[Honeyboy]

Not that I want to sound like it, but how do those smooth jazz players get that curiously annoying tone? I was listening to Maceo Parkers Planet Groove C.D. today and then Candy Dulfer did a song. She's a good player but that tone-Yich!! I've done a search and I see comments about processing in the studio. What kind of processing exactly do they use? For example are they using a compressor, delay, what?? I understand they tend to use small chambered pieces with baffles on Selmers but there is something else. Does anyone know?

 

[king koeller]

Metal wedge mouthpieces, with compression and digital delay...

 

[Honeyboy]

So, that's it? Some compression and digital delay. Thanks.

 

[super20dan]

dont like candys tone? then you wouldnt like mine either. sanborn uses a lot of effects when he plays live. i would like to hear him some time with out it and see what he really sounds like

 

[patseguin]

dont like candys tone? then you wouldnt like mine either. sanborn uses a lot of effects when he plays live. i would like to hear him some time with out it and see what he really sounds like

I was at a music store in Boston around 1988 trying some mouthpieces. I heard a guy in the back playing really, really good. It was a bright sound but not too edgy but the guy sounded friggin awesome. He comes walking out with the horn and it was David Sanborn. He was playing some licks then wandered in the back again. The guy in the store said he had some work done on his horn and he was testing it out. Just hearing him play with no mic or effects was so nice.

 

[Honeyboy]

dont like candys tone? then you wouldnt like mine either. sanborn uses a lot of effects when he plays live. i would like to hear him some time with out it and see what he really sounds like

When I hear that sound of the sax on the "Smooth Jazz" station it just seems to me they all sound the same (tone wise) and that tone just kind of irritates me. I guess it's just a matter of taste. If that's your concept of a good sound, go for it!Getting back to my original question, since you sound similar to Candy Dulfer, how do you accomplish your tone? What effects exactly do you use?

 

[super20dan]

i played in very loud bands (usually with poor /non caring sound men) and had to devolop a bright pericing tone just to hear my self. for a while i used a digitec chorus effects device and was able to get a close sanbourn sound. it helps to use the brightest mpcs/reeds too like a dukoff but i use a runyon xl. actually my fav tone wise is nelson rangell but i actually sound the most like candy. best alto to use for this kind of sound=yamaha or yani. i would love to hear sanborn unplugged. -pat -what did he sound like?

 

[Saxplayer67]

i would love to hear sanborn unplugged. -pat -what did he sound like?

There is a recorded example of how David sounds without all the effects - Michael Kamen's Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra. Also, I think, to my ears, David's last two CDs have much less processing and more a 'live' sound.

 

[Honeyboy]

i played in very loud bands (usually with poor /non caring sound men) and had to devolop a bright pericing tone just to hear my self. for a while i used a digitec chorus effects device and was able to get a close sanbourn sound. it helps to use the brightest mpcs/reeds too like a dukoff but i use a runyon xl. actually my fav tone wise is nelson rangell but i actually sound the most like candy. best alto to use for this kind of sound=yamaha or yani.

Thanks.

 

[patseguin]

-pat -what did he sound like?

It's hard to describe. He sounded like a regular alto player with a great sound. I almost thought it was one of the Berklee guys because 95% of them played straight-ahead. He had a little more edge than someone with a Mark VI and Meyer 6M but that was about it. I was absolutely floored when I saw him walk out because I recognized him immediately and it didn't sound like the sound from his albums. I remember thinking I would love to see him live with his band.

Warren Hill is another guy like that. I love his sound and he is probably closest, along with Nelson Rangell, to what kind of sound I am after. However, some of Warren's recordings are WAY over-processed in my opinion, particularly on "Pop Jazz". I saw him performing as a senior at Berklee when I was a freshman and he blew me away. I saw him at a small club, The Tangier, in Akron Ohio a few months ago where he played with Jeff Golub. I could hear more of HIM and less of the effects, although he obviously still used them from what I could tell. Without all the effects, he has a great sound and I consider him a virtuoso.

 

[super20dan]

i like nelson rangell s sound and technique .. i have seen sanborn sereral times live but he plays tru some many effects its hard to know what he sounds like. i have his older albums where he was still playing the level-air and his sound is more subdued. i went to berklee too. by the way.

 

[MojoBari]

I love Nelson's... Piccolo playing!

 

[luispa]

i have his older albums where he was still playing the level-air and his sound is more subdued.

When did he start using Dukoff? Album? Year?

 

[J.Max]

This is why it's too bad that "Night Music" (Sanborn's TV Show) isn't on DVD. He played with everyone on that show...

 

[super20dan]

well i will have to get out my cd collection and do some rescerch but i think straight to the heart was the last cd using the level-air . mid 80,s aprox time of the switch.

 

[saxdude11]

I'm with mojo on Nelson's pic playing..that guy is a BEAST on pic.

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

Processing has changed over the years. These days sax players use much less reverb and compression. This movement started maybe 3-5 years ago? Early 90s was the worst. Ugh...

 

[Honeyboy]

This is why it's too bad that "Night Music" (Sanborn's TV Show) isn't on DVD. He played with everyone on that show...

I recorded quite a few of those shows on VCR at that time. He had a more traditional tone when he played with guys like Pharoah Sanders and Phil Woods.

 

[J.Max]

I recorded quite a few of those shows on VCR at that time. He had a more traditional tone when he played with guys like Pharoah Saunders and Phil Woods.

Yeah, and he did it without changing equipment. That's either unbelievable control, different amp setups, (or most likely) a combination of both.