loud whistles

[belfastblower]

Hi all
I really enjoy playing in sessions, the only problem is no-one can hear me…well, sometimes this isn’t a problem

Can any one give me advice on how to play louder or tell me if there are whistle which have more volume? I play a Generation D.

Or do I just have to change to a louder instrument to be heard?

[MarkP]

https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/i-love-all-whistles-almost/72058/18

[WJC]

From Brother Steve’s (aka StevieJ on the chiff) Tin-Whistle pages:

How to get useful “foldback”

This tip comes from an excellent Montreal fiddler, Dave Clark. He might have got it from observing Paddy Keenan!

In loud sessions, with a quiet whistle, sometimes you can’t hear yourself very well, even though you’re projecting fine to people on the other side of the room. Try wearing a wide-brimmed hat. It’s like having monitor speakers mounted on your temples.

I find this works well for myself.

I use a Sombrero - it’s very traditional.

p.s’ Welcome to the Chiff!

[Whistler_from_Oz]

Welcome to the Forum

I’ve heard / read that the Reyburn whistles (Esp the older ones) can be fairly loud. If one comes up for sale second hand on the site, it might be worth a look?

[pancelticpiper]

I’ve got three high Ds and they have different volume levels:

c1980 Feadog: very soft, only can be heard if I’m playing with one or two other people.

Burke Session Bore: medium volume, can be heard in a medium sized session

Susato: very loud, can be heard even if there are 30 people, some playing accordions and banjos.

About a whistle being louder than it seems, a strange thing happened at a session many years ago. It was a smallish session with two or three fiddlers and maybe a guitar and somebody playing a Generation whistle. In person the fiddles dominated the sound and the whistle was soft. I taped several of the tunes, and when I listened to the tape later, all I could hear was the whistle! Unfortunately the whistler didn’t know the tunes and was noodling around trying to figure them out… so all I ended up with was a tape of a whistle noodling! (Let that be a warning to noodling whistlers… )

[MTGuru]

@pancelticpiper

About a whistle being louder than it seems, a strange thing happened at a session many years ago … all I ended up with was a tape of a whistle noodling! (Let that be a warning to noodling whistlers… )

I wrote recently in a different (flute) thread:

@MTGuru

Thinking you need to play louder to be heard can be a typical mistake by beginning sessioneers. When you’re used to hearing yourself alone in isolation, the ambient sound and noise when playing with others makes it seem that your own contribution is being drowned out. So you play louder, or use a louder instrument … then so does everyone else. Before long you’re all in a volume death spiral playing at the top of your lungs, bows, bags etc. It’s a pet peeve, and I’m sometimes guilty, too.

Place your recording device somewhere in the pub away from the session table. Then record a set where you’re the only flute playing, and check the result. You might be surprised to find how well your playing comes through with your current setup.