Does a mouthpiece matter?

[iiipopes]

No, indeed. If you must go on a mouthpiece safari, and yes, we all do at various times, instead of searching for a magic tone, look for one that fits your face and helps you be a better tuba player.

When you try a mouthpiece, think about how it sits on your face, and whether or not you feel you need to move it around. Think about how the rim interacts with the rest of your face besides your lips. Try similar mouthpieces, if possible, that differ in only one aspect at a time: diameter, then rim, then cup. At some point, and this may take several outings, several different stores, and even re-trying ones you had some good impressions of but weren't sure, one will come along that you start forgetting about the mouthpiece and focusing on the music.

Take someone with you with a good ear to be able how you sound from across the room, or at least a few feet away. We're not talking about abstract tone, but intonation, tuning, ease of slurring, breath support, etc. As you work properly on all the above, tone will improve as well.

[thedeep42]

to me, it seems that a good player can sound "good" on basically any mouthpiece and on any horn, but specifications do vary the kind of good you're looking for.

an option might be to tape record yourself playing different mouthpieces... announce to the tape what you're doing, then listen back to it on a decent system without a ton of EQ stuff, so you get an idea what the sound really is like.

also, don't do it in a tiny room, get somewhere you can actually hear what the horn sounds like. play the same sequence of things over and over on each, and note what feels the best in different parts of the range and at different dynamic levels.

the kind of sound, the kind of playing, and the kind of room you will be playing in should all be taken into consideration. my current preference is something that gives me a dark sound (horn's super dark anyway) that i can get a bit snarly on if i need to, and is EASY to clearly articulate everything. you probably don't want to sound like a chorus of people playing bottles.

also... the LM4 is a PT88 STYLE mouthpiece. On me, it sounds and plays very little like the pt88 (good or bad, is up to you)

[iiipopes]

Indeed about the small room. It's simple physics. Low notes need a minimum amount of space to develop the fundamental. For example, for sound traveling at @ 1100 fps, and open low BBb having a frequency of @ 58 Hz, 1100/58 = needing a room at least 19 feet long just for the fundamental to develop properly. In my living room, I sound nasal because the room isn't large enough for the fundamentals, especially below low Db or so, making the practice of legato lines in that range very interesting. In the large rehearsal room for community band, I can feel the fundamental coming back to me off the walls -- not volume, but the proper development of the fundamental because of the size and proper sonic treatment of the room.