Trying out horns with different tuning slides with video

[Letstalktrumpet]

Hello all!
I was messing with my horns and started switching out the tuning slides between my horns. I made a quick video and played each of the horns with the different tuning slides. Please give it a watch and tell me the differences that you can hear and which horn/combination you prefer!

Video link:

https://youtu.be/Wm0KgOhKhl8

Horns used-Bach 37, 25L, 72*/43

[chrisf3000]

Nice playing - I love doing experiments like this, so I hope you don't mind me chiming in first. Here's what I heard:

Tuning slide no. 1 was better, IMHO, on both the first and the second horns. Switching to tuning slide no. 2, I still heard a nice sound but you didn't sound as secure on it and sounding like you might have been compensating a bit. Don't apologize for missing! That was most likely a result of the lack of security, not your fault

Trumpet number three sounded nice, but to my ear (on my computer speakers) it sounded slightly more diffuse. That's my long way of saying I really liked horn one and two with tuning slide A and between the two I liked the second horn with tuning slide A the best. Hope that makes sense!

[Brassnose]

As a Bach 43 + 43 leadpipe player I was of course looking for a 43 I agree with the above post; the second tuning slide makes the horn sound like there is a lag or delay in response so I’d definitely go with the first slide in both cases. Soundwise I can not hear much of a difference but I like the last horn precisely because it does seem a little less focused.
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

[JayKosta]

There seemed to be a lot of re-verb or echo in the recording, and that makes it difficult for me to identify sound differences in the horns themself - because just slight changes in playing position can greatly affect the recorded sound.
And it might also affect your (the player's) perception of the sound quality, and perhaps even how the horn feels when being played in a small room.

All the combinations sounded fine!
_________________
Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[Dave_3]

To be honest, I couldn't tell much, if any, difference between them, though I'm hardly an expert. They all sounded nice, to me.

[Richard III]

Fine playing.

A. Slide 2 totally opened up the horn. Fuller sound. Very pleasing. Still centered notes but just more overtones and sound. Slide 1 just sounded like all core and lacked the depth and breadth in sound.

B. Slide 1 cured the issue the horn had by centering the notes. Slide 2 just sounded like it made the horn squirrelly.

C. That horn would drive me crazy. Certain notes, due to a loss of overtones, just sounded out of tune. They may have been perfect but the change in resonance just would drive me crazy. I have instruments like that and when I listen back at the recordings, I have to turn them off. Funny no one ever says anything live. Is it a recording issue? I don't know.

Favorite combination by a mile was horn A with slide 2. If you play that combination, I would pay to come see and hear you.
_________________
Richard

King 1130 Flugabone
King 12C mouthpiece

[Winghorn]

Now that I am older, I guess my attention span has lessened.

If you would have described in advance the order of presentation of the horns and tuning slides, and then played the horns back to back without any discussion in between, it would have been easier for me to remember the various sounds to compare.

By skipping around in your video, I was was better able to compare the horn/slide combinations in my mind.

I prefer horn 1 (Bach 37) with slide 2.

You have a lovely sound, which reinforces my belief that a Bach Strad cannot be beaten for sound quality.

[Robert P]

I think you need a different recording setup and environment to make recordings that capture the sound well enough to make a meaningful assessment.

Capturing the nuances of trumpet is hard to begin with, then you're dealing with what Youtube's compression does to it. You sound like you're in a medium sized room with a short reverb profile. It's not clear if you're always the same distance from the mic. I see that you're using your phone's onboard mics - that's not gonna cut it. It does a decent job but it's not good enough for what you're trying to do.

If you're recording a big band album or pop tunes one mic is fine - if it sounds like a trumpet and the sound is clean that's good enough but to try and really capture the nuances of the instrument you need a different arrangement. For critical listening I would store the files somewhere they can be stored uncompressed or a high quality compressed format - Google drive is free.

I would recommend recording as if you were making a classical album - in a big chapel or a big recording studio room with with multiple mics to capture more of the ambience of the horn. Probably a minimum of 4 mics - two that are closer to the horn and a couple further back to capture the more ambient sound and then mix them to get an appropriate balance.

Look at the mic setups used for Alison Balsom's albums. In each she's being picked up by probably 20 mics - both condenser and ribbon mics. Btw both these albums are superb ear candy - "Italian Concertos" and "Sound The Trumpet".





_________________
Getzen Eterna Severinsen
King Silver Flair
Besson 1000
Bundy
Chinese C

Getzen Eterna Bb/A piccolo
Chinese Rotary Bb/A piccolo

Chinese Flugel

[Letstalktrumpet]

Some great comments on this so far!

First off, thank you all for the complements on tone/playing! After graduating from college and becoming a band director I went from practicing several hours a day to getting two in if I am lucky. I try to keep my face up but it can be pretty frustrating when I have a bad chop day. It makes me feel better to hear that I still sound okay and not like a kazoo.

Some more details I had left out in my original post,

I used a Pickett 1.5c with a 24 throat on a Warburton 6 backbore with a 27 throat for my mouthpiece. I use this mouthpiece pretty much exclusively. I will switch to a Warb. H backbore for Eb/Piccolo and an 8* for cornet.

The 37 used (horn A) is the strad I used through college. I do not use it much these days as it feels a little stuffy to me now. (Though it did not in college and I thought that this 37 was great and super open.)

The 25L (horn B) that was used is an odd bird. I got it a few months ago and the jury is still out on it. The horn plays very well, feels nice and has a great sound/response. The bug is the slotting. The slots are in radically different places than any horn I own. If I play just that horn I feel and play great on the 25L but face a significantly harder time in switching to another Bb. However when I am in sync with the horn I make some great sounds and am really happy with it.

The Bach 72*/43 (horn C) is my most played horn, and ironically enough it seems to be the most disliked or least preferred of the three. I can 100 percent agree with the comments labeling it "diffuse". If the 37 bell is like a spear, my 72 bell is like a spear with the pointed tip cut off. It feels the best of all three of my horns to play (and is also the most taxing on the chops) I think due to how open it is. I use a good deal of air and the horn does not back up or feel tight when I push a lot of air through. On the contrary, most of my friends strongly dislike this horn as it is so big and such a blow.


I intend to make some more videos in the future. I am a band director so I have long thought about creating an informative trumpet youtube channel and filling it full of helpful tidbits and such. (not that there isn't a thousand other trumpet videos on youtube but I digress)

[Letstalktrumpet]