Plastic reeds

[Anonymous]

in terms of sound the only
difference between cane & plastic
reeds is the timbre.

i would argue that recording setups & playback sytems in the lower end of the market can’t compete with the top end of the market in playing back the true timbre.
Some people swear that systems using valves playback better than
transisters etc..

For me when i listen to someone singing on a recording, and then i go and sit in a room and listen to them sing live – million times different! Which is why i can understand why the ladies start
screaming ! Listening to a tenor
singer live is fantastic, recordings don’t do them justice.

if someone plays a wind instrument in front of me, i can’t honestly
tell what type of reed they are using! But if 2 people are playing together in front of me , one with cane and the other with plastic, and they run up and down the scales there is a timbre difference – but then again you could arguec no 2 players sound the same.

I think the jury is out on this one, but my moneys on cane, how
can an unfeeling piece of plastic
rubber compare to the instant response of a resonating piece of organic reed?

[Z]

Yeah that’s a very good point. If I’m playing by myself it will sound fine. If I play next to my friend he’ll sound different than me since I have the synthetic, but we also both sound different anyway. We both still sound good though. If I was playing with a pit for a show, I’ll still sound good because the audience isn’t gonna be like “there’s a tenor sax in there playing a synthetic reed.” Haha it will still sound good. And Johnny, they don’t necessarily feel exactly the same, but the differences are so slim they basically do. I can get used to it easily and they will feel fine. I think it’s more of a psychological thing. Like you know you’re playing a synthetic reed, so your mind tells you that the sound should be different, and you end up hearing a different sound in your head.

[Z]

Nevermind. I’m having trouble with all my setups. I’m so frustrated right now! Idk if it’s my horn or something but it’s literally hard to play certain notes. Not just with the synthetic but with cane too. So I don’t know. It’s really making me mad though. I can’t stand having these problems all the time.

[Anonymous]

well if all the reeds play the same & all the setups play the same – must be the sax?

[Anonymous]

You haven’t done what i did last year – i left an old sock inside
the sax & forgot about it!
The next day i couldn’t understand why the bottom notes wouldn’t play!

[Z]

Haha no. I mean I jus got my sax a while ago it’s brand new. I’ve never dropped it or anything. But the other day I dropped my mouthpiece and ever since then it’s been hard to play. That just doesn’t make any sense though. I don’t know why else I’d be having problems.

[Anonymous]

when you dropped the mouthpiece,
was the reed & ligature on It?

Have you done a Pop test with
the reed on the mouthpiece?

Can you play all the scale
on the mouthpiece itself?

[Z]

Yeah I can still do the pop thing with my mouthpiece. But no I can play certain notes. Some of the lower ones without the octave key jump up an octave and the lowest G does that thing where you get that multi phonic sort Of sound on it. I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

leaking pads or damaged ligature?
best take it to a repair shop?
You haven’t gone up a size in
mouthpieces recently?

[john]

sounds like a pad leak the way you describe what’s happening in the low octave.

[Author]

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