RESEARCH & ACOUSTICS
Over 40 years of acoustic research and development have resulted in a wide selection of custom leadpipe, first branch and bell tapers. These tapers combined, control intonation, ease of playing and tonal qualities. Unavoidably, they are acoustically linked so that favoring one usually is at the expense of the others, which is why no horn seems to be perfect on all accounts; however, any of the tapers can be compensated by the others to achieve a well balanced instrument and optimal performance for each individual player. This process usually involves a lot of guesswork but we have used computer simulation tools for over a dozen years which allows us to program a set of dimensions and see the important acoustic parameters which let us know how the instrument will respond in the musician's hands. Besides developing a method for objectively assessing the combination of tapers in the instrument, we have spent decades on alloy or material selection. Some of the most resonant material includes the bronzes, which is why our most popular models are made of that material. This enhances the instruments dynamic range as well as affect its response. For technical papers we have published, including a primer to get you started, see our list in this document or just ask us.
You are looking at a spectrum analysis of a French horn. Computer assisted technology such as this provide objective performance data describing intonation, tone quality, efficiency and start-up time or response - qualities, which when carefully controlled, are crucial attributes of a great horn. Besides computer assisted design technique, over the last 30 years or so we have come up with some other very innovative ideas. From parabolic leadpipe tapers to our newest pipe the V2; from alloy research to annealing, our ideas are incorporated into some of the finest artists' hands in the world as well as amateurs who want a state of the art instrument.
What
Some Other Researchers are Looking at Today
Dr. Shigeru Yoshikawa at the Kyushu Institute of Design, Japan has just published a highly technical article in Acustica, documenting with pictures and movies, the vibrations of horn players lips. Please let us know only if you're really,really interested in a copy of the publication... they're very limited. His site, Yoshikawa's home page contains a number of movie (.mov) files of the lip vibration as seen with a strobe through a clear mouthpiece made by Lawsons', as well as some neat movies of the airstream jet of organ reeds. Warning, the lip movies are not for the squeamish and requires Internet Explorer 6.0 to download. His findings will allow for better artificial embouchures for future research and document the full changes in the way the lips vibrate, having compared professionals vs. amatuers. This research topic has, to date, been mostly ignored by the serious scientific community. Comprehensive studies of the differences in lip vibrations between players may well lead to better teaching techniques in the future. Click here for just one of the files already downloaded from his site which should load with any application which runs QuickTime movie (.mov) files. You might have to right click the link and choose save as, then open from that folder with QuickTime program.