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For Saxophone Emphesis: Would I Be Better with an IEM with a Focus on the Mids or Highs?

post #1 of 7
2/11/12 at 8:34am
Thread Starter 

I have been listening to a lot of Dave Matthews Band lately and absolutely love the LeRoi Moore saxophone solos.  I am now debating on making sure that my next pair of IEMs has focus on the saxophone and its sound frequencies, making it stand out above the rest of the instruments.  For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he plays mostly the tenor saxophone.

 

My question is simple: would I be better off with an IEM with a focus on the mids or the highs if I want those solos to really stand out and scream at me?  (I'm not exactly asking for IEM recommendations but simply what signature would be better for me in this situation.)

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post #2 of 7
2/11/12 at 9:23am

Mids. Saxophones don't have the higher harmonics of instruments like trumpets or cymbals.

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post #3 of 7
2/11/12 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DevilDog View Post

Mids. Saxophones don't have the higher harmonics of instruments like trumpets or cymbals.


Thank you much DevilDog.

 

Can anyone else confirm this fact or would like to voice an opinion?  (It's not that I don't believe DevilDog, but I just want to make sure this is a somewhat universal agreement before I go and spend the big bucks...)
 

 

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post #4 of 7
2/11/12 at 3:43pm
You would definitely want some mids. I play the bari, tenor, alto and sop sax and the tenor would definitely be in the mid frequency range. Every now and then you'll get into the highs if you're playing harmonic frequencies but something mid-centric would be good about 95% of the time.
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post #5 of 7
2/11/12 at 5:05pm

Ouch! I'm crushed. frown.gif Four years of music education and I don't know where the Tenor Sax falls.

Really, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about, here. When people talk highs around here, they're meaning way high, cymbal overtone high, towards the higher end of where we can hear, so the tenor will be way below that. You want a can that has predominant mids. But then again, you really need to audition any can, it's all relative to what YOU like.

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post #6 of 7
2/12/12 at 8:59am
Absolutely. Bring your music to a store that lets you audition the headphones and see what suits your tastes. I listen to lots of jazz - trumpets, vocals and saxes - I prefer some headphones to some artists while other headphones suit other artists. For example, I find Sinatra sounds great on my JH16, but I like Miles Davis better on my TF10's as the colour is different.
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post #7 of 7
2/13/12 at 6:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DevilDog View Post

Ouch! I'm crushed. frown.gif Four years of music education and I don't know where the Tenor Sax falls.

Really, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about, here. When people talk highs around here, they're meaning way high, cymbal overtone high, towards the higher end of where we can hear, so the tenor will be way below that. You want a can that has predominant mids. But then again, you really need to audition any can, it's all relative to what YOU like.

I know you do DevilDog; I'm not doubting you.  That's why I put that comment in parentheses as a disclaimer in that post beerchug.gif but thank you again.

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