Saxophone beginners looking for buzz sound on sax

[jake-]

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum here. I am a 40 yr old player that has been at the sax for a little over 2 years now. I have an alto, tenor, and bari sax. I primarily play my tenor though. I have experimented with various reeds and mouthpieces. My current setup is a metal Guardala King mp with Rigotti Gold 2.5 medium can reeds. I am working on my tone and am looking for that classic 80's buzz sound while playing my tenor (Songs like Urgent, Who Can It Be Now, and the sort). I can't seem to achieve this. Is there a hum or sound that has to be done while blowing into the saxophone? Any input/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! Looking forward to this forum!

 

[Jeanette]

Welcome to the Café Jake, do introduce yourself in the doorbell section too 🙂

Jx

 

[Nick Wyver]

Is there a hum or sound that has to be done while blowing into the saxophone?

Yes. Just that. Any noise you make in your throat will give the sound you want. Experiment.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Sing, hum, grunt or shout and then run through an effects box. Recorded sax or through a PA can be very different from acoustic in the room. There used to be a fad in the 80's for using a transducer on the reed and feeding it through a guitar pedal.

 

[jake-]

Thank you so much for your input. I never even thought of the transducer option. I will experiment with different hums while playing. Thanks again

 

[Veggie Dave]

This sounds just like my search for that elusive sound the other week.

Listening to the Men At Work song, I suggest it's a combination of a bright mouthpiece, aggressive tongueing with a fair bit of air and then a growl at the end of the phrase.