TubeNet

I disagree that they sound like PT-6's. PT-6's have what I would consider a rather stereotypical tuba sound. Thor's, on the other hand, have what I would consider a darker, richer, almost BB-flat-like sound (which is what I love about them).

bloke wrote:Thor tubas sound about like someone playing a PT6 on a recording.

Call me crazy, but tubas always sounded like tubas to me on recordings. Go figure.

Chuck"I'm just saying"Jackson

bloke wrote:yeah...I don't think I communicated it very well, but the point was the recordings don't go so far as to capture what the original person who posted is looking for.

Actually Joe, I wasn't quibbiling with you, I thought your comment quite funny, but was just adding my own acerbic comment to, what I feel is, a REALLY stoooooooooooooooopid post. Tubas sound like tubas.

Chuck"again, just saying"Jackson

At the risk of making an additional stupid post, I want to ask why bother having more than one tuba then?

Why do all these different companies make all these different horns, which manifestly (to my untutored ear) do not all sound the same?

To confuse and bewilder people with untutored ears?

Okay.

Nevertheless, it does seem to me that a whole lot of knowledgable people care what horn they use, and they describe their experiences in ways that sound consistent for a given model across players.

If all tubas sound more or less than same when played by the same person, why has there been all the high-flown discussion on here about the difference between a so-called "BAT" and a Kaiser? Is that whole discussion about nothing except measurements and appearance? Surely not. Surely what it sounds like comes into it.

Why doesn't everyone just get, say, a Yamaha 105, if everyone is going to sound like himself and every tuba is going to sound about the same given the same player anyway?

I realize each player brings a lot to the instrument, but I do not believe that it's really all one from the knowledgeable listener's perspective what horn any given player uses.

talleyrand wrote:I realize each player brings a lot to the instrument, but I do not believe that it's really all one from the knowledgeable listener's perspective what horn any given player uses

In a universe far, far away a long time ago, I had a very successful playing career. Take what I'm about to say with what ever seasoning you need a grain of and remember, it's one man's experience. I never remember once being asked what kind of horn I was playing by anybody in the audience or the group I was playing in, with the exception of other tuba players. And the Pro's that may have seen and heard me play never did, but rather the advocational players. I was often complimented on how I sounded on a particular concert and when I had a different horn, some one would ask if it were new. I never got any comments from bass trombonists or section tuba players, they just wanted it to be on time and in tune, and in turn, that was what I expected from them. No one ever mentioned equipment.

That being said, to 99.98% of the listening world, a tuba is a tuba, they will only take notice if you play a solo or make a magnificent clam, for the most part people don't zero in any one specific sound, they are there to experience the overall concert. Fads come and go, for along time the instrument of choice was a Mirafone 186 CC or an Alex, then everyone wanted to sound like Jacobs and bought a cannon-cocker with out realizing, for the most part, that Jacobs would have sounded like Jacobs on ANYTHING. Instruments are a vehicle and a personal choice, it's what comes out of them that makes people sit up and listen, not the instrument itself. And I don't believe that having a Thor, a 2165, a 45SLP, or any of the current staples of the arms race is going to make you sound any different than you do. You will sound like you on anything you play.

All that being said, chose what you want, but remember if you have a $12,000 instrument and $5.00 worth of talent, your will sound like a $5.00 tuba player.

Chuck"who apologizes for straying far afield of the original question"Jackson

It is interesting the different perspectives here. Obviously the player is the biggest influence to the sound, but that player's sound is funnelled through the tuba they are playing which will therefore have an effect. If that is enough to be noticed by other musicians and the audience depends on how different, or not the sound produced is to what the listener expects.

My Neptune sounds sufficiently different from the usual Besson Eb being widely used in the UK that I frequently receive comments on my sound from non-tuba players in the orchestra, band, or audience - Where as my PT-20 which sounds much nearer to the usual Eb, never receives any comments.

For recordings of the Thor - maybe best if the OP contacted Jens Bjørn-Larsen for a recording where he has been playing a Thor, as it was designed in collaboration with him.

WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! I GOT IT!

tuba(a) + player(a) = sound(a)
tuba(b) + player(b) = sound(b)
tuba(a) + player (b) = sound(ab)
tuba(w) + player(t) + mouthpiece(h) = sound(wth)

If you take the inverse of pi, divide by the quotient of the derivative of equation X, and solve for Y, what do you get?

Give up?

Answer: to each his own. Whatever makes you (or makes you think you) sound good, then fair play to you. In my opinion, anyways

Homerun wrote: If you take the inverse of pi, divide by the quotient of the derivative of equation X, and solve for Y, what do you get?"

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Here is a certain tubenet poster playing part of the woodward on thor with an extremely unprepared wind ensemble (still a good job on his part, though!)... scroll to the end, the last few minutes.

no guarantees that you can sound like him on it, however.


http://www.atu.edu/urelations/media/vid ... ngband.mov" target="_blank

It looked like a Thor being played in this BBC Proms performance of Mahler 3 performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

http://symphonycast.publicradio.org/pro ... ndex.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X-ujiRX ... re=related" target="_blank

The cartoon intro is REALLY funny. Must've missed that one as a kid.