Saxophones Dark mouthpiece suggestions

[eb424]

Got a lovelly 10m fan celebration in 6*. If not that his classic would be perfect..Expensive new mines used..

 

[Dr G]

I've spent a considerable amount of time searching for the "dark" "smooth" actually "muffled" sound. Maybe it's my ears but I hate the highs... anything remotely buzzy. I've bought various mouthpieces just to try them and then just resold them on Ebay. I'm also an Engineer so I approached it from the aspect of looking at major differences. For example a high baffle, small chamber, metal mouthpiece is one extreme and a low baffle large chamber hard rubber is the other. There's tons of stuff in between, but I was looking for the big affects.

Metal is out. Just too metallic, buzzy! If anyone says they have found a metal mouthpiece that gives them a dark, non buzzy, tone, I'd be surprised.

Why do you think a metal mouthpiece sounds metallic? What makes it sound buzzy?

Also, the reed makes a huge difference. In general, a thinner reed adds more highs and buzz and a thicker one just makes it harder to blow. I gave up on cane some time ago, just too variable and required changing like underwear. I'm guessing if I go to a thicker reed the sound will be even darker, but I'm not willing to go there; trad-offs.

Reeds of a particular brand/model are graded by stiffness not thickness. Don't trust me - measure them yourself.

 

[Wade Cornell]

I'd really rather not open another can of worms here, yet there are another two factors:

1. amount of lip tucked over the teeth. The less lip the more highs/harmonics you get. More lip over the teeth = darker and emphasis on the fundamental tone. Pretty easy to try on any mouthpiece. There has been a strong push for the "lip out" embouchure as this suits a modern tonal concept of bright tone. However if that's not what you want the answer is pretty simple.

2. It's also possible to "subtone" every note, not just the low notes. These two things can be done even with a high baffle mouthpiece. My favorite mouthpieces have moderate to high baffles yet I play them with a dark mellow tone. Having some baffle allows me to contour the tone from bright to dark. If you have a very large chamber piece they can be "dull" and not just dark which is difficult to brighten... less tonal variability.

Somewhere on this website there is an excellent demonstration of this by a well known pro (whose name I can't remember right now). Maybe someone who remembers can help out? It shows how a single mouthpiece played by an experienced and resourceful pro can be contoured to sound many different ways... from very dark to very bright. This may be more your answer rather than chasing gear that will never give you what you want if your embouchure and physicality of playing isn't contributing to the sound you want.

 

[MD0483]

...Goldbeck. Just Sayin'.

Sakshama fettled Goldbeck, excellent.

 

[Colin the Bear]

The dark sound comes from you. The mouthpiece is there to let you. Some let you be darker than others.

It's a bitter pill to swallow but that thin reedy buzzy sound is you.

You can't buy your sound. You have to earn it. Four hours a day for a decade and it begins to come.