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Does The Finish Affect The Sound?

April 7, 2011 in Articles

Found this interesting article at WWBW (which is a great place to get stuff BTW) by Greg Vail.

“With that said, let’s start with the most common finish – lacquer. Lacquer is a liquid substance that dries hard, protecting the metal of the sax and maintaining its beautiful appearance. Most saxophones are made primarily of brass, and then lacquered. There are saxophones available that do not have lacquer on them known as un-lacquered instruments. The difference between the same model with and without lacquer can be significant.”

Check it out.

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DYI Saxophone Reflector Project

November 16, 2010 in Videos

Interesting project from the UK. Here, I think you’d need to go visit TAP Plastics and get a 8 1/2″ by 12″ sheet, and maybe a Pop Screen to modify.

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Interview with the creator of the Apple startup sound

March 1, 2010 in Articles, Videos

TUAW had a great article last week. An interview with the guy who created the startup sound on Macs, Jim Reekes.

It’s amazing the amount of math, thought and stuff that went into this. Long live the Cmajor startup sound.

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Boots Randolph’s Rock And Roll Saxophone

December 9, 2007 in Reviews

Boots Randolph’s Rock and Roll Saxophone – Techniques and Fundamentals for Today’s Players by Boots Randolph and Mike Shannon is 63 pages that try to show you how to play rock and roll like Boots. Not that Boots playing could in any way be condensed down to so few pages.

The first part of the boot, about 20 pages, deals with scales. Major, minor, blues, dorian, mixolydian, in thirds, fourths and arpeggios. Nothing new. Then the book moves into long tones, and has a little discussion about how tone/ear training is important. It is worth reading.

Page 30 on out gets into the stuff you wanted to know, how to play Rock and Roll saxophone like Boots. The book goes over Growls, Slap tonguing, Throat trills, pops, and vibrato in addition to a bunch of other things. There are some excellent examples of what these sound like on the CD. Then there is an excellent discussion about altissimo, and how to do it, when to use it, how to practice it, and Read the rest of this entry →

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Beechler vs Larsen

August 18, 2007 in Articles

Saxcessful writes “I have been playing a Berg 100/0 on my tenor with various reeds, depending on the mood. Recently I have been offered (on the net) a Beechler Bellite 8 which is about the same lay but I have no idea about what sort of sound they produce. I am familiar with a Lawton 6 (a friends) and also play a modified Otto 7. I like all the sounds that I can get out of these mouthpieces but “the” sound alludes me. I would appreciate comments about the Beechler as they are not too common here in NZ and they are rather expensive. Thanks….”

Yes. “the sound”. We all know what you mean. You can’t describe it, but you know what it is. I haven’t used a Beechler since………..um……..Clinton was in the White House. Beechlers, as I remember them, were really punchy mouthpieces. I would describe them as similar to a metal Berg Larsen, but without the body (or tone). I would really suggest trying one before buying it, otherwise you might be stuck with something you don’t use. I mean, I think we all have that mouthpiece box (or boxes) of various pieces you liked for a week or two, then discarded.

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Saxophone Necks?

July 31, 2007 in Articles

hammertime829 writes “I was wondering if anybody could tell me if getting a new neck for a saxophone makes a big difference in the sound or intonation?”

Great question. Anybody? I know a guy who plays a Selmer Mark VI with a Yamaha neck………works for him, so he says.

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Metal Mouthpieces and Spoilers

October 17, 2005 in Articles

pika writes “What do people think about the metal mouthpieces with spoilers? How much louder do they make you sound(tener sax) because i was thinking about getting one for marching band. Email me if you know anything.”

First off, we don’t “email me if you know anything”. That also goes for people who “please email your XXXX arrangement”. You won’t believe how many times a week I get that. It is so Middle School.

Back to your question. A baffle indeed makes your mouthpiece louder. I think that is what you mean by “spoiler”. It would make a metal mouthpiece louder obviously. However, it does change the quality of the tone you get out of the mouthpiece. I tried Power Tone Baffles briefly on alto, and did not care for them. I got more volume, but the tone just didn’t sound good.

There is another thing you could try. If you put some paper underneath the reed (where the reed and mouthpiece contact), that will give you a little more buzz and power.

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Jazz Oboe – Yusef Lateef

April 20, 2005 in Articles

yampol writes “As long as we’re talking about doubling on oboe, let’s talk about jazz oboe. The first player that comes to mind is the amazing multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, band-leader Yusef Lateef. His Eastern Sounds and Three Faces albums made a very strong impression on me. Check out the track “I’m Just a Lucky So and So” on the Three Faces album.

Anyone else have a favorite jazz oboist?

–Todd”

I don’t recommend the album with Bob Cooper and Bud Shank. They did an album that was jazz flute and jazz oboe. Bob Cooper played Oboe. I couldn’t bear it. I love Bob Cooper in Bob Florence’s band, and in solo albums, but his jazz Oboe….unbearable to me.

Update: 04/22 18:25 GMT by E :You know, I posted this story, and low and behold iTunes decided to put 2 of those Bob Cooper/Bud Shanks songs in my Random Selections Smart-Playlist. I still think Jazz Oboe is not cool. Hopefully someone can point me to something to change my opinion.

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Software Synths

April 4, 2005 in Articles

I’ve recently become fascinated with Software Synths. These use gigabytes of libraries to deliver incredible sounds to people using Midi. I’ve heard Tascam’s Gigastudio. Wow. The one that I’m totally into now is Native Instrument’s Battery. The drum sound are simply the best I’ve ever heard. It’s amazing what a good drum track will do for a song.

However, the downside is that it requires a LOT of CPU power to drive these programs. My 933Mhz Mac choaked running Battery with a great acoustic drum kit. So, I’m off to redo my Windoze PC to start running these Synths, mainly Battery. Here is a little demo of a Green Day song I was working on. Drums kinda crapped out for a sec about 3/4ths of the way through.

I believe that the sound module is pretty much a dying breed now. Software Synths with multi-gigabyte libraries are the way to go now. Anyone else feel the same? Care to share what your favorite programs are?

Update: 04/05 20:04 GMT by E :Forgot to mention some other ones that I use. I use HyperCanvas on my PC for generating Band in a Box backgrounds. I’m considering switching over to SuperQuartet as the sounds are awesome on that. The big advantage of using software synths with BinaB (Windows) is that you can generate soundfiles via DXi in seconds. That makes it easy to do some backgrounds for students or yourself and toss them on you iPod or on a CD.

I just heard and got to play with Gigasampler. Wow. Talk about stunning. Now if I could afford the $500 for the software, plus a top of the line Intel box with a ton of ram, and a multi-channel sound card, I could die a happy man.

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Ingredients of the Earl Bostic sound

February 15, 2005 in Articles

Anonymous Coward writes “I want to cultivate an Earl Bostic sound on the Alto–big and blowsy. (Right now it’s small and lousy.) What equipment did he use to get that unmistakeable Bostic sound?”

Thinking that strickly equipment will help you is a flaw. He could have probably used anything and still sounded like Earl Bostic.

That being sad, a quick search on the net has yielded no information on what he used.

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Modern Substitute For A Vintage Meyer

December 6, 2004 in Articles

Ok, so, there was this guy on Ebay that was hinting at giving you information on a mouthpiece that plays better than the 1980s on out Meyer mouthpieces. It was included as a bonus for winning the item on Ebay. So, I won the item on Ebay. I’m very happy with the item. Its great. The information though is, well, subject to one’s opinion. I didn’t agree that the mouthpiece this guy recommended was as good as a Good Meyer. But then again, I was assuming a Vintage Meyer.

From what I know, the Meyers to get are like the OLD ones, from like the 60s and 70s. I own a Vintage Meyer brothers (non-diamond stamp on the bottom, like the icon on this article. That is actually a picture of it ;-) ) that I got like 5 years ago, and had refaced by the late and great Jon Van Wie. It’s a great mouthpiece. Different than the current Meyers. I would describe it as it resonates different. It sounds different.

Are there mouthpieces out there that are as good as a Vintage Meyer Brothers? Jon Van Wie used to offer this service where he could make a new Meyer play and sound like the old ones. I have no idea what he did to it, but a number of players spoke highly of it. Ideas? Opinions?

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Liebman – Developing a Personal sax Sound

November 2, 2004 in Articles

Andy Davey writes “I’ve been reading through your site for a number of years now and find it really interesting. Recently went to a gig in the UK featuring one of the sax tutors from the Birmingham Conservertiore. She played really well and was getting a great sound out of what I thought was a fairly weak set up. She explained about the Liebman book and recommended I check it out in order to improve my own sound. Have any of you used this with success and can anyone tell me what it’s all about.”

Honestly, I have not seen this book. I do have his book on Chromatic Jazz, and his teaching book. Both are very well written and thought out.

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E. Rousseau Jazz or Studio Jazz Mouthpieces?

June 27, 2004 in Articles

Master Asia writes “My teacher lended me a E.Rousseau Jazz mouthpiece to test whether I like that one or the Studio Jazz model. The only obvious difference between the two is that the Jazz model has a huge baffle, and the Studio Jazz doesn’t. I was thinking about sticking to the Jazz model but I think that since the baffle makes the sound bigger, it didn’t allow the sax to produce a real rich sound. Please give me any opinions on the E.Rousseau Jazz and Studio Jazz mouthpieces, what you like about them, hate about them, and/or which one out of the two I should stick with.”

I used to have a Rousseau Jazz model a long time ago. I don’t know what happened to it. Did I lend it out? Break it? I dunno. Have you tried some other mouthpieces as well? Meyer? Bergs? Links? Etc. Etc.You should stick with whatever mouthpiece YOU like the sound of and one YOU play in tune with.

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How Do You Get That Scraping Sound?

March 2, 2004 in Articles

An anonymous coward writes “the other day i was listening to some jazz music, and i noticed that the sax’s sound was like scraping trough the instrument. how do they get that sound?? could you help me??
Thanks”

I have no clue as to exactly what you mean. Want to cite some recordings/songs/people to help narrow down what you are talking about?

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Charlie Parker’s Mouthpiece – as described by Mingus

September 3, 2003 in Articles

Bopfanatic writes “Can anyone help me decipher this? In his autobiography, ‘Beneath the Underdog’, Mingus recalls a conversation with Lucky Thompson, who tells him that Bird used a “number 30 open lay mouthpiece”. Does anyone know what the “number 30″ means, like what brand used that numbering system, or what the equivalent tip opening or chamber size (in standard terms) it stands for? Cheers!”

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