The sound of the player vs. the sound of the horn

[MartyNeilan]

A few years back I did a senior recital on three very different tubas: smallish Cerveny F, Meinl Weston 2145 CC, and 6/4 Martin Recording Bell BBb (same RM-9 mouthpiece on all for the recital). The horns couldn't have been more different. However, when I listened to the recordings, I was struck by how similar they all sounded. Yes, the Martin was a little more spread. F was a little sweeter up high, little thinner down low. The 2145 surprisingly projected a little less than either. But the overall differences were minor, akin to someone taking the tone control on a stereo and moving it one or two numbers in either direction.

Tonight, after installing the Blokewashers on my Kalison 6/4 CC, I was struck by how well the low register "popped." Lower notes popped out almost as easy as a 186, none of your typical BAT low register nonsense in that range (which the K2001 never had much of anyway.) So, I decided to do a back-to-back. Warbutron-Neilan large funnel mouthpiece in a KaliBAT vs. Schillaphone 186. 186 still popped a little easier, but not by much anymore. Deciding to do more back to back. I was surprised, when using the same mouthpiece in the exact same environment, that there was not a major difference in what came out the bell between the horns, despite the Kalison dwarfing the 186 copy. The 186 was a little clearer up high, and the Kalison had a slightly fatter sound. I asked my wife (who does not know tubas, and does not WANT to know tubas) to sit right outside the doorway to listen, where she couldn't see anything. Then I asked her a few more times. Then I asked her again, and she came down and sat outside the room - excellent practice acoustics because the stairway cutting in gets rid of parallel walls. I played a two octave C scale and then a low register arpeggio on each horn back to back, making sure volume, overall pitch, and intonation were identical. She said she couldn't hear any real difference. Then I did something similar again and asked her to really focus on what she could hear. She said one sounded a little deeper (the 6/4 Kalison, obviously.) That was it. We make such a big deal over equipment, but the average listener can hardly tell the difference. We make the sound. We ARE the sound. The horn is a very small factor in that. End sermon.

[TexTuba]

I could not agree more. Excellent post.

[TubaBobH]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Different equipment (horns / mouthpieces) and different combinations of equipment (again, horns / mouthpieces) do not create OUR sound. They simply help, or hinder, us in creating OUR sound.

[tubashaman2]

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[windshieldbug]

otherwise everyone would play on 1 or 2 models of tuba.

Having tried, there's a pretty big difference as to what the tubist hears being so close to the tuba vs. what one hears out in the hall. Perhaps we SHOULD limit ourselves to fewer options...

[MartyNeilan]

The Yamaha F tubas (especially the 822) are extremely sensitive to mouthpieces.

Funny, I owned a 621 for over a decade. It played in tune and had an open low register with every mouthpiece I tried.
Small mouthpiece brightened it up for solos, medium large funnel for quintet and other uses. Probably wouldn't put a big ol' honkin mouthpiece on it, though. Had a very "full, powerful" sound out in the hall despite its diminutive size, just the obvious limit on total sound production.

[Alex C]

Yes! We strain to acheive a 2% improvement that almost no one else is aware of.

Richard Murrow said, in one of his wise philosophical moments, that possibly the horn you learn on influences your sound for the rest of your life. For instance, Harvey Phillips and his old Conn had a particular relationship and sound even in the rare times he played something else. Arnold Jacobs and his York... he sounded just like himself no matter what he played. Bill Bell and his Kings... the same sound even when he played the Eb sousaphone. I'm sure there are more contemporary examples, Sam Palafian and his Meinl-Weston Bill Bell model tuba comes to mind.

Did the horn they played on largely define their concept of sound? It is a good topic for a late night discussion over a friendly beverage.

[Rick F]

Having tried, there's a pretty big difference as to what the tubist hears being so close to the tuba vs. what one hears out in the hall. Perhaps we SHOULD limit ourselves to fewer options...

So true. I always thought a Yamaha 642 euphonium sounded better than my older 641 euph. From where I was standing (behind the bell), the tone seemed bigger on the 642. I had temporary possession of a 642 for a couple of months. In my testing, my wife and four of my friends all told me my tone was better on my 641. They said, "It's more focused". Probably because the 641 has an 11" one-piece bell vs. a 12" two-piece bell on the 642 model. Plus, the top brace from bell to top bow is different (2" higher on the 641). I suspect I was hearing the spread of sound behind the bell on the 642 making me believe I sounded better.

We definitely need other ears to listen to our sound to tell us how we sound.

[TubaTodd]

When I was in high school, every summer I attended the Usdan Center for Creative and Performing arts. (My heaven will BE Usdan or some variation) Everyday during the first half of the summer we heard recitals from major artists like YoYo Ma, Canadian Brass, Billy Taylor trio, Elliot Fisk, among others. I remember getting to meet Chuck Dallenbach during our low brass class. I remember getting to ask him 1 question. I said something along the lines of "do we all have our own particular sound?" At the time I was star struck and that was the best I could come up with. I do remember vividly, that my question didn't get answered. Chuck went on talking about something else. I remember feeling like Napoleon Dynamite...."Gah...Stupid!!"

I'm glad to hear that wasn't such a stupid question.

[tubashaman2]

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[poomshanka]

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We gathered up some horns a while back for the purposes of a shootout. In addition to hearing how one horn compared with another, we also experienced the same effect you've mentioned - each player seemed to "bring his own sound with him" as he moved down the lineup.

...Dave