Runyon SR mouthpiece demo

[Profusia]

I ordered a new mouthpiece and it came today. I KNOW! I shouldn't but I've wanted a really dark mouthpiece for months and I found one that was being let go at a discount so couldn't resist.

Anyway I've been trying to get my fingers round the improvisation for the Coursera/Berklee "Introduction to Improvisation" online course that many of us are on all evening and have been getting nowhere. So for light relief I very quickly threw together another stab at a backing track and played this improvisation over it to demonstrate the mouthpiece.

Not looking for feedback on the composition or the playing really as it is incredibly simple and was a real quicky but I'd love to know if people think the tone sounds dark or not with the mouthpiece. I'm still not sure I can tell bright from dark.

Anyway here it is...

https://soundcloud.com/profusia%2Fyou-never-know-whats-coming

View: https://soundcloud.com/profusia/you-never-know-whats-coming

 

[Wade Cornell]

OK will try to only talk about the mouthpiece. It's very hard to judge something like this without a basis of comparison, so listening to the following tracks I'd say that it's no darker than what was played on "Different with tenor" and "There came you" Nothing in these sounds like it has many high harmonics or what I'd associate with a bright piece. This just might be your sound as it's possible to sub-tone the whole instrument which also kills off the high harmonics.

On all of these cuts there is an intonation issue to some degree but the cut using the new mouthpiece seems worse. The low notes are in tune and the higher you go the more sharp it gets. Could be mouthpiece, horn, you, or all three. Some mouthpieces just don’t work with some horns, but it may be that you just had it pushed in too far and weren’t listening to your tuning/intonation that closely.

 

[Jeanette]

It's very hard to judge something like this without a basis of comparison, so listening to the following tracks I'd say that it's no darker than what was played on "Different with tenor" and "There came you"

I am no where near as experienced as Wade to comment on this but I did have the same feeling as Wade states above. Would have been useful to hear the same tune played on both.

Jx

 

[Profusia]

OK will try to only talk about the mouthpiece.

Wade, thanks as always for feeding back. Firstly I must apologise if my posting sounded like I was specifically asking people NOT to comment on the tune, backing track or playing. That's not what I meant. Rather I just wanted to be clear that I wasn't putting it up as an example of being good in any of those respects, and was slightly fearful of it getting panned as it really was such a quicky, and my first attempt at playing (let alone "writing") anything like that. I suppose, truth be known, I'd had a frustrating evening with the Berklee/Coursera improvisation work and just wanted to quickly do something positive and creative, and having it done it on the Runyon it served as a medium to demonstrate the mouthpiece.

It's very hard to judge something like this without a basis of comparison,...

Yes that's a very fair point. I didn't want to inflict me trying to play the same thing again on another mouthpiece on people and in any case I was past the neighbour social hours watershed so just went with it as was. To be fair it wasn't a good piece for showing of off the range and tone of a mouthpiece anyway and I clearly hadn't thought that through fully in my haste.

...so listening to the following tracks I'd say that it's no darker than what was played on "Different with tenor" and "There came you" Nothing in these sounds like it has many high harmonics or what I'd associate with a bright piece. This just might be your sound as it's possible to sub-tone the whole instrument which also kills off the high harmonics.

If that means I can play reasonably darkly on any mouthpiece I'll take that as a positive lol ;}

On all of these cuts there is an intonation issue to some degree but the cut using the new mouthpiece seems worse. The low notes are in tune and the higher you go the more sharp it gets. Could be mouthpiece, horn, you, or all three. Some mouthpieces just don’t work with some horns, but it may be that you just had it pushed in too far and weren’t listening to your tuning/intonation that closely.

I hear you loud and clear on the blowing sharp top end, and its a problem of mine that I've bemoaned numerous times in my postings. I actually mentioned the top end sharpness on the comments on soundcloud against the track. The only mouthpiece that I can stay reasonably (but far from perfectly) in tune in at the top end is the Selmer Soloist that I picked up last weekend. All of my other mouthpieces blow significantly sharp top end, and more so on the palm keys, on the Chiltern tenor. (I should say that I blow sharp on them really). I've realised now that one thing I need to do is to try them all on my old King and see whether I have the same issues there. If so I guess it means its most likely down to my chops/embouchure etc. I do hear the sharpness at the top as I play, its just that I just can't bring it in tune. I have 6 tenor mouthpieces now and tried loads more last weekend so I think its time I stopped blaming mouthpieces and accepted its down to me or the horn and most likely the former!

Thanks again 🙂

 

[TomMapfumo]

I thought that the overall sound was quite dry, and neither bright nor dark. If Bright = 10 and Dark = 0 I would say it was 6, so is darker than a lot of mouthpieces and had a very pleasing character. Simples!

 

[Profusia]

Jeanette, Tom, many thanks indeed for feeding back.

I had a quick blow on the Runyon SR and the Selmer Soloisst this morning and asked my non-musical better half if she could hear any difference. She immediately said that the Runyon sounded deeper and the Selmer brighter. How that would equate on a scale of 0 to 10 against other mouthpieces though I can't imagine.

I do quite like the tone of the Runyon, but not at the expense of tuning. So until I sort that issue out I'll have to stick with the Selmer.