Mouthpiece Comparison Videos!

[WilliamLang]

Hi all!

I made a video today testing out the various principal Trombone mouthpieces that I have in my current collection.

I used my cell phone, a Google Pixel 7 to record, and played my Stephens Trombone.



I decided to play Bolero as a comparison piece, and used the following line up, most of which I've actually gotten here in these very forums:

Greg Black 5G L .277 (the Kitzman model)
LI Brass Sasha Romero model
Ian Bousfield S (with both rubber bands on!)
Hammond Design Steve Witser custom
Griego-Alessi 7F
Greg Black Carl Mazzio Custom
Laskey -Alessi 60SYMPH
Griego-Alessi 1D

There's timings put in the description so you can fast forward and see which Bbs I cracked there's also a cat cameo if you're really paying attention

[dukesboneman]

Great comparison video. You have a really beautiful sound.
To my ears most of the mouthpieces sounded pretty much the same , you sounded like you except..
The Long Island Brass Sasha Romero was noticeably different. The sound was huge and very colorful
Same with the Griego-Alessi 1D, there was a difference in the breadth of sound. More spread a
nd more color in the sound. And they both sounded even top to bottom.
Thanks

[GabrielRice]

The Kitzman mouthpiece sounds best to me but I'm a sucker for a great 5G and a player who can play it.

[Aznguyy]

I wished you had used your 55SYMPH in the testing.

[Burgerbob]

The Kitzman mouthpiece sounds best to me but I'm a sucker for a great 5G and a player who can play it.

It was my favorite as well.

[WilliamLang]

I checked today and the Kitzman is actually the deepest cup of all the pieces! I’m looking forward to laskey releasing the 59E now (an old laskey 59D is my current daily driver.)

[JeffBone44]

I liked how you sounded on all of the 5G sized-rims. I suppose that would make sense as Bolero is mostly a high range excerpt. I'd like to see you make a video with these same eight mouthpieces on a low range excerpt.

[BassBoneFL]

First of all, Kudos on 8 Boleros back to back !! Since you asked, the three I would vote to hear again were the Kitzman and both Griego-Alessis. That said, I might feel differently live and in a hall. (you are in a smallish space, being recorded on a phone, and listened to on a laptop)

[WilliamLang]

Thanks for the feedback - I'm considering making similar videos with the same line-up using Saint-Saens 3, Tuba Miriam, and the Ride to get a more complete overview of how these pieces work in different contexts.

I liked how you sounded on all of the 5G sized-rims. I suppose that would make sense as Bolero is mostly a high range excerpt. I'd like to see you make a video with these same eight mouthpieces on a low range excerpt.

[WilliamLang]

Thanks! and it's a good point on being live and in a hall. I might bring these pieces up to Longy, my school in Boston, and try them out in a hall on a few different excerpts for comparisons sake.

First of all, Kudos on 8 Boleros back to back !! Since you asked, the three I would vote to hear again were the Kitzman and both Griego-Alessis. That said, I might feel differently live and in a hall. (you are in a smallish space, being recorded on a phone, and listened to on a laptop)

[WilliamLang]

So I recorded all the same mouthpieces on Saint-Saens 3, and at first I deleted the whole video and all sharing I did, as I was second guessing my own sound and representation. Then I realized that trying to record threshold dynamics on a cell phone in a small room is always going to be a losing battle, and that there is still a lot of interesting sound differences to hear, so I decided to re-upload it.



Let me know what you think if you like - it was an interesting recording project and I've decided to lean into the vulnerability of it rather than away from it. It's always possible to put a lot of money and time into something to make it sound polished and "perfect" but this more raw and close look gives us more to think about and hopefully learn from, I believe.

[hyperbolica]

Let me say first, kudos for playing the Bolero excerpt end to end so many times in a row, with so few flaws. Really. That shows a lot, just being willing to do that, and then actually pulling it off with such great results. Great playing.

Not as a criticism, because any willingness to play for the peanut gallery here is courageous, but I'm not a big fan of signature mouthpieces. Yay, Alessi can play on a soup bowl, but I'm not Alessi, and I'm not any of these guys. I'm not sure just because some hero plays a mouthpiece I'd be likely to buy that mouthpiece. I might actually be lead away from it, because I know I'm not that kind of material. Anyway, it's still interesting to hear the comparison, and more interesting than anything was how well you held up through all those Boleros without breaks or edits.

Let me know what you think if you like - it was an interesting recording project and I've decided to lean into the vulnerability of it rather than away from it. It's always possible to put a lot of money and time into something to make it sound polished and "perfect" but this more raw and close look gives us more to think about and hopefully learn from, I believe

I can hear why you balked on putting the recording up. This one wasn't at the same level that your previous recording was. The easiest stuff can be the hardest. It seemed to show in your face that you weren't really happy with it as it was happening. I've done some recordings I've just deleted because I thought they were a bit embarrassing, but others maybe didn't hear all the mess I thought I created. You've established your skills with 8 Boleros in a row, I think a little junk between notes in long slide transitions can be overlooked. And again, kudos on the consistency. It might be just practicing the excerpt multiple times, or it might be the bigger mouthpieces at the end, but the last couple of examples sounded the best on this round.

[WilliamLang]

It's always a good learning experience! and hopefully shows other that we're all learning all the time.

I do think that for the lower excerpts - the wider rims tend to work just a touch better for my face. That was part of the reason I wanted to try out Saint-Saens right after Bolero. To see how different mouthpieces would feel on the extremes of what is traditionally asked for on auditions.

Funnily enough - I also noticed my face showing more than I was consciously thinking of while playing - my body definitely registered that something was "off" before my emotions or thoughts did. Only listening back did I realize that what was in my head wasn't matching what I was trying to play. It was nice to see the progression over the course of the video - which is why I choose to re-upload it and share.

And also very astute in that simple playing shows the most! I like to challenge my students to play Twinkle Twinkly in any key and be "perfect" to see where they are. The easy the song, the more obvious the fundamentals are.

As far as the signature mouthpiece thing goes - I just noticed I had a little sub-collection of them resulting from my first large mouthpiece search, and thought it would be a good framework for people to listen in on.

For my daily playing I don't use any of these mouthpiece - I use an old Laskey 59D that does what I want really well. But getting the "names" in their definitely helps people contextualize a little better. As I get deeper in this series (I'll probably do a Mozart Requiem, Ride, and Mahler 3 on these pieces,) I'll start to expand the other options that I have - like there's a cool Greg Black Futura mouthpiece and a Greigo Deco 5 that I'd love to compare some of these to eventually.

[Burgerbob]

Not as a criticism, because any willingness to play for the peanut gallery here is courageous, but I'm not a big fan of signature mouthpieces.

Even the humble 6.5AL is a signature mouthpiece, the Clarke. Every good piece design out there has a great player behind it.

[WilliamLang]

Ah that's cool! I didn't know that about the 6.5AL (which was the first mouthpiece I ever spent significant time on as a young trombonist!)

[Bach5G]

Not as a criticism, because any willingness to play for the peanut gallery here is courageous, but I'm not a big fan of signature mouthpieces.

Even the humble 6.5AL is a signature mouthpiece, the Clarke. Every good piece design out there has a great player behind it.

Bach 5G?

[Burgerbob]

Even the humble 6.5AL is a signature mouthpiece, the Clarke. Every good piece design out there has a great player behind it.

Bach 5G?

Dunno. But almost every one of those pieces in the catalog was the result of someone going to Bach and asking for such and such change. It's possible Bach just made those changes without prompting but I doubt it.

[hyperbolica]

Even the humble 6.5AL is a signature mouthpiece, the Clarke. Every good piece design out there has a great player behind it.

I don't play that either. The DE system obviously has a player behind it, but its a rational system of options rather than a specific suze. But we're straying from the topic. It's still interesting to see how OP handles the variation in all these pieces.

[Kbiggs]

Thanks so much for sharing these practice experiment recordings! I listened to Bolero twice—I’m still thinking about it. I haven’t listened to Saint-Säens yet.

Recording and room aside, it’s fascinating to hear how different the player/horn sounds with one small change.

I would be very interested to hear another experiment with your daily driver, the Laskey 59D, the GB Futuro and the Griego Deco (sizes?). Somebody also mentioned a 55 Symphony?

[WilliamLang]

Dave Finlayson once shared with me house thoughts that the closer something is the face, the more different a change will make - so like switching up a mouthpiece or slide will have more effect on the instrument than a valve or bell change. It's been an interesting thought to chew on, and partly why I like these comparisons.

Also it would be fun to do a radical design video, the GB Futuro, Griego Deco 5, and CL 4 would definitely fit that description. I also have a large shank Ferguson for fun! Might be a good one to use the exposition of the David Concertino for.

[JeffBone44]

Not as a criticism, because any willingness to play for the peanut gallery here is courageous, but I'm not a big fan of signature mouthpieces. Yay, Alessi can play on a soup bowl, but I'm not Alessi, and I'm not any of these guys. I'm not sure just because some hero plays a mouthpiece I'd be likely to buy that mouthpiece.

Fair point, although many signature mouthpieces are available in more normal size ranges for us mere mortals. For example, Alessi's Greg Black signature mouthpieces, now labeled as New York, can be ordered with rims ranging from 2G to 5G. And each series has 5 different cup depths ranging from very shallow to very deep. So a lot of variety and versatility there. The Griego Alessi and new Laskey Alessi mouthpieces are also available in several rim sizes.

[hveene]

I really preferred the Griego-Alessi 7F in this incredible line up. I might be tempted to order one, but I mainly play in British Brassband, so 7F is a tad too deep for that. Maybe the 7C or 7D might be better.

[WilliamLang]

7C or 7D would work - the new Laskey-Alessi solo line also has a good compromise, though I prefer the older standard Laskey's for music that needs more front, and the Laskey-Alessi Symphony pieces for material that needs more length.

[BrianJohnston]

I really enjoyed this video, and hope you put more of these out with different mouthpieces and different excerpts.

Again, I could really tell that you were used to Greg Black Carl Mazzio Custom and it really worked for your style of playing. I will say that the Hammond may have been the prettiest sound though.

[WilliamLang]

Had a chance to continue my little series in my school's recital hall - Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music. it was very interesting to see how the pieces react in a bigger space and on a much bigger piece - Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel. I was particularly impressed and surprised by the LI Brass Sasha Romero piece in this style and environment.

[JeffBone44]

I watched your Till Eulenspiegel video. My two favorites were the Sasha Romero and the Carl Mazzio custom.

[WilliamLang]

Continuing my series - this time I decided to dive into one of my solo pieces - a transcription of Arvo Part's Fratres taken from the cello version, which uses lower triple tonguing at the beginning in lieu of the higher double tonguing version that's floating around out there.

I also added my normal mouthpiece for this work, and had a chance to see what the difference is on a Bousfield mouthpiece with one of the little rubber bands removed. It's on the longer side, so line-up and timings are included in the video description and comment section.

Next week I'll be back home from the summer festival I run in Boston, and I'll be super happy to try out a new Doug Elliot mouthpiece that he has kindly sent me! So they'll be a video on either the David or Mozart coming soon on that end.

[WilliamLang]

By request of Brian Johnston, I went and recorded Brahms 4 on my principal mouthpieces. I decided that rather than play it safe I would really go for it on the softer dynamics, which is honestly really revealing, and gives a better view of what these mouthpieces can do, although it made for some interesting articulations!

[JeffBone44]

Your videos are great. Keep it up!

[hveene]

7C or 7D would work - the new Laskey-Alessi solo line also has a good compromise, though I prefer the older standard Laskey's for music that needs more front, and the Laskey-Alessi Symphony pieces for material that needs more length.

As a matter of fact I just received teh Laskey 55 Solo, and indeed it is a very nice compromise for me.

[WilliamLang]

Decided to record 10 mouthpieces on Ride of the Valkyries today - but outdoors! It's interesting what the lack of resonance that walls provide will do for sound.

Once again, on the louder excerpts I am finding myself pleasently surprised by the LI Brass Sasha Romero piece - to my feedback that was the one that felt like it had the longest release, maybe tied with the Greg Black Mazzio.

The Ride is such a funny excerpt as well - there's a million different ways to play it, and somehow almost no one plays it "right" solo, but as soon as you add even 1 other person it feels so easy!

In the past I've gone for long lines through the phrases, but after some feedback, now I approach it with stronger downbeats in mind and less length on the dotted quarter notes - somewhat like the STS workshop recordings. I might go back to my intuitive phrasing at some point and make a comparison video on it.



the Line-Up!
Doug Elliot XT 104 G8
Greg Black 5G L .277 (Kitzman Model)
Bousfield S
Laskey-Alessi 55SYMPH
Laskey 59D
Hammond Witser
LI Brass Sasha Romero (.285)
Greigo-Alessi 7F
Greg Black Mazzio
Griego-Alessi 1D

[WilliamLang]

I have a lot of free time this month, so I went a little all-in and recorded Bitsch Etude #2 on five on my most distinctive mouthpieces. I'm slowly gathering info from different recording situations (indoors, hall, classroom, practice studio, outside) and learning a lot along the way, especially about how different mouthpieces might sound in different contexts.

For this round, I used the mouthpieces that showed the most overall range from my larger line-up - the selection includes:

Doug Elliot XT 104 XT G* G8


Hammond Witser


Laskey-Alessi 55SMYPH


Griego-Alessi 1D


LI Brass Romero (First generation, .285 backbore, T3 shank)


I choose these from the larger line-up for specific reasons of interest in the mouthpiece and difference from one another. It's been a fun exercise so far!

[WilliamLang]

Bolero Update!

For this video I used the Doug Elliott I've spent the last month on as my primary mouthpiece, a Parke-Friedman, a Willie's Custom Steiner, a Laskey-Alessi 55, and a Griego-Oft

[harrisonreed]

Wow, nice job. That Griego Oft is BRIGHT. It's actually quite a nice sound for that piece/excerpt. The low range wasn't as comfortable sounding though.

The Peter Steiner sounded GREAT across the board, and had the best sound in the low register.

There is something about that Alessi mouthpiece though. You sorta have to play those like Alessi for it to "work", so it forces you in to that head space, and sounding like Alessi is never a bad thing.

You sounded most relaxed on the DE.

[WilliamLang]

I was really surprised by that brightness as well! Usually heavier pieces have some more depth to the sound - it might be the combination of swallow cup and smaller rim that results in that character.

[harrisonreed]

Ah sorry, you beat me to my edit. More stuff above.

[WilliamLang]

Was a very interesting line-up to listen back to! The Friedman, Steiner, and Oft didn't give me great feedback when I first tried them today - but listening back they were much more intriguing than they originally felt. I think I spent less than a minute or two on any of the three of them before making this video, so you really get a fresh impression.

Thanks for the comments also!

[Posaunus]

To be honest, with my ears (and my computer's small Advent speakers), you sounded great on all these mouthpieces, with lots of similarity among them all. As they say, you sound like "yourself."

I think I agree with Harrison - you sounded relaxed and confident on the Doug Elliott setup. (My favorite by a small margin.) Perhaps because you were most familiar with it?

This is a very interesting series of videos. Thanks!

[jph]

I checked today and the Kitzman is actually the deepest cup of all the pieces! I’m looking forward to laskey releasing the 59E now (an old laskey 59D is my current daily driver.)

This provides valuable testimony for the younger players out there: you need to experiment…on your own.
The combination of a traditionally conservative 5g (25.5 mm) cup diameter with a deeper cup (H or so) has worked for a lot of fine principal players. Douglas Wright comes to mind.

[Nobbi]

Inspired by William's comparison video's and the sound of each MP .... I placed my order on November 6th.
Yesterday I finally received my LiBrassCo SR600 from Jeff ... and it was worth being patient.

It's of course honeymoon time, now!
Anyway I can say, this is the most comfortable MP that touched my lips so far. The sound is open, powerful, the tones appear safe and immediate in all registers. Wow ... my Greg Black is on vacation, recently.

Many thanks for the inspiration and the very well done videos, William.
Many thanks for the amazing craftsmanship, Jeff.