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Do you recommend me to buy Yamaha silent brass mute?


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J.D. Heckathorn
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I live in a condo (hopefully for not much longer) and have found the newest iteration of the Yamaha Silent Brass to be invaluable for me to practice at odd times like early in the morning and late at night. I had a complaint it was too loud shortly after I moved in so I tried the silent brass, and a few other practice mutes and ultimately chose the silent brass.

It can mess with your intonation, but as long as you keep it in your mind that there is an adjustment to me had when playing open it shouldn't be an issue after some flexibility and long tone warmups.

Another thing is to make sure you have the volume up all the way on the unit, it will alleviate the urge to overblow to hear yourself. I actually find I play better after a week of using the SB only then playing without it for a session. It's almost like taking a bat weight off in baseball, I feel more in control and respond in an organic way to the natural acoustic feedback of my sound instead of the digitally modeled version. This is just my anecdotal experience, it's always better to play open but if the reality of your playing situation doesn't allow it then you have to do what you must to get in practice. Don't let the lack of ideal practice conditions stop you from practicing.
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TKSop
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

zaferis wrote:

For me there are a number of added benefits to these systems:
1. With the headphones on you can hear and amplify your sound so you back off blowing a little which does help to mitigate the pack pressure.


This.

I find most players overblow when using practice mutes - they expect to hear something back, so they make sure they can hear it... and in doing so, they overblow and the mute fights back.

The electronic mutes (Yamaha or Bestbrass) giving feedback seems to curtail this significantly - the electronics mean you can hear yourself and the volume coming from the mute to outside listeners drops substantially compared to the same mute being used without the headphones.

I couldn't agree more about your point 2 also - theres something about the feedback from these mutes shows up the clarity (or lack thereof) in articulation in a way you don't experience when playing unmuted).
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BGinNJ
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had the new version for a while. I found it wonky, made some notes much more out of tune. The wires are a pain- the last straw was when I was using it in a hotel room, I put down my horn to answer the phone, got tangled up in the wires, and the horn ended up on the floor with a dent in the bell flare.

For sound reduction, the renuzit mute works just as well, and you can't beat the price.
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cheiden
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought I read that Renuzit had retooled their design making it incompatible with it's earlier practice mute utility.

Sounds like Yamaha needs to invest in making their mute work with wireless headphones. These days it can't be that hard to do.
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TKSop
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cheiden wrote:
I thought I read that Renuzit had retooled their design making it incompatible with it's earlier practice mute utility.

Sounds like Yamaha needs to invest in making their mute work with wireless headphones. These days it can't be that hard to do.


The amount of wiring is what gives me a slight preference for my Bestbrass (Ebrass IV) over the Yamaha... the Yamaha sound quality is slightly better (neither is perfect) but the Bestbrass has the electronics on the mute itself so there's less cables dangling about, which I like.

I wouldn't want to use either too regularly... but if I HAD to, I'd choose either of these over a practice mute without the electronics all day long.
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HaveTrumpetWillTravel
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In some places you don't have much choice. I live in an apartment with single-pane windows in a a city. I can practice a modest amount in my closet open, but basically just have to use my shhmute. I figure horns already blow with different levels of resistance, and it's not terrible to practice with some extra resistance.
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stephaniesu
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

been wondering the same thing, you guys helped a lot



https://musicadvisor.com/half-note/
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jhahntpt
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In high school I did a lot of late night practicing with a Yamaha Silent Brass, the older bowling pin model though. I would practice a TON with it before an audition or assessment that I was worried about. I always played like crap the next day because I never knew how to balance the feeling of playing.

Practice mutes typically add a lot of resistance and figuring out the balance between that and open playing always eluded me. I haven't used a practice mute in at least seven years now and I don't think I could bring myself to do it again.
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delano
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Almost all the trumpetplayers I know, including myself, did buy once a Yamaha silent system to sell it soon again.
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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some people don't have much of a choice. The negatives as expressed above are useful and informative.. But for those who must use a quiet mute for practice, can anyone post an alternative that is better than the latter model Yamaha? Thanks.
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John Mohan
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've tried pretty much all the different practice mutes, including the Yamaha Silent Brass.

I've found for me that the best "practice mute" is a Dennis Wick adjustable cup mute. The cup section can be slid up and down the main section of the mute to vary the distance between the rim of the cup and the trumpet bell's rim. In this way the level of sound (and resistance) can be adjusted for different practice situations. When tightened all the way up, there is some perceived resistance but the sound is every bit as quite as with any practice mute. If one leaves perhaps a millimeter gap between the cup rim and the bell the perceived resistance all but disappears yet the sound is still quite enough for most situations (practicing in an apartment or hotel room, etc.).

But here is the most important reason I prefer the Dennis Wick adjustable cup mute: It does not affect the intonation of the horn. Every true practice mute I have ever tried changes the intonation in the different ranges, making the upper register either flat or sharp relative to the lower register. The worst offenders do this noticeably even between the range of Low C and tuning C.

I can easily play from F# below Low C up to G above High C using the Dennis Wick adjustable cup mute with no intonation issues.

I think having intonation issues is worse than resistance issues when using a practice mute, because the player will tend to adjust for the mute's shortcomings and then find himself pushing notes flat or sharp when performing without that practice mute. The Dennis Wick adjustable cup mute eliminates this concern.

Caveat: If possible, any form of practice mute should be avoided - but that, as most of us know, is not always possible. For me, it was the year and a half I toured Europe with Grease das Musical and the winter I lived in a hotel in Basel, Switzerland while on West Side Story that having a practice mute (in my case, my Dennis Wick adjustable cup mute - which is actual in my horn in my avatar picture of me here, the picture being taken in the Orchestra Pit during West Side Story) proved indispensable to me.

Best wishes,

John Mohan
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Last edited by John Mohan on Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:12 am; edited 1 time in total
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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, John.
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