[Harp-L] Re: 2 naked Tones 1 cup :)

[diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Tone can only come from you. Everything else is coloration of tone. 

There is a misconception that a tight hand cup on the mic is important to good tone. How you cup the mic has nothing to due with creating tone. The use of hand movements on and around the mic and harp color the tone, they don't create it. 
Read on. 

I've watched pro players from both front and more importantly from the back and off to the side. What may look like a tight cup out front is more often an open cup with the right hand. This allows you to hear yourself better on stage plus provides strong reflection of tone into the mic. You can reflect some of the sound back to your right ear like a personal monitor if you hold the harp and mic with your left hand. 

Where tight hand cups become important is creating a separation of bright and dark tonal coloration. But it doesn't end there. There are many points in between having and open and tight cup that work. You just have to determine where to use them best while playing. Maybe give a warble one hand effect, a trill another, a tongue slap another. Hand effects seem to work best when using them to accent or sustaining a phrase or chord. Randomly using them without purpose for where you place them just sounds awkward at best. 

If you have an opportunity to hear the great tone monsters of the old school style live chances are most of them play dry on stage. Jason Ricci being an exception in the new school style but using hand effects along with pedals. It's the use of their hands to color their tone that make for interesting listening. It's been said some acoustic harp players had more then 21 different hand movements in their technique. Some of the those can work for both electric and acoustic. 

I studies both Steve Guyger's and Gary Primich's (RIP) hand cups up close. Gary had killer live tone. They both keep/kept the side of their cup open during regular playing rather then having a death grip on the mic then opening it to create effect. I see guys at jams do the opposite. They hold a tight grip on the mic from start to finish on their solos and their soloing sounds one dimensional. 

Now this is where mics come in. If you are a straight shooter (no hand play) and prefer to let pedals color your tone for effect then something like the Audix is a good mic to have. Almost zero proximity effect. 

If you are looking to sculpt and color your tone with your hands then finding a mic with strong proximity effect characteristics is what will work best for you. Biscuit and Bullet shaped mics work best in this instance. 

While many of you love the PE 53/54 or 545, myself included, I find it doesn't really allow for a strong separation between open and closed cup. For wand use the SM57 is a better choice IMHO for using hand effects. 

My suggestion is to develop your tone first before even investing in secondary gear to color your tone. 

One way to do that is exercise opening your throat muscles to project better tone. Place your thumb and middle finger to the side of your throat. Stiffen your lower jaw and move it forward slightly. If you do it right you should be able to feel the muscles in your throat expand. Practice this exercise for awhile then try it with the harp in your mouth. After awhile you should be able to automatically open your throat muscles. Take notice to how you can blow a note without using the technique then trying it. You may find your tone becoming richer and projecting farther without the need to blow harder to get the same volume. Your reeds will probably last longer too since you won't need to work them as hard. 

The other important thing to do along with opening your throat and mouth is to expand your chest muscles as well so your entire oral cavity from lungs to mouth acts as a tone amplifier. Playing hunched over and looking like you're trying to cough up a lung does nothing for tone and is more a stage presence thing IMO. Assume the position of an opera singer if you really want to belt out the notes. :) 

Someone brought up Pete Sheridan's name. He has been a long time neighborhood friend. At 76 he has great tone for being a string bean of a man. 





Message: 9 
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:56:44 -0400 
From: Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Subject: [Harp-L] Naked Tone 
To: Harp-L List <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Message-ID: <C9DD4D5A-0D47-457B-ACE1-E603188F2DA5@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii 

I Facebook friend recently asked which stomp box he should purchase to get that "Little Walter sound." Over the years this list has debated this subject ad nauseum from the equipment point of view. Many players hold dear the notion that there's a magical combination of microphone, amp, stomp box. comb material, etc that will make this happen. It got me revisiting tone. 

Completely excluding any discussion about the toys, what do you do affect and perfect your tone? 

Bob Cohen 
Writer, Internet Consultant, Teacher 
w: bobjcohen.com 
t: #itsabobworld 

----- Original Message -----