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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Adding one more non-spherical to Macondo.
Post Subject: A tribute to a properly implemented honk.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 12/21/2010
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 zanon wrote:
As a horn player, I sometimes introduce honk because it introduces a stress tone that feels louder, without actually having to play louder. THis gives me more dynamic flexibility, and I can communicate more extremes.

I have never heard this introduced in playback

Zanon, first of all I would argue that honk used ONLY as “brass virtual clipping” in order to frost the cake of dynamic range. In fact I would says that if it always used this way then we might talk about coloration of the playing techniques. Sure as a human you make your judgment when to spice your loudness with honk and to which degree, this is the whole beauty. Second of all I would state that all brass instruments in one way or other tend to have honk and it never considered as especially negative characteristic.

Then we have a playback. Sure the methods and the means of creating sound by live people and by playback are radically different but the final result and the goals are very much the same. If so, then why we OK are with honk of live sound but reject honk of playback? Sure, live honk and playback honk are coming from different reasons and have different quality but this explanation will be final ONLY for the people who have wrong global perception of what playback does. Let me in extremely abridged forms to explain what I mean I it will take a next paragraph and then I will go back to the subject.

You see, 99.999% of audio people out there are under a stupid, illusionary believe that playback is just more or less accurate carbon copy of live sound and they are trying to make their home sound to mimics what they hear in symphony halls. So, as the result sit in their listening rooms around the face figures of Madame Tussauds and are trying to get inspiration from a raised Marilyn Monroe’s wax skirt.  The truth is that playback is a representative of live sound but it is a completely new sound, not the replica but rather a delegation of intend. This is a big subject and I do not want to go in there here but it needs to be very clear what I stay on it. Furthermore, when I meet audio people who do not understand (majority) or do not support my notion of playback as a NEW consciousness (contrary to replica) then I instantly deny to those people any presumption of audio normality and consider that they do not practice audio but “psychologc acupuncture by sound” ™.

Now back to the notion of honk in playback. If we agree that playback is not replica of original sound but new sound then why it shell not have own honk, or more accurately say the “impression of honk”? Of course it might. The key in my view is very clearly understand the nature of honk during live sound and played back sound. Live sound have honk as expression or as organic narrative. The useful honk in playback (we do not even consider honk as errors or mistakes of playback) has no knowledge about expressionism or about intention and understand ONLY phase/volume algorithms. I do not think that it is possible to make playback to produce honk properly without a dedicated honk modulator, the modulator that will run own logic, but I do not see why it might not be done so. I have for years one old metal “narow” horn that I still keep I plug from time to time and from which I get a phenomenally wonderful honk. If the volume of and the bandwidth of the horn are right then honk auditable only sometimes and give to sound (sometimes) that wonderful effect of “cold nose on brass”. It is very nice to soft let say the brass of Tokyo Philharmonic or even  Chicago Symphony. A proper amount and quality of honk does not soft them in volume but soft them in feeling, adding some humanity and palatability.

Sure brass shall be able to play clean but clean brass does not exist in my view. Do you remember that roaring opening sonority of the second movement of Tchaikovsky Fifth and the entrance of the horn? Try to visualize if as “clean” brass with any honk. What will have left - the air ring from pipe? The point is that proper tone and proper honk create positive venture on brass. It is not a problem in audio generally but in horn would we so afraid of honk that we do throw baby with water in my view…

Rgs, Romy the Cat

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