I own a Burke Pro Session in D, made out of brass. I love the spot on tuning, the absence of a shrilly second octave, the great craftsmenship of the tuning slide and the overall timbre. What I would like is a stronger lower end, both in sound and in how much I can blow before it flips to the 2nd octave. I would like it to be a bit more loud overall. I love the low end on my syn whistle, but it takes quite a bit to jump to the 2nd octave and then the high a and b are slightly flat. The Burke is wonderful at this, but I tend to overblow on the Burke, so I get a sqeak here and there.
Does Michael make other whistles in his lineup that are louder and have a stronger low end? And fits my desciption of the whistle I would like?
Mike’s composite session whistles are a bit louder than the brass or aluminum, and have a slightly stronger lower end. They also take a bit more air than their metal couterparts. …this has been my experience anyway…
Let us know if you find the answer. I would like that info.
I had an interesting experience over the weekend. Our band played for the wedding of the percussionist’s daughter. Wedding was up in Truckee, at about 6000 feet and low humidity. Lowest notes on my Burke just disappeared to a wisp and suddenly the whole concept of thin air, low humidity became a reality vis-a-vis the type of whistle I play.
Some of the Chiffsters live in mountainous areas. I am curious about several things.
issue of wind pressure, backpressure etc for note production. I realize that the thin air suddenly made my whistle into a different thing at that altitude. If you own several types of whistles, I would be curious about how the same ones play at near sea level versus altitude.
Construction and temperature. So after getting somewhat baked during the day, the temp dropped quickly for our dance (we backed a contradance caller). The aluminum whistles I use just got cold and went flat, even pushed all the way in. Would the exact same whistle, a Burke, in COMPOSITE have behaved differently and kept its pitch range? I would sure like to know, because I’d buy one for that reason alone. It was very frustrating to have that happen.
i second brett’s opinion about the composite session’s volume.
even if you live in a fridge, the burke composite will keep his pitch and volume
but burke’s are no good for playing in the wind. all conical whistles are good for playing in the wind. and if you don’t like conical whistles, susato and silkstones, strange as it is?! play well in the wind too!
Just got and aired out the new Burke soprano D BSBT (Brass Session Black Tip) with the exposed delrin fipple. It’s got all those great Burke characteristics but seems a bit stronger, with maybe a hint of overtone in the low end, than for example the Al-pro D. In any event, a great whistle.
Hmm - this answers a question I had. I just got home yesterday from a business trip to find my new Syn whistle had arrived. Very nice sounding whistle, but I had to push the slide in all they way to get it in tune. But the house was in the low 60’s and I didn’t play long enough for the whistle to warm up.
Have to see how it does at a more normal temperature.
One of the things that impresses me most about Mikes whistles is the strong bell note. I hardly play his high-D’s anymore, though, so I’m not sure whether they share this characteristic. But maybe they do, and what you’re experiencing is normal variation in hand-voiced whistles. I know I had a Water Weasel low-F that had a very weak bell note; Glenn tweaked it and the bottom was vastly improved.
HI Everyone,
Well, since I got invited to say something, how can I resist?
The new DBSBT has a stronger bell note than past Session Brass models.
I also recently changed the voicing on the D Aluminum Session whistle and it now has a stronger bell than before, and stronger than even the DBSBT, I think. It is still nice and pure, but considerably louder than before.
The Composite D is a wide bore and has pretty good volume.
I really don’t make what one might call a “loud” whistle. I don’t really like them myself, and my good friend and consultant Mick O’Brien from Dublin has told me that loud whistles are not welcome in sessions in Ireland. Mary Bergin told me the same thing. The one application that I can see that makes them useful is when one is playing in a band in a loud atmosphere and it is hard to hear a decent whistle above the background noise. I am not sure one ( the person playing it) can really tell much difference between a good whistle and an average one in this kind of high noise environment, but people that are sitting in the audience can tell the difference. The most critical applications are in the recording studio where our whistles shine because they are not loud or harsh. What one would like is to have a very powerful lower octave and a pure and clear upper octave, but every whistle maker has to make compromises to find the best balance in the tradeoffs. I think we are making constant improvements in this area, but perfection is still not in reach. It gives me something to work on in my retirement though.
One thing that I have discovered is that the whistle that seems to be the loudest is often not the one that is heard at a distance. A well focused sound that is bright and clear seems to be the best for that, while more unfocused sounds that seem loud up close, often drop into the mud at a distance. The best thing is to write and discuss with me how you will plan to use your whistle and we can help you decide which is the best one for you.
Hope this helps.
All the best
Mike
PS: Thanks for the invite to comment, Jerry!
Burke’n-stocks 