Re: [Harp-L] Re: Two harps in Canned Heat

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In a message dated 3/4/2014 9:38:48 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,  
harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
<One of  the thing that surprises me when it comes to harmonica is the 
<scarcity of  bands using two or more harmonicas playing in unison or harmony. The 
<initial  learning curve of the diatonic is quite low, so it wouldnÂt be 
<that hard to  teach, say, a singer to double some easy parts if you already 
<have a harmonica  in the band -- but it just isnÂt done. CanÂt say why. (Yeah, 
<IÂm aware of  Hazmat Modine.)

An unadorned harp, or a typically amped one, occupies a pretty specific frequency range.  An amped harp tends to put out a lot of energy in the 1 kHz-6 kHz range, which is a very powerful part of the frequency spectrum for human ears; it's where a lot of the energy in rock and roll comes from.  A lot of other stuff in a band, like the singer and guitars, piles on in that range too.  Put two harps together, and you can easily overload the audience's ears, not to mention making it difficult for them to distinguish between what the two instruments are doing.

To put it simply:  two harps playing together is usually too much screech, unless the players take care to complement rather than clash with each other.  You mention Hazmat Modine in your post.  Wade Schuman solves the problem by 1) using a chromatic, rather than a diatonic, as the second harp, and 2) using FX, in Wade's case an Electro-Harmonix POG, to alter the harp's frequency range (i.e. by shifting it down an octave), which eliminates most of the potential for clashing frequencies.

The same might be accomplished by using different mics for each of the two players.  I once played with an Australian duo of piano and amped harp; I used a Labtec mic (basically a toy, but a very cool-sounding toy) to complement the bullet mic that the harp player was using.  The Labtec is WAY bass-heavy, and that kept my harp out of the way of the much more mid-rangy Bullet setup.

But two harps going through bullet mics into tube amps, the usual approach I hear for a multi-harp setup?  Too much of a good thing.  Switch out one of those bullet setups for a pitch-shifted setup, or run one of the harps straight to the PA; either approach will sound much better to everyone, and of course you can use both in a performance without much fuss.

Thanks, Richard Hunter
 

author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
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