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Norah / SWAM Euphonium
Taking @Gavinski’s advice I applied FAC Alteza to the horn tracks. I began with the Euphonium and adding Trumpet and Flugelhorn halfway thru. BeatHawk Cellos, ISymphonic Brass.
Production wise I am pretty pleased with this. Especially when I compared it to classical stuff I attempted in the beginning.
Comments
Nice work, Mike!
It seems SWAM are going to release strings next month. Can't wait !
These instruments are so nice.
How did you create that chordal part?
FAC Alteza is like the butter on a grilled cheese sandwich! (Can’t make a grilled cheese without it?) sounds great Mike!
Which is the most expressive swam brass? I’m drawn to this one and the horn, but I suspect the higher ones have quicker attacks.
Thanks for listening @JanKun abd @Intrepolicious. Appreciated.
@McD, the chord background was improvised using Poseidon at first. Many Poseidon patches are out of tune with chromatic instruments, unfortunately, so I just plugged in iSymph and BeatHawk.
@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr, my hunch is the Trumpet has the greatest variation, but I’m totally guessing. Maybe @Gavinski or @McD will weigh in.
I really don't know. How to define 'most expressive'? I think that's kind of subjective. They're all expressive in their own ways, so it is just a matter of personal taste. I don't think I would use having fast attack to decide which is expressive. My 3rd vid will be out soon, watching the 3 vids should help you decide. @Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr
With the geoswams, I rank expressivity by the amount of tonal variation I can get out of finger expression. The winds are more expressive than the strings.
Fast attack is only necessary for shredding, which I like to do sometimes. The geoswams are not good for shredding, because playing speed is limited by the attack speed.
OK, got you, I'm not really sure and I'm sure you'll forgive me for not wanting to sit down and check all 15 one by one, but I think trumpet is a likely candidate as Mike said. Definitely brass instruments are in general pretty expressive by these standards, though maybe French Horn not so much
Really enjoyed this. So I read the Euphonium is an octave below the trumpet and an octave above the tuba? I really like the tone.
@gusgranite. Thanks. I agree it is sonorous.
And a fine name at that... Euphonium Granite! I think I have just created a new musical alias... It has something of the Thelonious Sphere about it.
Really. I did not know that. Thanks. The dam has broke.
Wow Mike...stunning brother. I began playing snare drum in 6th grade and was in Varsity, Jazz & Marching band all through high school. In the 9th grade, freshman year, I wanted to try something more melodic and since there were surplus drummers in the band I asked our director to give me some advice. He said “You want to play baritone horn?” (Baritone is another name for the Euphonium). So he showed me it used trumpet fingerings and said I should practice and play it in the Concert band, which had no baritone chair.
I stayed on drums officially for another 3 months but took home the baritone and practiced every night, bringing it in every few weeks to show the director how I was progressing and to get guidance from him. Well after the Christmas break and playing for 4 months I started playing baritone ‘officially’. I loved the tone and the next year he got a marching baritone that I used in marching band, setting aside the tri-toms.
Sorry to go on & on I just wanted to explain that I know how the Euphonium sounds and the range it sits best in and your piece totally captures it. That round, dulcet “wooly” tone that I just love was perfect on this. I’ve told you before you could score professionally and this piece was sweeping and absolutely visual. That’s hard to pull off.
Great stuff Mike! Keep the baritone horn alive! Lol...
Thanks so much, @JRSIV. That’s a hefty compliment and much appreciated. You probably of Steven Mead th famous Brit Euphoniumist 😉. He’s actually makes a living at it.. or did before the Plague. I favor Anthony Caillet, however...
Both trumpet and trombone have a longest length fundamental tone of Bb, so, an octave
with double the length for the trombone. Now, the Tuba is 50% longer than the trombone and has an Eb (down a 5th) fundamental. The big change is the diameter which provides the
essential "EQ" tone of the horn. Tuba has a massive bore... and it takes a lot of air to stimulate it to vibrate. That air requirement makes it harder to play long legato passages.
Tuba players tend to play short bursts. The SWAM model always you to have infinite capacity lungs and provide the required air pressure to deliver any note you desire within specific limits of the app's design.
Great info 👍
The only instrument I would not want them to model is the ‘already has infinite lungs’ bagpipes. My least favourite musical instrument.