The higher notes of my whistles are definately louder than the lower notes. Not unusual I believe. When I play with other instruments, I have a hard time hearing myself in the lower registers but no trouble in the higer. Likewise, the people I play with hear the same difference. When my friend plays his whistle in the group I notice the same thing. I had the opportunity to see and hear Joanie Madden a little while ago and I noticed that her whistle seems of equal loudness for all notes. Likewise, on CDs and the radio there’s little difference. Am I missiong some trick, are the performances and CDs tweaked electronically, or am I just imagining the whole thing?
I think it depends a lot on the whistle-- some are more balanced than others. Technique can make a difference too. If you shorten the louder, upper register notes they will sound a bit quieter. This has to be subtle though, or you will get a staccato effect.
If you’re playing through a microphone, you lean in for the lower register and lean back
for the upper register and CDs and amped concerts come out balanced… (if you’re good,
otherwise it comes out erratic…)
This can be accomplished by fancy recording engineering, setting the equalization such that the system is more sensitive to the low end of the whistle than the high end. Also, I am in the habit (after chagrined pleading from our nice sound man) to back off from the microphone as I move up octaves on the whistle.
If I am playing midway up the second octave, I can be over a foot away from the microphone, and still come through nice and clear. Conversely, if I am playing a low whistle in the lower octave, there is usually no more than an inch and a half between the fipple window and the mike.
Vocalists also need to be aware of how to use a microphone for the best advantage, too, so it’s not just us whistlers. (Though I’m convinced it is the beauty of the music that brings the soundman in his headphones to tears, when I am playing at the top of the second octave.)
This can also be accomplished by a piece of equipment called “compressor”. I used on when I played in Houston. Basically, it makes your loudest notes quieter, evening out your volume.
Most compressors work in essentially the same way: a volume-controlling element or “gain cell” is inserted into the audio signal path. The level of the signal at any given moment is measured and that information is used to control the gain cell. So if the signal gets bigger, the volume is turned down, automatically and in real time.
If you use Audacity for sound editing on a PC, it has this capability as well…it’s called “Compressor” I believe
Thanks for the replies. I’ll try the compressor on audacity; that’s what I use to evaulate my playing. It’ll be interesting to see if and how that evens things out.
As far as playing in a group or session sounds like there’s less control. Which whistles have a more balanced sound up and down the scale. Do I have to go broke?
Nahhh, it’s cheaper just to go half-deaf from playing too much on the high end…
Actually, I think my Clarke traditional is reasonably well balanced from low to high. Part of the issue isn’t volume so much as that of sound mix. On the upper end, the whistler is the only one up there, and even a quiet whistle really cuts through. On the low end of the whistle, you start to move down into the sound range of other instruments, and blend in more.
I have also found that when I am afraid of the high end is when it sounds worst. Breath support may be inconsistent, or I miss notes. Lots of practice (and flubs) helps to build an understanding of what the whistle is going to do up there, and I can play more confidently.
My Syn aluminum (just $41 in the US) is so well-balanced that when I’m just fooling around with it, I sometimes don’t realize that I’m playing in the second octave–until I try for the third octave.
There’s always going to be some discrepancy, just because you have to blow a bit harder to get the second octave notes in the first place.
To tell the truth, my Busman Delrin and Hoover CPVC are just about that well-balanced. I seem to have had more trouble with loud second octaves in the past. Maybe my technique has improved without my realizing it?
