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ProDigit
Member
Hi,
I recently bought an LA Sax series 1. Absolutely beautiful dual tone instrument, and went to the store, to buy a mouthpiece, they did not have many in stock, so I was forced to choose between 2 rubber moutpieces or 2 metal ones.
I found that the metal ones really sounded nice, in the studio room I tested it in, but when I play in the band at full volume I can hardly hear myself!
I also found that the metal ones are kind of less dynamic in tone shaping. Is that possible, or perhaps just because of the design of the mpc?
I play with a reed #2.5, which is still pretty hard for me to play, especially because I am still a beginner, and was thinking of upgrading the reed to a #4 in the future.
Not only the volume was way too soft (I had to stand on the edge of the stage, away from the drums, bass and electric guitars, and needed a monitor and mic set to the max they could be without giving feedback), the tone was also yuk!
While my sax sound absolutely wonderful in a small room (studio, slightly larger than a bathroom), and at lower volumes, at higher volumes the only thing I faintly hear is the mid tones of the sax, like I was playing through a plastic reed or something...
Is that normal?
In any case I tried 3 different reeds, a generic wooden #2 reed, which I threw away within 10 seconds of trying, a bari plastic practice reed, which did not do the job very well (not only was it worse sounding, it also was hard to play), and a fibracell #3 reed, which was the best sounding, and easiest to play reed. All used on a Number 6 mouthpiece.
I asked the lady behind the counter the difference between number 6, 7, 8, and 9 mouthpieces, but she did not know, other than the internal chamber size.
I went for the smallest number they had, number 6, because she told me it needed less air and might be easier to play.
None of these could produce the volume I needed. Besides that, I noted that (I'm playing on a Bb tenor sax) the regular octave is pretty in tune, save for the high B and C where I slightly need to squeeze the reed,
but the second octave anything above the high F starts to sound flat!
I have to squeeze the reed hard, and blow hard to be in tune!
I tried to move the mouthpiece further on the cork, but there is no audible difference at all (I could only move it 1,5 inch back or forward on the neck).
Is there anything else I could do? (I could try to squeeze it another inch on the cork, but I fear damaging the cork that way. It's already pretty tight on there).
And lastly to address the issue of volume I was thinking of buying a sax clip on mic. But I'll elaborate on that in another thread.
So, in short:
1- Is it normal to have a different tone at loud volumes, and that the sax sounds bad, compared to good at low volumes?
2- Is it true that metal mouthpieces give less tonal dynamics? I've heard 2 sax players who at first where super about metal mouthpieces, and now they use a regular rubber one, and the other uses an ebonite.
and last:
3- Is there something I can do about the high octave high notes sounding too flat? (20, perhaps upto 30ct on a tuner). I have a mpc number 6, could that number be related to the flat sounding tones?
I recently bought an LA Sax series 1. Absolutely beautiful dual tone instrument, and went to the store, to buy a mouthpiece, they did not have many in stock, so I was forced to choose between 2 rubber moutpieces or 2 metal ones.
I found that the metal ones really sounded nice, in the studio room I tested it in, but when I play in the band at full volume I can hardly hear myself!
I also found that the metal ones are kind of less dynamic in tone shaping. Is that possible, or perhaps just because of the design of the mpc?
I play with a reed #2.5, which is still pretty hard for me to play, especially because I am still a beginner, and was thinking of upgrading the reed to a #4 in the future.
Not only the volume was way too soft (I had to stand on the edge of the stage, away from the drums, bass and electric guitars, and needed a monitor and mic set to the max they could be without giving feedback), the tone was also yuk!
While my sax sound absolutely wonderful in a small room (studio, slightly larger than a bathroom), and at lower volumes, at higher volumes the only thing I faintly hear is the mid tones of the sax, like I was playing through a plastic reed or something...
Is that normal?
In any case I tried 3 different reeds, a generic wooden #2 reed, which I threw away within 10 seconds of trying, a bari plastic practice reed, which did not do the job very well (not only was it worse sounding, it also was hard to play), and a fibracell #3 reed, which was the best sounding, and easiest to play reed. All used on a Number 6 mouthpiece.
I asked the lady behind the counter the difference between number 6, 7, 8, and 9 mouthpieces, but she did not know, other than the internal chamber size.
I went for the smallest number they had, number 6, because she told me it needed less air and might be easier to play.
None of these could produce the volume I needed. Besides that, I noted that (I'm playing on a Bb tenor sax) the regular octave is pretty in tune, save for the high B and C where I slightly need to squeeze the reed,
but the second octave anything above the high F starts to sound flat!
I have to squeeze the reed hard, and blow hard to be in tune!
I tried to move the mouthpiece further on the cork, but there is no audible difference at all (I could only move it 1,5 inch back or forward on the neck).
Is there anything else I could do? (I could try to squeeze it another inch on the cork, but I fear damaging the cork that way. It's already pretty tight on there).
And lastly to address the issue of volume I was thinking of buying a sax clip on mic. But I'll elaborate on that in another thread.
So, in short:
1- Is it normal to have a different tone at loud volumes, and that the sax sounds bad, compared to good at low volumes?
2- Is it true that metal mouthpieces give less tonal dynamics? I've heard 2 sax players who at first where super about metal mouthpieces, and now they use a regular rubber one, and the other uses an ebonite.
and last:
3- Is there something I can do about the high octave high notes sounding too flat? (20, perhaps upto 30ct on a tuner). I have a mpc number 6, could that number be related to the flat sounding tones?
