Hi folks.
I’ve fooled around a little with my mothers computer when I’ve been visiting and put up a couple of vids of me playing the Seery “Pratten” and M&E “R&R” flutes. There’s also a short take with the Bell Bb flute.
I did this mainly to show how the Seery and M&E flutes sound in my hands, not to get critique on my playing, but if you have something (other than the obvious: beat is sometimes off, tuning is sometimes off, there’s a bad crann or roll here and there and breathing spots arn’t exactly spot on) then feel free to hit me. Note also that the clips were not recorded the same day, and I didn’t care to try and play similar both times.
Well done, and useful! It’s great to play flutes side-by-side for comparison, but hard for most of us to get that opportunity. Those are two great flutes with slightly different characters, and it was great to be able to compare them from the listener’s perspective that way. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for that! The differences are pretty noticeable! I liked the Bell Bb best, BTW.
I can’t say I’m too impressed with the M&E - I play an original R&R and they don’t sound very similar to me. I’ve never laid hands on an M&E myself (yet) that I can think of. I have a Seery Pratten that sounds very like yours - and good that is too! I’m not very keen on keyless flutes, though, hence it’s on my For Sale thread.
It is certainly very informative to have a post like this considering how often these comparisons get debated and how often newbies want info, so well done and thanks again.
Somehow I’m not able to open the videos. I have the Flash Player, no problem, and I even restarted the PC, but no good. Would you mind uploading those to youtube? Thanks!
Henke - Great post! Is it my imagine or is your embouchure as relaxed as it appears in the clips? You seem so much at ease while playing. I’ll have to work on that.
Henrik - you sound great on the Seery these days, but you’ve sounded better on the M&E in past clips…has it been a while since you played the M&E?
FWIW - I’ve been told my flute, a keyed M&E, is more than fine by my teacher (I’ve also been told I need to practice more). I’ll take his word since he seems to know his way around the flute.
Those two links seem to load sporadically…maybe this one will work better:
I thought the Seery sounded better. I played an M&E myself but I didn’t like it. It seemed too quiet and took too much air. Never played a Seery but you sure make it sound good.
Thanks for all the replies. I acctually like the M&E better sound wise. I do believe that the particular mic (cheap computer mic) favours the sound of the Seery more, because it’s pretty thin. I think it takes a bit of the “fattness” off the M&E sound, in reality the M&E has more depth and more dimensions than the Seery.
I have been playing the Seery most of the times lately with my band so there may be some truth to that. But I’ve played very little flute in general lately and I think that the Seery might have a larger sweet spot. The M&E seems to be a lot more versatile for good and for bad. I recorded a slow air clip as well but never posted it. I think thats where the M&E is really outstanding, capable of a lot more nuances, but the Seery is a little more forgiving when it comes to just punching out jigs and reels. But honestly I don’t think that mic would ever do any of those flutes justice, they’re both great.
edit: I might just have had a bad embouchure day when I recorded the M&E as well. The flute is such a sensitive thing, it’s impossible to make a comparision which will be close to scientific. It doesn’t matter how you go about it, there will always be variables which make it unreliable. That’s why all these comparisions must be taken for what they are, which is not much.
Anyway, about that Cnat key on the M&E (Garrett Barry’s), it is more than a bit off right? Might have to adjust that.
Very interesting comparison, and nice playing, Henke. The M & E is somewhat flatter in pitch than the Seery on these clips. Coming right after a higher-pitched flute, it will have a tendancy to sound a bit dull in comparison. I think the comparison would have been clearer if the 2 flutes had been tuned to the same pitch before making the clip.
Oh, good point Dana. After listening to the clips again I do believe that might have an impact on the impression you get. You folks might want to try and listen to them in reverse order (taking care not to hear anything of the Seery first), or just the M&E and see what you think then.
I don’t think the comparison is informative. It’s more illustrative of Henke’s ability to play one flute better than the other. A good player - Henke for instance - can make any flute sound better than any other. This isn’t necessarily deliberate, but might depend on comfort with one flute, or greater familiarity with one flute, rather than the other.
And flutes made by the same maker can vary from each other, especially over a period of time when the flute-maker’s work is improving.
Like I said, there are always going to be variables in any comparision which make them unreliable. That’s why all comparisions have to be viewed as uninformative and unreliable to a large extent.
Do you have a suggestion on how to make a better comparision then?
I have no suggestions in this regard.
I don’t think any recorded comparison of this sort is very reliable. One flute might record better than another but have other problems that are only evident to the player. Harry B. once bought a flute that he planned to use for recording because it had a softer sound, like an old flute but without the tuning issues. We tend to think bright is good- but bright isn’t always a good thing.
A good player can also unconsciously blow into tune a flute that is otherwise out of tune with itself. And one flute might be pitched a bit sharper than the other and give the impression of greater projection.
I think the only fair comparison is to have the player hold both flutes and play one for an extended period before he plays the other. And even then, that might say more about the player than the flutes. Some players - like some flutes - take longer to warm up than others.
Every player must decide for himself if a given flute is right for him or not. Comparisons are too subjective to be meaningful to everybody.
