aha! Another harmonica voice that, to my ears, is recognizable after a few notes - and not that special tuning stuff, which is definitely Brendan, but instead that sweet tone (especially when cupped tight). The corker on top to cement the deal is the sound of his vibrato.
I'd know it anywhere! (ever since I heard his session work with Mary Black). ---------- The Iceman
Thanks Iceman! We had a New Years Eve party with the people in our street last night and (along with a random alto flautist!) I ended up playing Old Lang Syne over and over around a fire, as everyone sang this simple but moving song. It has a tender wistful quality, a mix of sad farewell and new hope.
That's an interesting point about a player's personal sound transferring across different kinds of harmonicas. Harmonicas can be VERY different, as we know: some fully valved, others without valves, others half-valved, different tunings... These differences give each type its special capabilities - and limitations.
That means the various harps have intrinsic sounds of their own beyond what a player can impart. You can't overblow or get interactive reed bends on a stock chromatic, or get valved tone/vibrato on an unvalved harp.
I guess that's why most harp players choose one type mainly, because it gives them the capabilities and tone they're after. I fudge it to some extent, by altering the different harps I play to have some abilities that cross over between them (like interactive-reed bending).
But taking as an example the many players who double on blues harp and 3rd position chromatic, with your discerning ears would you say you could tell by tone/vibrato alone which chrom blues player was the same as their blues harp alter ego?
To put that a better way, if you took a bunch of ideosyncratic diatonic players who double on 3rd position chromatic, could you tell from their chrom sound alone who was who? Not in the licks they play (which would give the game away), but just a special sound they have on chrom that relates to their diatonic sound.
It would be interesting to do a blindfold test on that actually! If you could get the same bunch of good doubling players, either acoustic or with the same mic/amp, to all play the same short lick on diatonic and another selected lick on chromatic, then randomise them and ask a knowledgeable audience to say which chrom lick relates to which diatonic lick, how would it come out?
Any thoughts on that, people?
Happy New Year to one and all, by the way!
Last Edited by Brendan Power on Dec 31, 2016 11:40 PM
I suspect that because the harmonica is such a small instrument and what you do with your vocal tract is so critical to the sound, that ones harmonica voice is as personal and unduplicateable as ones singing voice to a much larger extent than other wind instruments. I have noticed since I started playing trumpet, that it is much more expressive than a trombone but not as much as a harmonica. I also read on the University of New South Wales Music and Physics department web site that conical instruments, like the sax and flugelhorn, are more influenced by the vocal tract passages than cylindrical instruments like the clarinet and trumpet.
I'll bet you could generate a computer algorithm that would detect an instrumental voice print just like you can a speaking voice, detecting an individual across different instruments, and I expect the harmonica would be the easiest of all instruments to do this with, followed perhaps by the sopranino saxophone.
Question..."with your discerning ears would you say you could tell by tone/vibrato alone which chrom blues player was the same as their blues harp alter ego?"
From what I've heard from Brendan, I definitely could (Mary Black session was Chrom, above example not - same tone/vibrato).
Probably could with other players as well and would love to do a blind listening test to see.
At the end of the day, it still is the sound of a vibrating reed, whether crom, valved, 1/2 valved, diatonic, etc. ---------- The Iceman
My chroms are cheaters Iceman, because they can bend notes. I was suggesting a listening test between the style most blues players play: 3rd position fully-valved chroms a-la George Smith etc. Because 10 hole players can't bend notes on them I wonder if their sound is as identifiable?
@STME58: That's an intriguing suggestion! I love it when science can be harnessed to conclusively decide debates that have raged for years based on subjective opinions. Someone should generate that algorithm!
I Agree with Iceman..I have spoke to Brendan a few times over the years...and to me he has that Brendan TONE..on both blues harp and chrom..I can't say that about any other player in the world...on blues harp alone though 3 players come to mind after hearing just a couple of notes and that's Charlie Musselwhite Carlos del Junco and Adam Gussow.
Brendan- On the CD "I Just Keep Lovin' Him" there is a cut with Gruenling,Estrin,Wilson and Guyger playing chromatic on a one chord Little Walter song. I am hard pressed to tell who is playing when. The styles are much harder to identify vs. their diatonic playing.
Thanks Tuckster! That clip gives very useful comparisons and correlations between some top harp players' diatonic and chromatic sounds/styles
You're right: close your eyes and the chrom players are much harder to distinguish. I wonder why that is?
Maybe this goes a bit against Iceman's dictum that you can tell the same player no matter what harp they're playing. Or could it be that the fully-valved chrom just doesn't give the bending expression to allow these primarily diatonic players to show their characteristic un-valved tone & vibrato etc? Or could it be that the repertoire of 3rd Position chromatic licks is more limited so a lot of players sound the same?
Maybe that algorithm could sort them out anyway. It would be interesting to see. Sounds like an app opportunity for some smart software developer!
I did a little checking and found something called Microsoft Azure Speaker recognition API. It is designed to tell who is speaking by comparing the incoming sample to a data base of samples. I wonder if this, or something similar, could be used unmodified to detect who is playing a harmonica.
STME58, I actually had a similar, but much less ambitious idea a while back. My singing voice is kind of quiet so I have to use different settings for my mic. Ultimately I did it with a amplification pedal, but ideally my idea was to see if I couldn't find something that could recognize the difference between harp playing and vocals and make the adjustment automatically. (Short of a volume gate that just made everything the same volume.)
Technologically I think it would be pretty easy to do for someone with the knowhow. Not sure if you could bring it to market at the right price point.
(I also investigated putting buttons on a mic to toggle effects. I got as far as taking apart a wireless mouse to see if the parts were on the right scale. They seemed to be, but it was clear I was in over my electronics head. I thought I could map them to command keys for digital effects on my PC.)
