, "The Void" dissolves boundaries, "Between Worlds" exists where ancient and future collapse into each other.

Nagual is perfect for creators seeking sounds that transcend ordinary boundaries: sound designers crafting otherworldly sequences, experimental musicians exploring consciousness shifts through performance, composers needing authentic yet transformable ceremonial voices, and sound healers channeling ancient frequencies. Ideal for ceremonial soundscapes, psychoacoustic experiences, experimental music, ritual atmospheres, cinematic underworld sequences, and sound healing work.