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How can I get the richest sound?

6K views 21 replies 20 participants last post by  GHawk 
#1 ·
I was listening to a professianal world class concert alto player a little while ago, and fell in love with his rich, smooth sound. I went to his masterclass shortly after and he said that the thicker my bottom is, the richer sound I get. I tried it and it worked, but I still can't get it nearly as rich as his, and was wondering if y'all had any other tips to get the smoothest, richest, and darkest tone as humanly possible. Thanks a ton!
 
#2 ·
Good tone is all about proper embouchure, open throat, and breath control. I had a teacher tell me to pretend I had an orange stuck in my throat. Then focus on getting warm air from my lungs directly to my horn. It's like singing from the diaphragm, rather than up in your nasal/head voice.

Then you want to practice long tones, holding them out and trying to maintain even pitch and tone. Embouchure and breathing are so important.

That's my two cents, anyway.
 
#3 ·
Most people would say to do long tones - They're not wrong. I would add this: Long tones aren't just for breath support and straightness of tone. Long tones are a chance for you to concentrate on, and listen to the sound that's coming out of your horn vs. the sound that's in your head. Think of it as a meditative time instead of tedious practice. Try that for about a year before you make any serious changes in mouthpiece etc.. I'm sure you'll eventually need to change equipment around. We all do.

Also, "diaphragmatic support" is a misnomer. The diaphragm only has one function: Pulling in air!

Good luck!
 
#4 ·
OK, well I wasn't going respond to this but it coincides with a minor epiphany that occurred to day for me.

I played a new RJS 3 Hard reed on a modified (added a small baffle) .102 Saxscape mpc. I never played a reed that hard before. I can tell you, that the richness and character and solid brilliance (not brightness) was incredible! What a eye opener. I think it also may have been the holy-grail/got lucky reed in the box thing.

As a progression over time, from 2.5 to 3 to sort of 3.5ish, it has been enlightening. Anyway each step brought my sound and tonal color up a notch.

I know hard reeds doesn't equal great playing or great players, but I would encourage you to work toward relatively harder reeds for a "richer" (insert your superlative here) sound.

Of course, this is contingent on mpc tip opening etc. etc. But, all things equal, try to keep a stiff upper lip matey, suck it up, batten down the hatches, bite the bullet, tote that barge/lift that bale, and any other awkward metaphoric simile you can think of, and push yourself a bit to a stronger reed.

You might be new player by the looks of things, so don't try to jump a full strength up or anything like that but do be aware of what say a half step can do, if you're able to make it work for you and you're ready.

Oh, yeah. And all the other things as far as technique. too.
 
#20 ·
Long Tones, lots and lots of long tones.

Do them when you do triad exercises and scales. Do them just noodling around freely creating melodies slowly, holding notes at different places in the run as long as possible without them breaking up. Taking a pause between scale and chord exercises or etudes? Play some long tones. Go back and play the last bar of each exercise you just did as a long tone exercise. This will keep it varied, not boring and use it as part of making music, not just isolated notes.

When doing them--as well as when playing anything--Go for fullness and fatness, whether at the bottom or up top. With Bb1, which sometimes is hard to get started from zero without forcing it, try and not to blurt out against the resistance. That requires either having a non-resistant mpc or a easy blowing reed or both or better yet learning to control the tone at any air speed or dynamic level. Long tones have allowed me to now be able to play the bell-key notes at ppp and actually have them sound with some of their richness. Blowing a long tone at very little volume on Bb1 and having it have the tonal richness of a much higher dynamic level is what I am aiming for as much as for being able to keep it full-rich and centered when it is redlining the needle on my db meter. Loud should not be without body and form and tonal quality and neither should very soft.



+ about 1000 !!! Like you I have a Martin Tenor and every week that goes by I get more and more knocked out by the tonal qualities it allows me to create as my own playing gets better. It just keeps better and better to play and hear and in fact it sometimes it has me in awe of how rich and wonderful it sounds. It's amazing that just playing something simple can almost hypnotize me with the sound this sax is capable of and then when I realize that I am controlling and shaping that sound it blows me away. Like having some magic power of enchantment over your own being greater than any drug. Music itself is like that I know, but with the Martin it is just the sound alone that can do it.

I recommend donuts and cake.
Too fattening for the body and not for the sound.

I recommend eating more mouthpiece.

Seriously, if your playing sounds thin than you are not taking in enough mouthpiece. Do that and you'll see how it fills out your sound, especially in the upper register, and also gives you more control over harmonics, overtones and altissimo. Phil Barone used to post about this all the time and it's true. Of course, how much more depends on the design of each mpc, particularly the length of the facing and the profile of the curve. However, since these days most mpcs seem to have med to long curves, I find that with mind I was taking in too little tip and that consciously changing that has improved my sound noticeably.
 
#7 ·
I was listening to a professianal world class concert alto player a little while ago, and fell in love with his rich, smooth sound. I went to his masterclass shortly after and he said that the thicker my bottom is, the richer sound I get.
What does that mean? Your bottom lip?

I tried it and it worked, but I still can't get it nearly as rich as his, and was wondering if y'all had any other tips to get the smoothest, richest, and darkest tone as humanly possible. Thanks a ton!
It takes many years to develop that kind of sound. There are two main factors:
  • Tone production skill
  • Equipment
The first factor is of course the more important by far. You must put in the work; there are no shortcuts. In addition to the tips given above, I recommend practicing vibrato every day. This is important not only for its own sake (the "rich, smooth sound" of a concert saxophonist is almost always enhanced by expert use of vibrato), but also for the greater control over your tone quality that it will confer. It's very good exercise for your embouchure.

Eventually, equipment choice will become an important element for you as well. You can refine your tone by using a mouthpiece, reed, and horn that aid in the production of a dark, round sound.
 
#12 ·
What has helped the most for me over the years (and yes it definitely takes years) has been doing a substantial amount of voicing exercises every day - playing the overtones/harmonics (i.e. Rascher's book) and practicing altissimo scales, bending pitches, etc. - always making sure to go slow and to have a very clear idea of what sound I want and not being satisfied unless I have made some progress towards it. As mentioned above, spending a lot of time doing vibrato is also a very good idea.
 
#15 ·
Vibrato can be 'learned' in one lesson. If the student can visualize and imitate a sine wave they have the basic jaw vibrato.
As for the thicker bottom lip statement, I call BS.
Thousands of 'thin lipped' players have full, rich sounds.
Get a teacher to help you with embouchure, and what you are doing inside your oral cavity.
 
#21 ·
Every set up has a happy medium point between how much lip pressure and how much air speed you apply. The more air you put through the horn the less you have to use your face. As soon as you start putting less air through the horn you need to compensate with your face in order to keep the sound rich and full.

The best way to get a full and rich sound is by living in that happy medium zone as much as you can. Make sure you are always in tune so that you aren't biting or dropping to bring the notes in tune and in turn screwing up your happy medium zone.

Find the zone.
 
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