support Tutorials CDs PPT mouthpieces

Saxco silencer bag

I had something similar for alto. Cut about 10dB. I didn't use it much and sold it to someone on the forum. It muffled the sound, but you're playing with sax and hands inside it, so it's a bit cumbersome.
 
Yes, I know them well and they don’t really work.

The reasons are multiple but let’s put it this way, the small reduction in sound is normally compensated by the player who plays harder to hear himself.

The only mute that has any remote chance to work are the E-sax and the Sax Partner used with the headphones!

The downside are price and the fact that they weigh a ton and can give you (the e-sax in my case) some serious neck problems. There is a floor stand for this but make the whole thing even more cumbersome.

One very inexpensive way to silence oneself is really, as said many times, playing with the horn inside a closet and between a hanging coats.

You will look stupid but you will sound very quite, especially if you learn to play very quietly.

The other possibility is to build or buy a sound proof cabin.
 
Yes, I know them well and they don’t really work.

The reasons are multiple but let’s put it this way, the small reduction in sound is normally compensated by the player who plays harder to hear himself.

The only mute that has any remote chance to work are the E-sax and the Sax Partner used with the headphones!

The downside are price and the fact that they weigh a ton and can give you (the e-sax in my case) some serious neck problems. There is a floor stand for this but make the whole thing even more cumbersome.

One very inexpensive way to silence oneself is really, as said many times, playing with the horn inside a closet and between a hanging coats.

You will look stupid but you will sound very quite, especially if you learn to play very quietly.

The other possibility is to build or buy a sound proof cabin.
Milandro.......as ever............ I page the oracle. Thank you
 
you are welcome! I am sorry to say that silencing a saxophone is never an easy or comfortable task.
 
I had a cheaper no leather version of this idea, I was looking for a backpack for my tenor and I bought it, then I realized about the silencing purpose, and I must say the only way it worked was as a sax bag. It was very uncomfortable to play with the sax inside it ...
 
I've got the alto version of one of these and my experience is a bit less negative that Milandro's...
The thing is basically an oversized gig bag with foam lining and a couple of flaps to put your hands inside and a flap for the crook to stick out of the top. Since there's not a perfect seal around your hands, the sound can leak out and the sound insulation will only be about 10db or so depending on frequency - all sound insulation is frequency dependent, it's easier to damp the high frequencies than the low ones, so bottom Bb will not be absorbed as well as top F#.... actually bottom Bb will be difficult to play due there not being enough airspace around the end of the bell.
It's a bit of a fiddly thing to use, getting the sax positioned inside properly and getting it so the octave key doesn't foul the top flap... but within the limitations of the thing, I find mine useful for having a quiet blow when the neighbours are in.
I don't find myself playing harder to compensate - if I'm trying not to disturb the neighbours, I'm playing quieter anyway. Having a bag wrapped around the sax changes it's response, so, for me, I only use it to keep my embouchure in shape, rather than practicing anything rigourous
Don't expect miracles from one of these, or any of the other sax mutes, a soundproof booth is the only real way to soundproof a sax
I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a sax mute bag, they're not very good and wrapping your sax in a duvet would probably be as effective... Bill Lewington's used to sell them, but they don't seem to be on their website anymore, a bit of googling might reveal more info..
 
All sax mutes were meant well to solve some serious noise & neighbors relations problems, after all the e-sax was invented in Japan where the vast majority of people live in small flats where, even if they wanted, most people couldn’t fit a whisper room and swing the proverbial cat in their flat.

The sad fact is that there is no real solution for this problem other than playing the only real silent, true, sax in the world the Swiss synthophone http://www.synthophone.info which is not a proper sax in sound (since it is a midi instrument) but it is, at least, a proper sax when it comes to everything else (unlike other electronic contraptions by Akai, Yamaha and the old and gone Lyricon ).

The problem is that the synthophone costs as much as an inexpensive isolated cabin ! And that that is above most people budget!

Playing “ in the closet” makes you look and feel stupid, so unless you are really motivated you won’t do that long.

The blanket solution wouldn’t work for me either, again, my experience is that ( and I am not the only one), if you reduce the sound of the saxophone in whichever way and your ears are not connected to the saxophone somehow most, but not cafe member altissimo, will play harder to hear themselves.

Which is the reason why the makers of the e-sax and subsequent copies, provided this mute with an internal microphone, headphones, the possibility of creating some sort of reverberation ( because it sound more natural this way) and the possibility to play IN some background music so that you hear in the headphone, music that outside is silent and you play at a similar volume level, hearing the whole thing in your headphones. You can also play the whole thing OUT so that you can record yourself ( or leave the whole thing to imagination and memory, both kinder than real records).

Yes, your hands will sweat, yes the inside of your mute collects lots of moisture that you are blowing in the mute, but if you use it properly it will work better than any relatively cheap solution to this problem.

I live in a flat, with the exception of one another family, I am the person who has been living here the longest, when new people come to live here they know that I play saxophone between 16:00 and 18:00 (often less and sometimes I don’t play at all). Most are still at work and are not yet having their dinner (which I would no doubt spoil) 17:00 tea is not a normal thing in the Netherlands.

Soon I will have to move and I will have this problem. I hope to find a solution. If I can’t then e E-sax is probably the temporary solution that I’d go for.
 
The problem with Sax and annoying the neighbours is the weather in Northern Europe. In better climes you just jump in the car or bike and drive a short distance and play in the open. Art Garfunkel used to sing under one of New York,s Bridges. The same one in the song.:)
 
well, New York has pretty hard winters and hot summers. Maybe not as much rain as London.

However playing in the comfort of your home is, I think, for most, the real divider. If you own a car and want to be deaf in a short while, you can hop in there and, uncomfortably, play in there. It will be too hot and it will be too cold.
 
oh no, I've said something that cafe member Milandro doesn't agree with and got the bold underline treatment as a result. How will I ever be able to recover from this humiliation? :p
 
well, New York has pretty hard winters and hot summers. Maybe not as much rain as London.

However playing in the comfort of your home is, I think, for most, the real divider. If you own a car and want to be deaf in a short while, you can hop in there and, uncomfortably, play in there. It will be too hot and it will be too cold.

No I meant to get out the car. :) But thinking about a solution for your problem if you move to another flat, is a campervan:) I don't have problems with the neighbours, but if I did I would use my camper, it's basically a white van that I converted.
 
If my neighbours want to pay my mortgage then i will stop playing, otherwise tough !!

Extreme i know :cool:
 
I've played in the car. It's a bit cramped. Movign out of the driver's seat helps. Back seats are even better.
 
I've started to take my sax out to work and at quite times go to the Albert dock, jump in the back of my cab and tootle away, plenty of room in the cab.
 
If its a proper black cab (London Taxi style) we could have a jam session in one
 

Attachments

  • cool0041[1].gif
    cool0041[1].gif
    857 bytes · Views: 129
  • cool0041[1].gif
    cool0041[1].gif
    857 bytes · Views: 148
It's the only jam you want to be in if you are paying (not a traffic jam)
 
I could imagine him keeping the meter running and then giving us the bill at the end
 
No I meant to get out the car. :) But thinking about a solution for your problem if you move to another flat, is a campervan:) I don't have problems with the neighbours, but if I did I would use my camper, it's basically a white van that I converted.

I think a cheaper alternative to the camper is a very large dog to welcome anyone complaining
 
I think a cheaper alternative to the camper is a very large dog to welcome anyone complaining

:) I think anyone complaining for the times you quoted would be unreasonable anyway.
When I first moved to London from Germany in the 80,s I lived in a bedsit in Warwick Rd.
Walls like paper, but I played my Clarinet, and the only response I had, was when the Irish couple were moving out next door, the wife that I had never met, knocked on my door and asked me if I would like the left overs from her fridge. And then thanked me for the Clarinet music. I was in practice then.:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top Bottom