DIY Clip On Saxophone Mic

I am currently moving to Montreal for work, and as such have sold of lots of things I bought in the UK, and most of my music gear has been sold, including all my microphones and audio interface etc. What I do have left is my Zoom H1, and the Audio Technical ATR-3350 lapel mic.

This mic is an omni mic and supposedly does not have the proximity effect like the other cardioid mics I've owned in the past. To use it with the sax, I've followed the suggestion by Pete Thomas and built my own kind of holder for the lapel mic. Using cheapo clothes clip, I found some "aluminum wire" that is evidently used by bonsai enthusiats (to shape bonsais as they grow) at Daiso. The wire loops perfectly through the holes in the clip, and it is very flexible and easy to position the mic.

The clothes clip could be improved as it kept slipping - no rubber grip like Pete's - but it worked well enough for my recording purposes. Sadly, as my sample drive is still on a ship to Montreal, I don't have a backing tracked recorded. Will put up samples when I've settled down!

That said, I will be boarding my flight in a few hours. Woo!

Saxophone Log: October 2012

Mmmmmm sax.

Saxophone Log, April 2012

Another month, another blog! My music related blog will have more details.

Saxophone Log: March 2012

Another month another log!

Saxophone Log: February 2012

Have I Told You Lately

Music music music.

The saxophone logs will now be shifted towards the end of each month, as I will take the first few weeks to familiarize myself with each new ballad the forum members decide. And those few weeks will be needed to create my backing track as well. Seems like my theory lessons are slowly paying off :)

I've been asked several times if I intend to take this as a new career, and the answer is no.... The lifestyle of a gigging musician is definitely not what I'm interested in.

What I want to do though, is join jam sessions.

Ever since the last two times I've played in an ensemble, it's just magic. Creating music on the fly in real time with people. Hence: Jam Sessions.

Lots around London. Appear, pick a tune, improvise. Oh yeah. The jams I've been to so far are just waaay beyond my level. To do that, I need to learn the language of music, then I can speak it.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Just finished an arrangement for "Silent Night". My first arrangement, ever, and it sounds more or less quite awful. Not only that, I tried a new miking position that's closer, and makes the sax sound so damned thin. Maybe I should EQ the sax - if I knew how ;-) Last month's try on Fly Me To The Moon had a really nice tone, and that was done with the mic a fair distance away. GAH! :D

Harmonica and sax :3

We had a secret santa on our show, and my secret santa gave me this harmonica above! I don't know that much about harmonicas - apart from what they sound like - and some research proved it to be a very capable - and inexpensive - instrument indeed.

For a start, what I received was a 10 hole diatonic harmonic keyed in C. What's interesting is how the notes are produced - not only by blowing into the harmonica, but also from drawing air through it. I'm guessing mine is based on the standard Richter Tuning. Many props to my secret santa, that made my day :)

In other news, today was the last day of my sax class, for the year anyways, and we covered *alot* of topics, vibrato, tremolo, improving the articulation on the upper register, subtoning, and modes. Whew.

Articulation didn't take too long as I'd already mentioned to my teacher last month that I was having trouble articulating it, and we'd look at it the next lesson (i.e. today). In the mean time though, I worked on improving my embouchure - which seemed fruitless - but changing it - more lip out - seemed to do the trick, and my teacher agrees. Not only did it allowed me to articulate the upper register, it also added more harmonics to the high notes. Win.

Subtoning is new for me, so more things to practice, and modes, something I was never interested in but since I am learning about basses (mmmm double bass) and walking bass lines, that came up and had me throughly confused. Thankfully my teacher cleared up my misgivings quickly. Can't wait to get started on my arrangement now.

Forward!

One year of sax...

And what a year it has been. The good, the bad, the ups and downs, the time wasted, things learnt. Looking forward to the future.

In more positive note *ahem* this is also my first outing with Logic Pro 9 :3 I finally bit the bullet and bought a whole slew of software and books for my xmas break. So far, Logic seems like a pretty good step up from garageband - it allows really basic stuff, for example, recording from mic 2 only (garageband only allows mic1, or mic 1 and 2 on the same track)

There is also a proper mixer, with peak levels display which is great to know when I'm clipping. Still very new to the package though, just figured out enough how to record, add reverb and export :) Logic studio comes with Space Designer, a convolution reverb that I'm just getting my feet wet with. The video above has the "Jazz Vocal Room" reverb engaged. Seems nice, but I need to do more tests to compared it against the AU Matrix Reverb, which is very nice in its own right.

Transcribing

A few months ago, I wrote a small python script to aid my ear training. Things that happened today and last night made me re-evaluate the point of such a script.

Firstly, I finished last night, an introductory book on music theory, and for some reason, my teacher spoke again about transcribing music to observe the nuances of recorded performances.

In essence, transcribing is not just identifying notes - it is much more, such as figuring out the jumps between notes by ear, as well as picking out how individual artists play a certain piece - for example, pick a jazz standard, and observe how the different greats play it.

Both the book and my teacher spoke at length about this, so I've now started transcribing stuff. Gonna be challenging :) And I'm moving on to the next book as well.

Saxophone Log, Life, Blah

Another month, another video. It's coming up to my one year anniversary soon, I'll be making a special video for that.

Most of today has been spent attempting to write for NaNoWriMo, only got 6k this week, from a target of 10k. Not good, but I'll see how it goes :)

Legere Signature - New packaging?

A bit over the top for a reed, I'd rather save a bit of £££ on the packaging to get it cheaper... plays similarly to my current reed.

New Saxophone Mouthpiece!

Aaaaand either a) I've been sent a wrong piece else b) it will be going on ebay soon :3 This is a handmade, custom piece that I just got on Tuesday, but I've been having brain crunching days at work, which leaves me too mentally exhausted to do more.

Today though, I spent a fair bit of time with this new piece, and after much comparison with the V5, decided it was not for me. Hopefully I was sent a wrong piece, and I do want to use a custom built piece (yes I am vain). This piece plays very similar to the Vandoren V16, so a meyer styled piece. The low to mid register is absolutely delicious - low Bb to high E play beautifully extremely easily, and this mouthpiece actually fixes my middle D intonation issues! Unbelievable.

Downsides include a wildy sharp palm key notes, and the higher notes feel very thin. This is exactly what I felt with the V16, so it's basically a souped up V16.

I still decided on the V5 for the same reasons as before: The tone is good enough for what I want, all register play with good intonation - middle D can be fixed by adding the palm D key - and the tone feel nice and thick even at the palm keys.

This is the basis of what I need - an instrument that I do not need to fight. Reasonable intonation, and evenness of tone. I do not need to achieve "Saxophonist X's sound" etc etc. I sound like me and I'm bloody pleased with it.

One positive aspect came out of this. Because the new piece has a slightly wider tip opening, I had to put in my Legere Signature #2.25s, else I would wear out my embouchure in minutes.

Recordings show that the low register plays very evenly (and easily), unlike the V5 which I tend to need more puff to get the low notes to speak - and this causes the low notes to sound louder and more pronounced compared to the higher low register notes. On a whim, I switched the #2.25s on the V5, and wow, now the low notes play way easier (still not as easy as the new mouthpiece but) and the palm keys seem to play easier.

Need a bit more practice see if there are any downsides to this switch, but yeah, I was quite surprised how going down a 1/4 strength makes such a large improvement.

EDIT: To be sold ;-)

Saxophone Weekend with Andy Scott

 Architecture beside St Lawrence's Church.

Spent the weekend in beautiful Winchester attending a saxophone workshop with Andy Scott organized by Sarah Heard. I think the workshop was really well organized, with neatly timed sessions with short breaks inbetween.

 Buddy's, an American Diner just off the high street.

The group that attended seemed to range from 11 year olds to retirees; some probably have had musical background for decades, and others were just a year or more in.

Part of Winchester Cathedral

The focus seemed to be on ensemble playing as well as improvisation. We were introduced to a medly of tunes with funky beats to a laid back african piece. Some pieces had spaces for solos, and I had a great time doing with my turn at improvisation.

 Evening recital.

We ended the 2nd day, with a performance for friends and family. Playing with an ensemble is really eye opening and good fun.

Am currently pooped as I went back to the office to check on simulations :P

Safety Straps for sax?

So after yesterday's snafu, it got me thinking. Are there ways to prevent what happened yesterday? And the answer came up - SAFETY STRAPS!

Just a velcro strap that goes through the back of the case that loops around the bell or some part of the stack. Why isn't this standard in saxophone cases?

GW

Broke my sax :-/

So this morning as I was leaving for my saxophone class I picked up my case and... the sax dropped out >.> Did not zip it up after packing it last night, and I broke the screw that tightens the crook. Thankfully the sax seems to work fine, though I had difficulty playing low notes softly. Teacher checked it out and seemed fine.

Seems like that wasn't the only thing damaged, my Vandoren M/O ligature may be otherwise bent as well >.> Switching over to my cloth ligature proved to be the case as I got back all my low notes. Gah. Hopefully I can get this fixed in time - I've got a two day saxophone course next weekend. Perfect timing, this >.>

SM57 VS Heil PR31BW

I mentioned to my teacher about the Heil PR31 I got and he requested an A/B test with the SM57. Here are some results.

First, the SM57 gives a weaker signal, as seen in audacity. Both were recorded at +60dB gain on my Onyx Blackjack, and the Heil comes in just 0.7dB below 0dB.

Top track is the Heil PR31, bottom is the SM57.

I wonder if there is something up with my SM57 as it does seem quite low output. I was mic'ing about 10, perhaps 12 inches away from the sax, aimed at the middle of the upper stack, straight on.

Here are some full clips, Doxy is more jazzy, whilst Endless Night is more for evaluating a slower legato piece.


Heil PR31 vs SM57 by Gallen

Bari Reed - pretty impressive!

So I'd a go with the Bari Plastic reed today and it's actually quite good! First thing I noticed is how easy it is to blow, from bottom Bb to high F#, it seriously was effortless. Even more amazingly, I was able to get middle D in tune, without pushing the mouthpiece all the way into the cork. Hmm.

It is much brighter than the Legere Signature though, and has a very very tiny touch of buzziness to the sound. The most stand out feature though, is the volume. It is LOUD, easily giving me 3dB or more in terms of volume. The setting where the legeres were peaking about 2dB below 0dB at ff, the Bari was already peaking when I was blowing an mf. On the flip side, playing soft was quite challenging. I felt the reed presented a wider dynamic range, and it could take alot of air without choking up. This free blowing characteristic has a downside, some longer passages I usually finish with a bit of reserve on my Legere, I ran out of breath very much faster on the Bari. Mrrr.

All in all, in terms of synthetic reeds, I'm still keeping the Legere at number 1, with the Bari a very close second. Here's my personal chart of the reeds I've tried, keep in mind that I'm playing for less than a year, and the following is my experience on a Hanson SA5 on a Vandoren V5 A27

Characteristic/Reed	Legere Signature	Bari Plastic	Fibracell	Hahn Synthetic
Body/Core	***	**	**	*
Buziness		*		***
Brightness	*	**	*	***
Volume	*	***	*	*
Free Blowing	*	***	*	**
Intonation	**	***	**	*** (with reservations)
Ease of Articulation	*	***	*	***
Price	*	***	**	**
Looks like a cane reed			***
Edible

Intonation: While the Hahn could achieve reasonably good intonation over the range, even the pesky middle d, playing with it felt weird to the mouth and ears... Can't fully explain it.

Buzziness: Playing the Hahn on the V5 reminds me of playing, say, the Legere on a Lebayle Studio mouthpiece - it gives a very contemporary edge to the sound.

Bari Plastic Reed

Bought a new Legere Signature #2.5 and at the same time, got a Bari Plastic Reed. Hmm. First impressions are.... it feels like it's made of the same plastic you'd find on disposable cutlery :D

Can't wait to give it a blow. My teacher used to play on these so, hopefully they are a viable choice. One other reed I'd like to try is Harry Hartman's Fiberreed, however those are quite ouch inducing, so perhaps in a month or two. The Legere Signature has been my favourite so far, off all the reeds I've used, it has the most body and not too bright.

Saxophone Log October 2011 (or Heil PR31 rules)

Finally got down and dirty with the Heil PR31, it is *awesome*.

Signal chain is straightforward, Heil PR 31 -> Onyx Blackjack @55dB gain -> garageband. I only put a bit of plate reverb (a preset on the AU Matrix Reverb on OSX) on the saxophone track in the mix. (As much as I'd like to EQ the sax... er... I have no idea how to use eq :P)

Lovely lovely piece of kit, would definitely recommend it for alto saxophones. I've put in the files on soundcloud as well, and there is a raw version up there as well.


Saxophone Log: October 2011 by Gallen Saxophone Log: October 2011 raw heil pr31 by Gallen