What (or Who) is tuba sound to you

[tubajoe]

his initials are A.J.

[Water Music]

I just like to think we can sound just like a French Horn sort of.

[Allen]

I laughed at choice #6. In the pipe organ world it's a cliché used to describe a particular kind of stop: Contra Bombard at 32' pitch, going down to an octave below our pedal C. It has a monstrous sound that has incredible rattling and thunderous components.

What is striking about this organ stop is how coarse and unmusical it sounds by itself, especially if you are close to the pipes. Also quite striking is how wonderful it sounds as the foundation of the full ensemble of the organ. It's a lesson in the different requirements for a solo voice or a voice that is a component of a large ensemble.

There are more examples from the pipe organ world in how different pipes sound close up versus in the auditorium. Again the up-close sound is usually more coarse than what we perceive in the audience space.

I would love to hear comments on how we might have to distort a sound (from our perspective next to the bell) in order to achieve a particular sound for our audience.

Cheers,
Allen

P.S. I chose #1.

[pulseczar]

I think I identify with number 6. My school's marching band is kinda like a drum corps (only brass and alto/tenor saxes on the field) and the only way for the tubas to cut through the sound is by blasting ***. It sounds pretty good on the recordings too. Sounds like a bass trombone but with a deep fundamental beneath it.

As for concert band, I try to play with a big throaty sound. Maybe that's partly because I play on a BB miraphone, but I think it sounds fine with the band.

AJ's tone is definitely awesome. I also like how Dallenbach's tone matches extremely well with the rest of Canadian Brass.

[timayer]

Why confine ourselves to a definition of sound? Look at singers and how much variety they can achieve. Listen to any recording of the Largo al Factotem from the Barber of Seville. They have so many different sounds. I try to be able to go from a very throaty, intense sound to a big, warm "tuba" sound on my F and CC horns. Especially in orchestra, we have to be able to blend with the basses, the trombones, and the horns at bare minimum. Those require different sounds. I think as long as it is a resonant sound and it fits in with the music you're playing, it's the right tuba sound. I always admired Roger Bobo for this. His solo recordings have a vast array of different sounds, and then you hear him in the LA Phil, and he has the same variety, but it always fits.

[Biggs]

Chester Schmitz + Fletch = tuba tone

[tubatooter1940]

When I started out as a solo vocalist, I tried to find singers I could safely emulate without embarassing myself or exposing my percieved vocal limitations. After years of aping an expanding list of pop artists a style of my own emerged and although I can't get away with virtuoso material, I find myself doing a wide variety of tunes to my own arrangements.
My tuba playing evolved in much the same way but I am a much better tuba player than lead vocal.
Singing backup harmony is big fun for me.

[Donn]

Don't know a good word for it, but the "now, that's a tuba!" sound has a sort of sputtering quality, best I can describe. You hear it in the core range, 2nd-4th partials, and probably more in popular music than in highly refined styles like classical or British brass band. A salty, feathery edge, analogous to the buzz of a bowed string bass but clearly coming from a pair of big fat lips.

[Rick Denney]

There are more examples from the pipe organ world in how different pipes sound close up versus in the auditorium. Again the up-close sound is usually more coarse than what we perceive in the audience space.

There's big truth here. On the occasions when I studied with Mike Sanders, his sound up close did not strike me as particularly beautiful. But in the hall, it is penetrating. The hall provides all sorts of multipath mixing that smooths over that graininess, but without the energy that graininess represents, the sound won't get out.

An orchestra mate from my Austin days is an accomplished oboist. His teacher complained that his sound was too pretty, and that it needed to have some overtone energy (that might not sound good up close) to make it to the back row.

Most concert singers know the difference between filling a hall with and without a microphone. The sound of the voice without the microphone is probably less pretty to most ears, when heard up close. But that prettier up-close sound will not stand a chance in a big hall without the microphone. I've heard the description, "she has a pretty parlor voice" in describing such singers.

Accordians are tuned such that one of the reeds for each note is purposely slightly mistuned. In one case, this creates vibrato, but the main reason is so that the accordian sound will be more penetrating. That makes them strident (even by accordian standards) when listened to up close.

It would appear that examples abound.

One of the things I like about the Holton (and this is a huge help to me) is that it has some zip to the sound that many might interpret as being a little bright for a big tuba. Personally, I think this is akin to the York sound, and I hear it in recordings of Jacobs playing by himself on the York. Were I a better player, I might be able to get that sound on a wider range of instruments, but the Holton partly fills the gap my own skills leave.

Not too many composers include a big part for the tuba player in order to provide a beautiful interlude. We get called in to demonstrate power and size, even when done very softly. I think that takes a complex sound, and a complex array of overtones. The best players seem to use the word "color" a lot, and I think this is how they are describing that complexity.

Rick "who thinks 'energy' is a more useful adjective than 'pretty' for ensemble playing" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Don't know a good word for it, but the "now, that's a tuba!" sound has a sort of sputtering quality, best I can describe. You hear it in the core range, 2nd-4th partials, and probably more in popular music than in highly refined styles like classical or British brass band. A salty, feathery edge, analogous to the buzz of a bowed string bass but clearly coming from a pair of big fat lips.

My word for this is grainy.

Rick "who thinks it essential" Denney

[Matt G]

Warren Deck

[UDELBR]

Warren Deck

Ditto. He's still the sound I hear before I play a note.

[MartyNeilan]

A.J.'s York on recordings, W.D.'s Frankenstein live.

Why did I specify horns?
Because
A) Although his style was excellent I didn't like sound of the little F A.J. used on the infamous VW recording, and
B) as much as I admire W.D.'s sound I always preferred the breadth plus clarity, core, and focus of Frankenstein vs. some of his later horns.

[sc_curtis]

There are 2 sounds in my world...

1. The sound in my head I strive for

2. The sound that I actually make

I like to think I am continually making headway towards my goal, but I'm not there yet.

One of the biggest influences in my "head sound" would have to be Warren Deck. Chester, Thornton, Sanders, and Fedderely all have a place in my "favortite things to listen" collection. Floyd Cooley sounds really good on the recordings I have as well.Some other influences of late have been a number of tuba players from across the pond: John Jenkins, Chris McShane, Fletcher, Patrick Herrild, etc... those guys sound amazing!

[Joe Baker]

There are three very different sounds I want to be able to make on tuba: the "Tommy Johnson" sound; the "Lawrence Welk's tuba player" sound; and a third sound -- the sound that first turned me on to playing a tuba: the 'tuba' in the sound track to "The Sting". As I've gotten better stereo equipment and more discerning ears, I've concluded that a lot of the "Sting" soundtrack is actually a string bass and a bass trombone, or MAYBE a bass and a small tuba (don't suppose anyone here knows?), playing VERY nicely together. But it's JUST the sound I want to get on Tuba when I play small ensemble (non-legit) stuff.
_________________________________
Joe Baker, who has learned to lie to himself and CONVINCE himself he has those sounds, which in some ways is just as good!!

[ZACH336]

I try to in ensemble match my sound as closely to the trombones as possible. The darker and more focused the more I like it, I much prefer an intense focused sound to that of a foghorn sousaphone type sound.


I guess instead of supporting the trombones I believe it to be far superior to become one with them lol.

[ZACH336]

"Either that, or go see the doctor for your sickness. "



Perhaps not a bad idea.

[LoyalTubist]

I didn't know whose sound I emulated until after he died. It's George Boujie, who was the staff tuba player at MGM under the old studio system. He was the soloist on the Tubby the Tuba 78 record with Danny Kaye narrating. (You can download that as an MP3, I will get back with anyone who wants to know where to find it!--PM me.)

[David]

I think it can sound can be made to sound like all these things, but also has a very unique sound. That's what I love about it. Though it is large, and strange to most, it has a very flexible sound.

[Tuba-G Bass]

While it does have mostly it's own tonal qualities, I think a tuba,
especially a F played up real high, seems to sound French Horn like, the same for Euphonium.

Aside from the Tuba,I play Bass Trombone too,
now that has it's own sound,to my ear, high or low.
Except if you roll out one of those Cimbassos.