Can you mute a sax?

[tyrone_owen]

Hi

I live in a semi-detached house with very thin walls. I haven't bought myself a sax yet but I know what one problem will be already and that is it will be too loud. Is there any way to mute a saxophone effectively in order to save my neighbours any angst?

Cheers

[DougR]

No.
However you cannot be certain how much noise it will take to upset a neighbour, I have an excellent (stone deaf) neighbour.
Some are touchy, and some are tolerant, most can come to some sort of arrangement., - restricted hours of practice, not before 6am etc.
Often you will find that the common wall is quite a good barrier to air-borne sound and that a window left open will let out (in) much more noise.

[Little My]

Don't let it stop you starting or practising, I lost nearly a year of practising through being oversensitive to neighbours comments & really regret it now, you never get that time back. Play in a room that doesn't have a party wall, play when they're out. Tell them that you'll be playing, and that there will be some noise, every day, for about x amount of time. If they work nights or keep unusual hours, ask when is best for them for you to practise. As long as you're good neighbours in every other way, there should be no problem. And if you're not good neighbours, well less of a problem, I used to wreak perfect revenge on a drunken noisy neighbour by playing along with his music, only 2 bars behind and in a different key.

[sax1st]

A fairly simple way of muting the sax without affecting the tuning TOO much is to take a tea-towel or similar, scrunch it up and place it down the bell, not too far maybe about 3 inches or so. It cuts down on the volume and still allows you to play most notes other than the bell notes. I don't recommend you practise like this all the time. You need to hear your true sound to make adjustments as required in terms of tuning, tone etc. But for the sake of your neighbour and good vibes a tea-towel, at least while you're still in the begining phases of learning, can work wonders. You might want to do the long tones,scales and the more "mundane" exercises with the sax muted and maybe the more musical aspects of your practising (play alongs, transcribed solos etc) without it. A compromise I guess!

Hope that helps!
Alex.

[sax1st]

I should add that a tea towel or similar down the neck is not going to make the horn sound good. However as we're talking about not dissing the neighbours then I guess something has to give. If it's of any use, after 35 years of playing I still use this method to mute the horn...sometimes just to give my ears a break during long practise sessions!!

Cheers!
Alex.

[Martin Williams]

You should look into the silent sax gig bag, you can find it on www.wwbw.com. It doubles and as a gig bag and a sax mute, that supposedly cuts the sound by 70%. I havent tried it, so I dont know if that is true, but ww&bw are very reputable, so that should be true. Good Luck!
Martin

[timobrien]

Check into a Yamaha WX-5 windsynth and Yamaha VL70-m sound module (try patchmanmusic.com). It looks similar to a straight soprano and can play very realistic sounds of MANY instruments. Fingering is just like a sax. About $1300 for a set.

You can plug in headphones or into an amplifier/PA for gigs.

[gary]

You should look into the silent sax gig bag, you can find it on www.wwbw.com. This is a well-meaning suggestion, but the bag likely will not help you. Playing in the silent bag may cause more problems that it's worth. There has been discussion on this in the past so a savvy Forum search should give you some info and background on it.

Having said that, check with WW&BW's liberal return policy. If you don't mind paying postage to and from, you can probably try one out at home and return it for a refund if you don't like it. I had one and it was practically useless.

[griff136]

I agree with Doug. Have a chat with the neighbours and come to some arrangement where you know you wont be annoying them. Also if you practice in a room that has soft furniture, carpets curtains etc these will all help to " absorb" some of the sound - play in the bathroom with tiled walls and a stone floor and you'll have the whole neibourhood at your door!

[david044058]

I saw something that mutes the sax. its a bag that covers it. i wnt to know if this works b4 i buy it
ty

[Greyduster]

I live with neighbours on both sides, luckily they're musicians so tolerant but I'm still sensitive to the effects of my practice. I practise pretty nearly every night, on average for half an hour. I generally do it between 8.00 and 9.00 pm. I try never to play after 9.00 (must admit if I'm carried away I do go over sometines. The point is that they know I will be practising and they know when and they know that even If I've practised for an hour it Will stop at 9.00.

The worst part of other people's noise is not knowing when it will happen and even worse not knowing when it will stop. I do play at other times but usually at weekends during the day when either people are out or busy doing things so it's not quite so noticeable.

I don't have any problems. You could explain this to the neighbours and say if it's a problem to talk to you.

Oh yes the other thing I do is I play my Tone Edge mouthpiece not the Lawton or the Bari. The Tone Edge is noticeably quieter and more mellow.
At least it is the way I play it.

Greyduster

[Deva]

Compromise and consideration without preventing you playing is my suggestion.

I live in a mid-terrace house with neighbours either side. One side has young children so I never play late. The other side does not get up until lunchtime so I never play early. Then there are my muslim neighbours' prayer times I try to avoid. I have re-arranged my work hours so I can get home and play between 6 and 7pm, to avoid disturbing anyone's sleep. I never play later than this slot, and if I play earlier on a weekend or day off then I still keep my playing within the late afternoon. And we all seem to be getting on ok with this. I think the predictability of my practicing really helps.

An architect friend of mine says that although soft surfaces help reduce sound to some extent, the best soundproofing comes from i) a heavy barrier like an extra layer of bricks or full bookshelves, and ii) not having any way for air to pass through like a plug socket or other hole in the party wall.

Playing sax is so satisfying, hope you do it!

[tyrone_owen]

Thanks all, some top tips.

I have started playing and boy is it loud! I play around 30 minutes a day between 5 and 6 pm when I get home. No complaints as yet.

Cheers

[Whatasaxman]

One option I found useful when I was an apt dweller was playing into my closet. That way the horn can still respond normally but large potion of the sound gets absorbed by the clothes. My ex-wifes side was preferable as it contained a much higher density of clothes than mine.

[Kareeser]

Wow. Perfect! A walk in closet... nobody expects to see you in there, nor can they hear you...

[Unsaxworthy]

I read somewhere about Sonny Rollins playing into his closet. I don't know if he DID or still DOES.

I agree though. Stuff a tea towell into the bell, or even a sock, or even a sock over the bell, and play in the closet. That should cut the majority of the sound while still allowing you enough sound to get some benefits from practicing.

I used to live by a large church and I would just drive over to the parking lot and play outside. There was rarely anyone around and even when there was, they were so far away it didn't really matter.

-DannyOKC

[saxophrenic]

:P :P
Yup, I play in a cedar lined walk - in closet. Works great for me! 8)

[timobrien]

Also, if you are looking for a very DEAD sounding recording space, a walk-in closet with the clothes still hanging up works very well....