 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Dano
Date: 2005-04-09 01:22
How does Pete Fountain get that wide, reedy, almost sax sound from his clarinet? Is it his reed-mouthpiece combo? His chops? His recording engineer? His clarinet, or just a combo of all of the above? I can't seem to imitate it and it is driving me nuts. I started out not liking it at all and now I just need to prove that" I can get that sound too". This is just one part of what makes playing music so fun. Trying to get "that sound". Any hints?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-04-09 01:37
To be honest, I think it's the big barrel clarinet. I hear a very similar "tubby" sound from Paquito D'Rivera who also uses a big bore clarinet (Rossi big bore).
Those are the only two I was able to compare/contrast as far as big bore jazz goes, but I do hear the same very (pardon my using Pete's coined term) 'fat' sound.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2005-04-09 11:57
The larger bore clarinets lend themselves to playing at higher volumes, not necessarily with a different tonal inflection. Gervase dePayer comes to mind, and he has a clear, even tone.
Pete uses a rather open tip mouthpiece, flexible soft reed and excellent technique in "riding" the microphone to even out his sound with amplification.
He is unabashed in attributing much of his signature sound to his mixer...
For your purpose, find a larger more reverberant room.
It may be easier to tease out this sound from the lower notes, first.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-04-09 13:30
Well put, S B, much like my "feelings" and some big bore + rev-tapered barrel + "jazz" mp [non-scientific] research I mentioned in another thread. The 15.00 mm bores, CT amd 9's, early PF cls, Dyn 2, H etc were, and still are, the best IMHO for the 30-60's big band/combo jazz of our greats, AS, BG, WH, JD, and many others. Still wish to try out Doc's Power barrel ! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dano
Date: 2005-04-09 15:20
I have tried to get that "tubby" sound, as sfalexi puts it, on my CT, my 9 and my LL and the closest I get is with the CT and a very open mp like a 5JB a #2 Mitchell Lurie. I also seem to get closer when I play at home, in a room with hardwood floors, no curtains and minimal "soft" furnishings. I don't want to change my "style" of sound but Pete sure makes a clarinetist want to try and imitate his style! Thanks for the input.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2005-04-09 18:43
Don,
Please check out the message that I posted a few minutes ago on Brenda's thread about the Power Barrel. It arrived today and I'm very impressed with it.
I've never tried to imitate Pete Fountain's sound. However, I quite naturally love a dark, fat, sweet sound on clarinet. The set up I'm using to get this type of sound is a mid-60's Noblet, Ralph Morgan RM28 mouthpiece, #3 Alexander Classique reeds, and a silver Francois Louis ligature. I get a fatter sound with this set up than with any high end Buffet or Selmer that I've tried. Old Noblet clarinets have a lovely dark, fat sound. However, the Morgan RM28 mouthpiece plays a key role for me in maintaining a strong tonal core and a beautiful sound no matter how hard I push it in a big band. I've tried quite a few more open "jazz" clarinet mouthpieces (including Morgan jazz models) and I've not been happy with their sound. The RM28 does it for me.
Roger
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-04-09 19:55
TKS, Roger, re-read these 2 interesting threads as suggested. There sure is something to be said for barrels! My only Noblet cl is a Stubbins model, 60's ?, but I'll try it out with my enlarged-top Nob barrel and the other 2 ?tapered? [will try to measure] ones , hoping to get "fat" but only in sound. Will report with anything significant. Doc, please send me a P B, for Selmers/Leblancs, along with billing. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2005-04-09 23:35
I'm amazed that this sound results from the barrel and NOT the mouthpiece. So if I wanted to get a barrel, what would I order? I think Pete is the greatest guy going.
A fellow dixie player said that he used a GIG or VIG barrel. It had a unique look, rather like striated, or what? I can't think of the word.
Please respond either by E-mail or just here. Thanks. Carol
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2005-04-10 02:41
Dear Carol and Don, (Disclaimer - I am the inventor and sell the Power Barrel)
The Power Barrel does not fit all professional model horns. The tenon size is different on some. Lucky for me the tenon size on the upper joint of all student model clarinets is the same. I have not tried it, for lack of samples, on all older professional model clarinets but it fits many. If a Buffet barrel fits your tenon the Power Barrel will work.
As mentioned in the thread below on the Power Barrel it aids in projection and sound volume on its own by emphasizing and amplifying the even harmonic series of frequencies of notes which are much better perceived by the human ear than the odd harmonics characteristic of the acoustic properties of the closed tube of the clarinet. It also alters the perceived sound volume by this same principal (the acoustics are complex). The player, reed and mouthpiece further alter the pattern of frequencies generated using the Power Barrel and many say it adds clarity and projection to their tone (you mileage may vary of course). I have no way to characterize "fat" or "tubby".
L. Omar Henderson
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2005-04-10 14:18
James Galway was just in Ann Arbor. The local snewspaper interviewed him by phone the week before. They started trying to get into the effects of different metals on sound, and he said that in his opinion the player more to do with tone production than the hardware. Sir James said that he has a wonderful Steinway piano, and Vladimir Ashkenazy is his neighbor. When Mr. Ashkenazy plays this piano, he sounds like Vladimir Ashkenazy, and when Sir James playes it he sounds like Sir James. "So there you have it."
To expand upon this, so much of how you sound is the result of growing with whatever equipment you learned on that, except for the most skilled and adaptable players, there may well be limits to what really works for you.
If you are a jazz player, your impressions of the Pete Fountain model clarinets will be different from the impressions that a classical player might get. This is more pronounced for people who grew up playing Leblancs. I am not one of these people, don't like my sound on the PF model clarinets, and they just don't feel right to me. But people I know who have played on Leblancs all their lives get a really great sound on them, and what I play on just doesn't feel right to them.
Regards
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: JimV
Date: 2005-04-11 04:16
Pete plays a 15mm bore LeBlanc w/forked Bb and articulated G# with the standard barel that comes with it. His mouthpiece from the 50s-60s is a 4* O'Brien with the tip opened a little. He uses PF 2 1/2 Marca reeds. He gets that nice sound without any amplification at all but needs amplification for most rooms/outside he works to be heard clearly above the rest of the band. He gets the same exact sound as one of his idols, Irving Fazola who played with Bob Crosby's Bobcats.
Jim
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ned
Date: 2005-04-11 05:21
""I think Pete is the greatest guy going.""
Yeah....he's a pretty good player, but........do you/have you listened to the creole masters of 20s and 30s from the same city?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SJ
Date: 2005-04-11 18:06
I've talked with Pete about this on several occasions. Although he has been associated with leblanc for many years, his sound mostly is the result of his throat and embroshure techniques. He still sounded like "Pete" on a new Bundy with the stock #3 mouthpiece.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Mills
Date: 2005-04-12 21:38
Dear Dano; I also have the 5JB and have used the same Mitchel Lurie #2 reed. The 5JB does not have a large bore so that on a 15mm instrument the slightly smallest diameter in the whole length of the instrument is at the base of the mpc. That makes a really free blowing ability the way Fountain hits the clarion notes. Then I switched to a #2 Marca and filed the sidewalls of the 5JB mpc to help drive that harder reed. The sound is even darker and more powerful and just as responsive as Pete's, I speculate. I started with him when his first album came out, Pete Fountain Day, back around 1960. No anemia here from you, apparently, Keep Blasting, Ken
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-04-13 13:33
Not an expert on this but I have owned several O'Brien mouthpieces... If Pete is playing a 4* that has been open up....then right away you have a big fat great sound! JP
Freelance woodwind performer
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dano
Date: 2005-04-13 14:54
Thanks Ken. I had not thought about filing the 5JB and using a #2 Marca. It sounds good on paper. Sounds like I could have some fun experimenting on my old spare 5JB. There is nothing like hearing from a fellow 5JB'r about what may work.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
