How to Choose a Saxophone Mouthpiece? The Baffle
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2019
- Did you ever struggle to find the best mouthpiece for your saxophone? It can be a pain and we know that at Syos, that's why we are here to help you, saxophone players! Here's the first video of a series on How to choose your saxophone mouthpiece. For the first episode, Maxime, PhD in cognitive acoustic science and co-founder of Syos saxophone mouthpieces, talk about the most important part of the mouthpiece: the baffle.
All the mouthpieces that are showed in the video are available on Syos website:
Blue one : cutt.ly/uQaeDq
Green one : cutt.ly/cQafqn
Purple one : cutt.ly/AQaz3Z
Yellow one : cutt.ly/YQamJx
Music : Hip Jazz : www.bensound.com
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#syosmusic #saxophone #mouthpiece
The blue cuts nicely. I also liked the yellow one, though much darker.
Rollover baffle sounds great. Love Lucky Chops.
That green one sounded absolutely incredible! If I had the money spare I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.
Thank you very much for making this video, as well as your accompanying articles on all aspects of the mouthpiece. This information is invaluable.
Straight to the point and highly informative; I will order the Chad LB model. Un gros merci pour cette vidéo et à la prochaine.
Great video. Looking forward to the rest of them. Have a low circular piece coming in the mail. The Bob Whitaker model.
Just purchased CLB Tenor mouthpiece. Outstanding sound. Thank you !
Good post. Merci.
I've been playing the Dan Forshaw for about 2 months now and am quite pleased. I find it leaning towards the dark side but still has a fair amount of power. Very pleased.
Glad to know that! Thank you for your message!
Great explanations. Just ordered a Dan Forshaw signature for tenor which should be on the darker side as I love Stan Getz 🎷🎵🎶
Love the sound of the purple medium baffle.
Your business model is amazing, I respect that a lot. I am not sure if anyone ever sold plastic for that much)
great demonstration! the effort into making this video is very appreciated
Thank you very much!
Great video, I have the Bob Whitaker model which is amazing. It is amazingly powerful but resists becoming too bright in fact it just gets a bigger sound the more air I put through it, and the bottom end is so low you feel the sound in your bones!
Thanks for the informative video! Sylvie sounds good on all the mouthpieces but I think Zi prefer Violet medium baffle, it sounds most like the SYOS Custom mouthpiece Sylvie helped design for my vintage baritone sax. I think perhaps mine has a more circular baffle and large chamber with a#5 tip opening. I love it and can get a great variety of tune colour, dynamics and harmonic register with it!
Perfect! I'm really enjoying my ChadLB model. Never thought I would play a small chamber piece that is so flexible.
We're happy you like it!
I liked all the mouth pieces - each for it’s own reason depending on the music being played and whether it was a solo or small group with each musician standing out; or having to blend in with a symphonic band,
Thank you for the feedback John!
Thank you for the lesson. I've learnt a lot.
You're welcome :)
I love the way the Tivon Pennicott (yellow) mouthpiece sounds, nice and dark! I'm about to order a Dan Forshaw though, because I'm a big fan of his and it's supposedly darker than the Tivon.
Yeah the Dan Forshaw is a good example of a dark step baffle mouthpiece. It's even a lower step than the purple of the video though
Green... Very nice sound 😜
HI GREAT VIDEO I LIKE THE BLUE ONE !!!
It seems to me that a musician wanting to explore all the capabilities of sound would want the medium baffle. I like the pink mouthpiece. Tone is focused well rounded and expressionistic ! Thanks for the review, very informative !
Thank you for the detailed comment which will be helpful to many
Really helpful video thank you very much !!!
Thank you! We're glad if we can help :)
Hi! Thank you for this video, it's really helpfull :) Is there any chance you'll make a video about tip opening?
Love this! I just ordered the Chad LB on 8 (.110) Grey color. Love the bright sound and power it gives out. It's what I was looking for. Thank you Syos!
Hi Julio, I don't know if you speak Spanish anyway, what's your experience so far with the Chad LB mpc please? This is the one I wanted to try. Thanks
@@carltube6 I love the nice bright sound it gives when I play on it. The Chad LB signature mouthpiece really is a easy free blowing piece that helps project a good sound for the lows and the highs on my tenor sax. I prefer it over my Berg Larson (.110) metal mouthpiece. From now on Im using the SYOS.
@@julioluishidalgo Thanks Julio for the quick answer. I guess you didn't have any problems whatsoever with the tip opening. I'm more used to a 7 opening and I don't know if I should stick with the 7 on this syos mpc or I might go and try the 8 for instance.
@@carltube6So if you on a 7 tip opening, then stay with the same for SYOS, thats what I recommend. Play it safe in this case.
@@julioluishidalgo Thanks again. I assume you didn't have any problems with the mpc at all. I've read some comments about not "sealing" properly and other "imperfections". Thanks for your time. I'll go for the 7 probably.
Love this video. The cross sectional models were very useful to see the dimension changes. Of the demos, I think the tivon pennicott (yellow) sounded the nicest to the ears. The blue still sounded surprisingly smooth and full for a high baffle, so you really could go either way. Thanks syos!
Hello Ryan,
I agree with you that Tivon sounds the nicest here, but it's a good occasion for me to remind saxophone players that how it sounds is highly dependent on the player. Here Sylvie in the demo usually love very dark and airy tones, so even on a high baffle she tends to lower a bit the effect of the high baffle. Actually this is even true with Mornington Lockett himself who is not as bright as his mouthpiece (the blue) can be... But put that in the hand (or in the mouth) of a guy who really is a bright sound guy... he will be happy. Very :D
Anyway, I spoke a lot about that with Sylvie, and even if she likes more the dark ones... she like also to play on the other... it's different, she said - but interesting and sometimes more suitable for some things she like to play!
I've got the Tivon Pennicott. It does just what I want, including playing softly.
@@maximecarron2931 I agree with you. I think the player always has some influence on moving the tone in a particular direction. I guess this demonstrates how personal a pairing is between a player and a mouthpiece. It's great that each player can now find exactly the right mouthpiece for them based on their playing tenancies and ideal tone. Many thanks for publishing this very thorough and insightive video!
I got my blue (tenor) model after playing about a half dozen different pieces at the SYOS studio. It is brilliant for me; I sounded like me on all, but this one was the easiest to ‘manipulate’ across the full range of the horn. The ligature is a little dodgy (it does not hold very tightly), but I am looking into some ‘gunk’ that will increase the friction between ligature and mouthpiece.
@@christopherwright7855 We're happy you like it
SYOS surprisingly use the "rollover" term differently to the long accepted way, and this can be confusing. It's usually used for the sort of baffle Otto Links have for instance, a curved baffle that starts with a flat section nearer the tip. In this video they have a dip coming after the short bit at the tip, which is more often thought of as a "concave" baffle, and the dip is sometimes called a "lake" within the baffle. It's actually fairly unusual. Rollover baffles in the way the term is usually used are widely seen in various ways.
Yellow one sounds perfect to me.
I was surprised to find my preference was for the mouthpiece with the rollover baffle. Green I think.
That intro was killer. I play a custom syos 7* tip opening, 7 on brightness/timber, a 7.5 on projection, and a step baffle, with a medium large chamber from SYOS. Sylvie from SYOS helped me customize my mouthpiece.
Génial! Merci pour toutes ces explications très claires! A bientôt dans votre shop parisien pour le choix de mon nouveau bec :)`
Merci pour votre message! À bientôt chez Syos alors !
Great video!
thanks for sharing this. i mostly feel comfortable on low baffle piece so can have more flexibility .
That's true, high baffle are a bit more directive too :)
I liked the blue and the green, but struggling to choose which one to buy. I play alto and am not professional, and this will be the first time purchasing an expensive mouthpiece. Sound I am looking for is a bright, dirty sound that will remind me of the 80/90's soundtrack. The green one sounded like it had a more flexible sound, although that isn't my priority
The blue one!!
nice video - I liked the cut away models and the ridges are intriguing, but none of them really appealed to me - the blue one was the one I disliked the least.. maybe you need to play them a bit louder at gig volume and adjust the mic position to get the best audio
I really enjoyed this video and want one of these mouthpieces but don't know which one to get because the series was never completed.
A follow up is long overdue but don't let it stop you! Our online catalog makes it pretty clear what kind of sound you can expect out of a specific model, and you can use the video for reference, too :)
Hi there!!! does anyone knows why the ridges (like the ones on the Godwin Louis model) give a boost (more power) in the sound production!?? I know that there's a research behind this and I'd love to know the nerdy details!!! Great Work! I'm loving my Syos!!! greetings from Colombia!!!
Sweet video
Thank you!
Generally, if I want a really dark, airy tone, but at the same time I want it to be very big and fat, should I go for a large or a small chamber? A small or a large tip opening?
Hello Syos, c'est quoi la traduction francaise pour Baffle ?..
Allez vous faire d'autre videos pour parler des différences d ouvertures et de taille de la chambre ?
En tout cas cette vidéo est top :) Bravo !
Yellow!
Can you also explain the chamber openings
Thanks for the video! Which mouthpiece most closely resembles a traditional Otto Link STM?
Hi! Otto Link are usually quite resistant which is not the case with Syos mouthpieces. but the closest would be the Smoky.
I kinda liked the green (fat with some snarl) but might have liked the blue better if it had a little bigger chamber for a slight sense of resistance. Do you have any plans in the future to add any different material options like brass, hard rubber or Delrin?
Hi John, we are currently investigating different types of material. We will keep you informed :)
@@Syosmusic Thanks!!!
What would be the yellow one equivalent for an alto sax?
I need an alto mouthpiece to darken my bright Plasticover reeds, while allowing for easy altissimo. I'm sure it's all about the combination of tip, lay, chamber, and baffle, and what do you recommend please? Just recently got your Lorenzo Ferraro model which gives me a nice dark almost "tenor" sound but almost no altissimo.
Altissimo are usually easier to get with a shorter facing. So I would suggest to go for the Jordan Reed's model. instagram.com/p/CPGW4QmhIBD/
@@Syosmusic Thanks! No one even mentioned the facing-length before (Lorenzo Ferraro, your own Sylvie LOL) but I will take your advice. And in general, aren't most "classical" mouthpieces longer and darker-sounding, also with smaller tip openings, compared to jazz?
Could you also do a Vid like this for Soprano please 😃
I'll let Maxime know you're interested and we're going to cook up a little something :)
I’d like somewhere between the blue and purple
Yellow low baffle dark sound.
I like the blue one
You can find all the information about the blue one here: www.syos.co/en/shop/products/signature-saxophone-mouthpiece/mornington-lockett-tenor
Blue and Green. You know I always thought that for tenor sax you really only need 3 different mouthpieces to facilitate covering the range of all sounds and styles to be played. Oddly, many players either try to do everything in one piece or they think they need another piece all the time ....
Ich bin Martin
1 second ago
In the fact you need just one. Nobody else care which setup you have. After few minutes people around you cannot hear darks or brights, they hear just saxophone. All that gear is only nice and expensive toys for players and our feelings.
Btw, I agree with your selection
What would you recommend on straight Soprano to give the kind of Bradford Marsalis sound. Would you get that sound from a Dayna Stephens model 7 opening. Or is there another you would recommend?
Hi! For me Brandford Marsalis has a brighter sound than Dayna on soprano. I will go for the Steady model: syos.co/products/soprano-originals-saxophone-mouthpiece-steady
What type of baffle and chamber would be good for classical playing but also effective in a brass band type setting?
That's very tricky, these are two very different styles. I can advise you a lot of mouthpiece that are incredible for brass band (rollover baffle is best for that) but any of them would be considered as not an option for professionnal classical musicians. For classical you need soft, rounded and warm, for brass band you generally need power and a bit of brightness. A mouthpiece that you use for both styles has to compromise between those characteristics and so would be less efficient for both styles :(
Syos That’s okay that’s kind of what I was expecting, they are contrasting styles of music. I don’t play classical at a professional level however so it’s okay for me.
Green was mean. I'll have to try them out.
Hi.... waiting for the second episode... THE CHAMBER ...
Hello ! Yes it would be chamber or opening... we're working on that but we took a summer break. Now we're back :D
Is there a syos mouthpiece that would be good for classical music?
Interesting video in the baffle but not compressive enough . Most low baffle mouthpieces have the baffle concave across its width but flat along its length. Can the baffle ever be f lat across its width as w ell as its length? I would appreciate your comments on this and thank you.
Hi! Most of the baffle are convex, it's rare to find a concave one as it would be really resistant. A flat baffle is what we call "Straight" baffle, which give a more classical type of sound. We chose this baffle for the Smoky Baritone mouthpiece.
@@Syosmusic
Thank you for your reply. I mentioned the old and new Rascher as examples of baffles that are perfectly flat in both dirextions. I have a priceless Conn Eagle tenor piece with a round chamber of a massive 22cm and tip opening of just 1.75cm that has a baffle concave in both directions. As an expert designer and manufacturer of all sizes of mouthpieces I was expecting a comment related to the Raschers both old and new. However.
Bring back the pink colored mouthpieces!
I need some more information on the tip opening, i am interested in buying the rollover baffle "Daro Behroozi" mouthpiece
Hello Mauricio, which info would you need? Daro's original opening is 10, it's a bit high and demand more energy / more air - If you're not used to large opening I would recommend getting it in 7* or 8
@@Syosmusic How do I know what kind of tip opening is best for me?
@@mauricioaltamirano1573 Which mouthpiece do you play currently, what is its tip opening?
I'm consider one of your tenor mp. However, I use Legre synthetic reeds and I was told that your mouthpiece do not work well with these reeds. Is this true?
Hi! Our mouthpieces work great with the Legere reeds :) We have several artists who play on Legere reeds: Yanick Coderre, Baz...
I'm looking for a tenor mouthpiece with small chamber and high baffle. What do you recommend?
@@cjfl1962 You should go for Scott Paddock's signature mouthpiece: syos.co/en/products/tenor-signature-saxophone-mouthpiece-scott-paddock
“He had a MINKEY!”
Hi I live in the UK, how long from ordering a signature model mouthpiece, would it to receive it?
Hello! All our mouthpieces (including signature models) are crafted on demand. So it takes 5 to 7 days to produce it, then the shipping for UK is around a week. So I'll say around 15 days.
I’m sorry did you mean 5to7days not weeks?
@@zootsaxenberger1 Yes sorry ! I corrected in my answer
Blue
Very nice visual description of different baffle types. But: The baffle is not the most important part of the mouthpiece, - the facing is the most important part of the mouthpiece.
And Mickael Brecker did not play a high baffle mouthpiece. Guardala even special made the "Guardala MB II" (the world's most famous high baffle mouthpiece??) for his tour with Paul Simon, but Brecker rather used his MBI which has a slightly lower baffle.
Interesting anectode about Brecker ! Thank you for sharing it. I didn't say in the video that Brecker played a high baffle - but I maintain that people who like his sound are (in 99% cases) happy with pretty high step baffles!
About the facing: my experience make me disagree, I've made hundreds of saxophonist try successively different mouthpieces, and if you have the wrong kind of baffle for the sound you target, you can change the facing length or tip opening, it won't work. But when you find the right baffle match, adjusting the facing is what transform the mouthpiece from good to amazing.
@@Syosmusic -but you agree that the most important parts are flat table and that the facing is even and have the right curve ;-)
@@Syosmusic You also mentioned Careless Whisper, and probably know what to do to sound like the original recording? This is the story: The solo is played on a Selmer Mark VI tenor that didn’t have a top F# key. So, the engineer slowed the tape down so that Steve Gregory could record the solo a semitone lower than intended. Once the tape was put back to the normal speed, this ‘unnatural’ saxophone sound was created. The sound we hear on the original recording - a bit like an alto, a bit like a tenor.
@@EgilFurre I don't know. Facing curve is important for sure, but for me it defines less the mouthpiece than the baffle. For the table, my experience is that the table can be a bit rough or very smooth (like a mirror), it has no strong influence : we blinded test that with many saxophone players, and the perceived quality is exactly the same. So I stay with my position that baffle matters the most!
Purple’s upper register has that Coltrane sound
The one and only
I looking to buy one. Are you selling any of them?
Hello ! You can find them on our website www.syos.co
Do these files have dimensions?
What do you mean by that?
For me it is the Rollover Baffle..
I love you
Green rollover baffle sounded best.
can i have the cad files to print my own?
I'm afraid printing at home without our proprietary material wouldn't do any justice to our designs.
@@Syosmusic oh ok thanks for responding though. I currently don't have a mouthpiece and I'd rather print one than spend $100+
@@Syosmusic can I atleast try it?
What's name of saxophonist?
It's Sylvie Leys, a french saxophonist :D
Yellow, I require something mellow to play ballads
Yes the yellow one is the best for that, you can find it here (and choose color/opening) : www.syos.co/fr/shop/products/signature-saxophone-mouthpiece/tivon-pennicott-tenor
why are the ridges there?
ua-cam.com/video/R3VnpUQeSrQ/v-deo.html
We use ridges to add power without getting too much brightness with it :D
When will you make tie dye?
The yellow one (1st ) and the purple one ( 2nd ) the other two were too loud to me.
Yes the two other baffles give a powerful sound!
@@Syosmusic Do you have soprano saxophone mouthpieces with rolled baffles available ?
@@theogband2183 Not on the Originals or Signature line but we could make one as a custom :)
Where it lime green colo
It was an old color. It was replaced by the Forest Green color.
Low baffle
Hello. please give me a mouthpiece .......
woman playing sax? heresy
And creating mouthpieces, if you can believe it. The world is changing, with or without you :)
@@Syosmusic changing to better
Yellow !