Carrying power

[Mary Ann]

That was mentioned in another thread, and it got me to wondering.

I noted in years past that my Schmid horn with the Lawson ambronze bell had enormous carrying power, and that the Holton on my left, although it was loud up close, did not carry nearly as well, based on recordings.

I've also been told more than once that the NStar carries extremely well, although to me it is not nearly as loud up close as the bigger tuba on my right (which also carries very well based on my hearing it in concerts that I was in the audience for.) But I haven't heard recordings of them in the same concert.

So what physical characteristics cause a brass instrument to either carry well or not?

[bloke]

smaller throat...more treble...easier to hear

bell-schmell

[Sousaswag]

I think playing in tune has a LOT to do with it too…

[bloke]

I'm doing a video game orchestra concert tonight. Man those things are dumb, but they sell a lot of tickets. I'm using the Holton instrument. It's just about identical to a four quarter York - for those who know what those are like. The fact that it's not six quarter offers a whole bunch of punch, video game music is very rhythmic, and I think the brass section appreciates percussiveness offered by the bell shape. Every single one of us has a click track and an earbud, but sometimes the crap we're playing drowns it out.

Changing to a related topic, I'm waiting for the show to start right now in Nashville, and I'm fantasizing about driving home in my car in 2 and 1/2 hours or so.

[Three Valves]

.45 is best.

9mm is adequate.

.380 is so-so.

[bloke]

off topic update:
They scream with joy at the beginning of each chart, and all during each one.
The place is sold out and it's a huge place. To them this is obviously their reality. It's fascinating, and it's also pretty sad. I've played these before. This sort of like the casino gigs in that you see all the people who are emphasizing and embracing all the wrong things.

[tofu]

I'm doing a video game orchestra concert tonight. Man those things are dumb, but they sell a lot of tickets. I'm using the Holton instrument. It's just about identical to a four quarter York - for those who know what those are like. The fact that it's not six quarter offers a whole bunch of punch, video game music is very rhythmic, and I think the brass section appreciates percussiveness offered by the bell shape. Every single one of us has a click track and an earbud, but sometimes the crap we're playing drowns it out.

Changing to a related topic, I'm waiting for the show to start right now in Nashville, and I'm fantasizing about driving home in my car in 2 and 1/2 hours or so.

I literally have no idea what a video game concert is. I don’t play video games - is this the music of the games? This is a thing? And orchestras are performing this stuff? I must be getting old and completely out of the loop.

[Charlie C Chowder]

Yep, us old guys have no idea what the kids are grooving to unless we also play the video games. I once lent a returning PTSD
vet borrow a cello to learn on. All he wanted to play was the Mario Brothers' theme over and over again. Then they watch other people play the games on You Tube.
The many street bands that came to the "Honk" event here in Portland only played video themes. As it was mostly new to me, it was enjoyable. Many were in costume as if they were at Comicon.
They are even thinking of adding video games to the Olympics.
Hey we loved the Beatles and our wives went crazy for them when they were young.

CCC

[bloke]

I'm doing a video game orchestra concert tonight. Man those things are dumb, but they sell a lot of tickets. I'm using the Holton instrument. It's just about identical to a four quarter York - for those who know what those are like. The fact that it's not six quarter offers a whole bunch of punch, video game music is very rhythmic, and I think the brass section appreciates percussiveness offered by the bell shape. Every single one of us has a click track and an earbud, but sometimes the crap we're playing drowns it out.

Changing to a related topic, I'm waiting for the show to start right now in Nashville, and I'm fantasizing about driving home in my car in 2 and 1/2 hours or so.

I literally have no idea what a video game concert is. I don’t play video games - is this the music of the games? This is a thing? And orchestras are performing this stuff? I must be getting old and completely out of the loop.

If you attended one you wouldn't believe it.

[gocsick]

I've been to a video game jazz jam on a college campus. It was a ton of fun. There is a huge monthly one in NYC that gets a bunch of musicians and a huge audience.

Adam Neely did a nice YouTube highlight on his experience at one

[tokuno]

off topic update:
They scream with joy at the beginning of each chart, and all during each one. .

I enjoy and generally prefer the familiar and relatable, but especially in uncomfortable environments, and perhaps that’s the appeal for some of the audience in the concert hall. Maybe it’s also the novelty of hearing these staid musician types indulging in a bit of whimsy instead of the furrowed brow, dead composer, surreptitious watch-checking stuff that some attendees get dragged out to sit still for.

We were flat busted in the late 80s/early 90s, but treated ourselves to the SF Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet - probably our Christmas present that year- and it amused me that there was an audible, collective murmur of delight during the Dance of the Knights, because folks recognized it from the Acura commercial on television. https://youtu.be/ijQLLYL3V3Q?feature=shared

Re the OT: appreciate the answers. I loved the velvety sound of my Willson 2900 from behind the bell, but was mystified that friends in the audience had difficulty hearing me. My solution back then was to just sell and switch to a different horn.

[bloke]

We all love playing the "dark/deep-bass"-sounding instruments, because they sound so nice to use from underneath their bells, but (either) they are very difficult for the patrons to aurally interpret "out there" OR we need to punch up the articulation and/or volume level to pull their ears into what we're doing with our "dark/teutonic"-toned instruments.

Often (as with the video game concert) I use my 4/4 BB-flat (.687" bore) instrument because it more easily offers more growl and punch and - unlike the C instruments that people buy in approximately the same size range) this 4/4 BB-flat is slightly smaller than those (though still with a 19-inch bell) and the longer bugle offers more resonance (vs. C), so (well...and risking triggering all the people who own C 4/4 tubas - whether King-Getzen, King-Conn or Chinese - via the avoidance of "perhaps" or "in my opinion") my 4/4 BB-flat is (having played all of those) better than any of those.

[Mary Ann]

Speaking of deep dark bass (sort of) -- a friend of mine is in the process of buying the Eb contrabass sarrusophone off Reverb. He is an amateur bassoonist.