Saxophones Alto for warm tone

[JayeNM]

See, now this is interesting; Jaye says "Conn 6M" for warm round tone. I think of the 6M as brash, bright, and with a certain hoarseness that I always associate with Conns.

Interesting, I hear none of those attributes in a 6m. Not brash nor bright compared to most other vintage horns as well as modern. I consider them quite dark, round, and spread.

 

[JayeNM]

Let me walk it back. I think "warm" usually means the fundamental frequency is prominent in all registers. (The octave vent does not completely eliminate the fundamental; it reduces it to less loud than the octave.) A largish chamber mouthpiece helps.

I read that four times and still cannot get what it means, exactly. I wanna understand it, tho...

But your train of thought is one we should probably pursue.

Can we come up with a generally-agreed-upon definition of what a 'warm sound' means ? If not a definition, then...

What are the attributes ?

 

[Hassles]

I've been waiting for "someone" to mention SML in this thread. Gorgeous horns

 

[JayeNM]

To me, a 'warm' tone tends towards dark, spread, lush...a bit 'horn like' as in French horn, trombone....

So reediness and 'treble' are subdued, while lows and low midrange are boosted...to oversimplify it a bit.

Then the tonality is 'spread', wide...so, the opposite of 'focused', if that helps any...

 

[Hassles]

I think "warm" is a richness of tone without brightness and somewhat spread.
Lush - as cited above - can be part of that character.

 

[JayeNM]

I've been waiting for "someone" to mention SML in this thread. Gorgeous horns

Argument can certainly be made.

I had it on my list then removed it...only because to me, yes they are dark, and wide as a house, too... but they do have some edge and 'bite' to the upper harmonics, sorta like a Martin Comm 3 or King Zeph or S20 (two other models I also initially wrote then revised off...also removed the 'Crat in favor of thr THC 400, because the former has a more focused sound, the latter a wider spread in tone).

 

[JayeNM]

Oh, not that anyone asked, but to me an SBA is warmer sounding than a VI....just as one case in point.....

 

[Jive Dadson]

I read that four times and still cannot get what it means, exactly. I wanna understand it, tho...

But your train of thought is one we should probably pursue.

Can we come up with a generally-agreed-upon definition of what a 'warm sound' means ? If not a definition, then...

What are the attributes ?

There is no agreed upon definition that I know of. I don't think it would help anyway. Describing sound with metaphors is never going to work very well.

How can I clarify what I wrote that you cannot get?

 

[wakyct]

If a warm tone is emphasizing the fundamental just for the sake of argument, for that same warm tone what is "spread" ?

 

[Jive Dadson]

If a warm tone is emphasizing the fundamental just for the sake of argument, for that same warm tone what is "spread" ?

Beats me. I never understood that one or "focused" at all.

 

[PigSquealer]

@Pete Thomas there’s nothing in the glossary on this subject. As a composer what are your thoughts ?