Misc Reviews Saxmute One tenor saxophone mute review

[Janosax]

The iRig Pro i/o audio interface with XLR inline -20db pad attenuator, now Inside the mute:

The powerbank which provides power to iPhone, audio interface and condenser mic:

The tBone SC400 large capsule compact condenser mic:

The whole Inside:

 

[Al Ex]

Nice work! Too bad we're not neighbors, I'd have hired your skills to improve my mute!

 

[Carter]

Hi, I appreciate this thread is from a long time ago now, but I have just purchased a second hand sax mute one for my tenor. The stand within the mute to hold the sax is not very good and offers little support so I find that I have to balance the sax within it. Could you let me know if you had a similar issue and if so, how did you resolve it? Thanks!

 

[Al Ex]

I can't help you, sorry. I have the alto model and no stand built in the mute.

By the way, it's been a while since I last came here, so here's my take on this piece of gear.

I was quite enthusiastic at first, thinking I'd be able to practice whenever I wanted without disturbing anyone, but in the end this mute is almost useless for me and I feel really disappointed with it.

It arrived broken but still usable, and using it with a Hercules stand makes it almost impossible to make some fingerings properly. The magnet used for sealing the mute went off very quickly and has to be glued regularly. This and some other aspects make it unusable for me. I found my personal experience to be very different to what I expected when viewing some videos on the internet.

I've seen they make a new model and have been thinking I could give it a try, but considering the huge cost (almost 400€ with taxes) I gave up with this idea.

Again, this is only my point of view based on my experience and I'm not a very skilled player. I know others are rather happy with their mutes.

 

[Janosax]

@Carter the sax holder inside the mute needs to be adjusted. Just bend the metal to make it much firmer on the sax bell. You will also have to adjust holder position to allow good sax placement in the mute, for your hands ease of playing, free neck lever movement, etc. The bottom part which can be made a metal holder of piece of foam will certainly need to be adjusted/trimmed too for proper sax height position. That is not RTP (ready to play!!), took me one hour for good adjustments the first time, and never touched it again after that. Also, it’s needed IMO to add some foam for the neck and a Velcro strap for the bow, your sax will be perfectly stable. See this #20 post quoted:

Here is my last track made with this Saxmute One : Madreeon

I improved my compact studio a lot, here are some pics.

Whole mute with sax Inside:

View attachment 10295


I added a velcro between mute bottom mount and sax bow:

View attachment 10296

And some foam for the neck. Both mods improves ergonomy, as sax dont move at all Inside mute:

View attachment 10297

View attachment 10299

 

[Janosax]

@Al Ex sorry to read about your issues. Have you adjusted the holder for good hands placement like mentioned in my post above? The Hercules stand should not cause issues with fingerings. I also had some glueing issues with my model, and they sent me a new mute free of charge with no gluing issues. So I have two mutes 😎 That being said, the freedom this mutes gave me from start was such a joy that it wasn’t such or an issue for me. I can however understand your frustration. Perhaps try to adjust sax position, add microphone and headphones and see if your experience is different 🙂 Still use mine almost everyday since nearly three years and still very happy with it.

 

[Al Ex]

Actually, the alto mute I have doesn't have any sax holder inside, only a metal part that allows me to put the mute on the stand. Since the sax is held inside the mute by the Hercules stand, I cannot really set the proper height required for comfortable hand placement. Anyway that's not a problem anymore since I gave up trying tu use it long ago 😉 .

I sometimes try to play with it again, thinking maybe I did something wrong with my previous attempts, but I always end disappointed, having to struggle with the two parts that never really fit one with another, glueing issues, and in the end insufficient (for my needs) noise reduction...

Maybe I have a defective model, too. I don't know.

 

[Janosax]

@Al Ex You can always try to contact them about your issues, I had really good support. About noise reduction, past 11pm I like to have stronger mute power and use both sax mute one and Lebayle orange sponge mute inside the sax, that way with quiet playing measured dB at 1 meter with a sonometer is around 65 dB. I played yesterday until 2.00 am. With sax mute one only, my loudest note tend to be around 95 dB which is around 115 dB without mute. With no mute, my average level is 100/105 dB, and with sax mute one it’s 85/90. This is while playing without restricting myself. It’s like talking loud, which is ok during the day, this is why I add the sponge mute for night playing.

 

[Janosax]

Some evolution on my Saxmute One: I’ve added a ventilation system a few months ago!!

Cooler hands, less condensation on reed and in neck, less sticky pads🙂

It’s a speed variable USB fan, powered by the powerbank which also gives power to audio interface and iPhone.

The fan sits in the mute foam for vibration absorption, with holes drilled in the mute plastic for air evacuation.

I barely hear the fan while playing because the fan is in the mute. With Intramic internal microphone and In Ear monitoring, I don’t ear the fan at all while monitoring my sax.

 

[Janosax]

Some other pics:

 

[Adrian63]

So this is almost six months back and I wonder...
@Janosax : Bonjour Monsieur ; comment ca va ? So I wonder do you still have and moreso use this mute ? How are you finding it ?
I don't intend to get one ; price aside I imagine they are expensive but if they work I guess it is money well spent....
So yeah Jano : if you are still using it what are the positives aside from obviously being able to get in your practice sessions without disturbing the neighbours ?
If you no longer use it could you tell us why if you don't mind ?
An interesting thing for sure I have never seen the like ; beats a rolled up towel stuck down the bell...
Merci Jano..

 

[Janosax]

So this is almost six months back and I wonder...
@Janosax : Bonjour Monsieur ; comment ca va ? So I wonder do you still have and moreso use this mute ? How are you finding it ?
I don't intend to get one ; price aside I imagine they are expensive but if they work I guess it is money well spent....
So yeah Jano : if you are still using it what are the positives aside from obviously being able to get in your practice sessions without disturbing the neighbours ?
If you no longer use it could you tell us why if you don't mind ?
An interesting thing for sure I have never seen the like ; beats a rolled up towel stuck down the bell...
Merci Jano..

Hi Adrian!!

I’ve ordered this mute 4 years ago and used it since that time on a daily basis. It’s a gear love affair, really

When I was a teenager I had a dedicated isolated room for sax. Then I bought as a young adult a 5000 € isolated booth and used it for years. Then, I had this 400 € mute when I returned to sax playing after a long break.

Best solution of course is isolated room.

When it comes to isolated booth, it’s nice but expensive solution which takes lot of place. It kills your ears because of sound reflections and has huge stationary waves issues (mine had some resonance when playing F, I was feeling it in my whole body and it was even recorded by the mic...). And it gets really hot inside!!!!

Sax Mute One was a big surprise. To me its full potential reveals with a mic, I never use it without it. BTW, playing sax with mic and in ear monitoring has became a second nature for me, it’s related to my mute use but also to my looping music for which I need it. But the added benefit is ear protection, as I suffer from hyperacusis: I can barely play sax more than 30 mn without ear pain, so in ear monitoring is a great fix, I can play for hours free of pain. Other added benefit is that I’m so used to play that way that I’m always ready to record properly, as I know how to play with that gear and know how to interact with my sax sound though it.

The mute itself is on a stand, so there is no back or neck pain. I mounted a PC USB fan inside which works really well for moisture evacuation. I use the iPhone and audio gear for discrete integration with the mute, leaving it mostly free of wires in feet and eyes, this helps focus on sax playing. Starting a session is as simple as putting reed on mouthpiece, phone on the mute, and IEMS in ears. I used some clip on and condenser mics, but I had best recordings with Viga Music Tools Intramic because it reduces totally proximity effect and keys noises. As it’s inside neck only air column vibration is recorded not sound reflected inside the mute, so recordings sound mostly the same inside and outside the mute with that mic. Perfect combo!!!

It’s a perfect tool for practicing, playing and recording. It’s not a toy nor a gadget.

It looks like on day one so it’s very durable.

Now on « cons » chapter:

Bell notes are harder to reach. Legere reeds helps, but that needs some long practice and embouchure specific skills.

It´s not like playing with a sax strap, sax balancing in hands is not similar. But with a good setup it’s good enough to not being such of an issue.

It’s not easy to set the sax inside the mute for proper position. Lot of adjustments are needed for good hands positions and playing posture. I suppose bad experience reported by some users can start here. It’s not a plug and play mute. Once well set, you don’t touch it anymore and can focus on playing/practice.

Magnets can fall apart, I’ve glued them again many times first year. But it was one of the first sample, they improved that.

All in all that’s a very good product and I love it 🙂

Most of my recordings are made in the mute, like the last one with Legere American Cut:

View: https://youtu.be/EvWO72iS3OE


Note that I use first model. Maxim from Sax Mute One just sent new model (same as recent Sax.co.uk video) for review purpose. It arrived last week. I still test it and will give a review later. I still play on model 1 for now because I’m more used to it.

 

[Adrian63]

Hey Jano and thanks for that ;
Not really a lot to add : thanks for the lowdown ; it seems like its been a great investment...
What happened with your tenor ?
Have a good day man and be safe...

 

[Janosax]

Here is a pic showing size difference between older (left) and newer (right) versions:

 

[Aalgarnaal]

Hello Janosax, very inspiried by this setup! My saxmute one for tenor arrived yesterday (latest version, 3 I think) and it does what it's supposed to do. Mutes the sound from 90dB to 70dB which is good enough for me. I do notice the drop in sound quality for myself, which makes it less enjoyable to play.
I read through your post and using a microphone setup seems to be perfect, although I am very inexperienced with this.
I have a Shure SM57 mic and was wondering if it would be possible to use. Could you provide a simple guide on how to connect which element to what in order to make this work? I don't know what a pre-amp and stuff is so couldn't follow your other posts..

Thanks!

 

[Aalgarnaal]

To give an update to the above, I got an iRig pre for iOS. I simply put the cable from my SM57 into that and plugged that into my phone. Now, it all works (the recording quality is also pretty good), its just that the monitoring quality is not so good. I cant quite find the right settings to hear myself naturally.. Do you do any sort of EQ for monitoring your own sound?

 

[Janosax]

To give an update to the above, I got an iRig pre for iOS. I simply put the cable from my SM57 into that and plugged that into my phone. Now, it all works (the recording quality is also pretty good), its just that the monitoring quality is not so good. I cant quite find the right settings to hear myself naturally.. Do you do any sort of EQ for monitoring your own sound?

Sorry for late reply.

Mic placement is very important, you want your SM57 in front of sax bell hole inside the mute, slightly angled to sax body holes too.

Because of proximity, bass frequencies are emphasized, and because of foam and external mic, medium are muffled.

You have to use EQ high pass around 110 hz and a 4/6 db boost at 7 kHz like this:

This has to be adapted to your gear, use your ears.

Also, latency has to be low, use 128 buffers. Android will not work well, iPhone is needed. Use AUM mixer app, it has built-in EQ.

App AUM - Audio Mixer - App Store

Téléchargez l’app AUM - Audio Mixer développée par Kymatica AB dans l’App Store. Consultez les captures d’écran, les notes et avis, les astuces d’autres…

apps.apple.com

Also, SM57 is perhaps not the best mic for that application.

Hope this helps.