TubeNet

Haven't been reading Tubenet as regularly as of late, so probably missed this bit of info. So Mr Bloke, "the fairly newly acquired 6/4 CC" is a ....?

bloke wrote:It's been quite a few years since I've owned and played gigs on a 6/4 size CC tuba. I'm playing the Firebird Suite this week. I was tempted to use my Thor (no-brainer intonation / clear,/concise/very big sound, Chevy 327-like power, etc.) but decided to use the fairly newly acquired 6/4 CC.

I had forgotten what the allure is...

When one nails some "as loud as the tuba can be played" stuff, white noise fills the hall, the bass trombonist is made to look impotent, and the roar of the percussion takes a back seat.

Shouldn’t we, in this actual case at least, speak of irisation of sound?

K

JB wrote:Haven't been reading Tubenet as regularly as of late, so probably missed this bit of info. So Mr Bloke, "the fairly newly acquired 6/4 CC" is a ....?

A 2165 has been mentioned

bloke wrote:When one nails some "as loud as the tuba can be played" stuff, white noise fills the hall, the bass trombonist is made to look impotent, and the roar of the percussion takes a back seat.

I am not sure what you mean by 'white noise'? Is that vibrations?

I know you are writing rather tongue in cheek, but "as loud as the tuba can be played" ?!! - I have always thought the point of a 6/4 tuba is to sit back, produce a beautiful rich tone and have power in hand - rather than playing your butt off and producing a harsh tone as might be the case trying to produce the volume with smaller tuba. You will give kids reading this the wrong idea of what a 6/4 is all about!

Neptune wrote:

bloke wrote:When one nails some "as loud as the tuba can be played" stuff, white noise fills the hall, the bass trombonist is made to look impotent, and the roar of the percussion takes a back seat.

I am not sure what you mean by 'white noise'? Is that vibrations?

Isn’t white noise a fairly precise technical term? The tech English of wiki after all is better than mine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_noise

Isn’t white noise in a tuba context rather the opposite of a centered sound, where the acoustical energy is concentrated into pitches lining up in a Pythagorean overtone system?

Everyday samples of white noise, that I have encountered:

The radio or TV noise, when the signal from the antennae is cut for one reason or another.

At least some of the test noises, when a home-theatre is auto-calibrating.

Klaus

I took it for granted that Bloke meant the painting is falling off the hall ceiling in small flakes like snow.
That's white noise.

imperialbari wrote:Isn’t white noise in a tuba context rather the opposite of a centered sound, where the acoustical energy is concentrated into pitches lining up in a Pythagorean overtone system?

Maybe I am being dense, but that is as clear as mud to me. Are we talking about a broad tone with lots of harmonics? I cannot visualise 'white noise' in the context of a tuba - they never sounds like a TV when the signal from the antennae is cut. A 'white noise' to me has no tone - it is just a buzz.

Lars Trawen wrote:I took it for granted that Bloke meant the painting is falling off the hall ceiling in small flakes like snow.
That's white noise.

Yes!

I too am guilty from time to time of pushing the envelope a little. And in fact, I have literally peeled paint while practicing excerpts. The 6/4 makes it sooo easy to get a little carried away!

1 witness, I was practicing Petruschka, and a couple of my "roars" brought a little snowshower from the ceiling of a recital hall. Needless to say, I was proud.

Neptune wrote:Maybe I am being dense, but that is as clear as mud to me. Are we talking about a broad tone with lots of harmonics? I cannot visualise 'white noise' in the context of a tuba - they never sounds like a TV when the signal from the antennae is cut. A 'white noise' to me has no tone - it is just a buzz.

Some blokes are not engineers, and use terms for their visual meaning rather than their technical meaning. Maybe he meant that the bass trombonist's hair turned white at the prospect of having to compete with that sound, and my perception of bass trombonists is that they are a competitive lot.

Knowing Joe as I do, and having heard him play in person, I can attest that white noise in the engineering sense is not what he was referring to. Nor would his loudest sounds be harsh.

And he would also not be woofy. His mouthpiece designs reveal his sensibilities, and they are profoundly anti-woofy designs.

He had my Holton in his care for some months to redo the valves and fix the slides a couple of years ago. The tubas I played during that time are great instruments. But then when I blew that first note on the Holton, in his shop, after so many months of not having it, the feeling was back. The resonance of a big tuba just can't be matched with a smaller instrument, no matter how good it is.

What you describe about holding back reinforces the point that a big tuba need not be a one-trick pony. But when the music calls for that trick, nothing does it better.

Rick "especially given the general sound inflation of modern orchestras" Denney

Rick Denney wrote:The resonance of a big tuba just can't be matched with a smaller instrument, no matter how good it is.

Just as I feel whenever I play my Neptune!

Joe, all I can say is if you rendered Rojak's sound impotent, you must be doing some scary playing on that BAT!posting.php?mode=reply&f=2&t=40990#

Will Traphagan

bloke wrote:There's just something about loading something - that is too large in the first place - to the max and then releasing it on the world.