Growling on every note

I'm working on my first sax song and I've learnt so much just by trying to record it - such as how difficult it can be to keep your intonation when you can't hear what you're playing - but the one thing that's really stood out is how vital the ability to growl is.

I hadn't realised just how huge a weapon in a sax player's arsenal the growl actually is.

Certain players appear to growl almost every note they play ... or do they? For example, if someone is playing a metal mp and blowing hard, would that produce a light growl-like sound? I'm thinking of someone like Candy Dulfer, who appears to growl constantly.

Or are they really growling almost every note and simply varying the strength of the effect?
 
Have a look at this and this you might find them useful.

Thanks for these. 🙂

I must admit that I know how to growl - and can even do it if I concentrate really, really hard 😉 - so, to be honest, it's more technical knowledge than practical 😀 but my question is more about playing aggressively through a metal mouthpiece and whether or not that produces a raspy sound, a growl-lite if you prefer, or if these players are constantly growling?
 
The material of the mouthpiece makes very little difference to the sound. The internal shape and shape of the lay has most affect after you. Growling is achieved by adding voice. Anything from a gentle hum to a gertcha. The clip in my sig has me growling through the whole piece. I was having problems with a sticking pad or two the tenor. Apart from being scared to death with nerves that is.
 
The material of the mouthpiece makes very little difference to the sound. The internal shape and shape of the lay has most affect after you.

I discovered this last night when I was researching my question. The site also spoke about how the size of the mouthpiece affects the embouchure, which has a much stronger effect on the tone than the material. There really is a lot more to this saxophone lark than meets the eye.

The clip in my sig has me growling through the whole piece.

Ah, so it's not actually unusual for players to growl an entire song?

I don't think Candy Dulfer is doing much growling, she uses a very bright sounding mouthpiece - I think it's a Lebayle Studio

I may be right then? My ear must be getting better at listening to how people play. The funny thing is, when I tried to push my mouthpiece when recording the thing I'm working on to try and achieve that rasping sound, I just got much louder, while the high notes became even less rounded and less powerful than normal. I believe this may be because my reed is too soft for how I'm playing?
 
The trouble I have with growling is, I can only growl on certain notes. For example, I can growl easily on A2, but when I go to other notes my vocal chords will stop vibrating like being cancelled out by a different resonance.
 
The funny thing is, when I tried to push my mouthpiece when recording the thing I'm working on to try and achieve that rasping sound, I just got much louder, while the high notes became even less rounded and less powerful than normal. I believe this may be because my reed is too soft for how I'm playing?

No pushing required. Everything stays the same and you just add voice. You can hum or surprise surprise...growl Grrrr

when I go to other notes my vocal chords will stop vibrating like being cancelled out by a different resonance.

You need to change the note you're singing while playing. Try sliding up and down on your voice while holding the same note to find the best pitch to give you the effect you're looking for.
 
No pushing required. Everything stays the same and you just add voice. You can hum or surprise surprise...growl Grrrr

I'm going to have another go at recording again tonight - but without playing as though I'm at a gig and can't hear anything because of the guitars, and after an hour or three of growling practise.

I've just been listening to Dulfer and Maceo again and that rasping sound I really like is, I believe, just the natural sound of a sax when played with a very bright mouthpiece. Then you add a growl to really accentuate.

I think the problem I'm discovering, thanks to recording myself, is that my lower register has a huge amount of bass (so much so that when I recorded 'Intro' that I posted a couple of days ago, I had to EQ almost all of the lower frequencies out to stop it from shaking my speakers apart) while the top end loses both volume and colour, which is precisely what I don't want if I want to play in a bright, funky way.

While I'm sure a new mouthpiece and different reeds would make a huge difference, I'm betting more practice would help, too. 😉
 
you could experiment with adding more baffle to your mouthpiece using blu tack, wax or something similarly non permanent - this kind of experimentation was not uncommon in the 1940's and 50's when high baffle mouthpieces were rare and players wanted more edge and projection. Some of the players who were successful in their experiments went into mouthpiece manufacturing - Bobby Dukoff, Santy Runyon, Elmer Beechler etc
 
you could experiment with adding more baffle to your mouthpiece using blu tack, wax or something similarly non permanent - this kind of experimentation was not uncommon in the 1940's and 50's when high baffle mouthpieces were rare and players wanted more edge and projection.

I wish you hadn't told me this - I see months of faffing around with wax and blutack in my future...

😀
 
Thanks everyone for your help. :hugging:

After playing with growling and recording it tonight I think I can say with reasonable certainty that the sound I was trying to describe is simply what a bright saxophone sounds like - something my £25 plastic Yamaha 7C doesn't have a lot of. 😉
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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