Contrabass Digest

2000-09-30

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 10:39:38 +0000
From: Lawrence de Martin
Subject: Re: [CB] organ 64's

> From: LeliaLoban
> No, that Atlantic City Convention Hall Midmer-Losch *does* have a full-length
> 64' stop, and there are several resultants and electronic 64' foot stops.

>  Electronics:  as mentioned above, I know of at
> least one, and I suspect there are others, but they're by no means common.
> - Timothy Tikker

There are organs with electronic 64' stops?  Pray tell where?

> From: Chris Rubenacker
>  I have a friend who has a recording of the Atlantic City
> organ, and on it there's a demonstration of the 64' diaphone.

Can you get a reference for this recording?

> From: Heliconman
> If I remember the technical explanation of "Sensurround" <tm>, the effect
> used in the movie "Earthquake", the frequency used for that was about a fifth
> above at 12 Hz, amplified fairly substancially through ElectroVoice 30 inch
> woofers using a bank of Crown amps. Yikes!

Specialized "sound effects" theaters are now installing Servodrive's "Contrabass"
model which has flat response to 64' Bb (14Hz).  AFAIK, there are no
conventional drivers that achieve this without EQ. Check it out at:

<http://www.servodrive.com/cb.shtml>

In small rooms there is a compression effect called "room gain" which allows
sealed box direct radiators to go slightly lower - I now have a home-brew
subwoofer that measures -10dB at 10Hz (64' Eb).  This is why I am really
curious about electronic 64' ranks.  I suspect they are based on "fundamental
re-construction", the psycho-acoustic effect used in resultant pipes.
 

> From: Andrew Stiller
> All this talk of low organ stops reminds me of R. Murray Schafer's
> theory of "holy noise."  In _The Untuning of the Sky_ he suggests
> that loud notes in the contrabass range trigger religious
> emotions--that sounds like that are evolutionarily awe-inspiring
> because they belong to powerful and dangerous natural phenomena
> (thunder, heavy surf, volcanoes...) that our pre-technological
> ancestors would need to treat with caution and respect.

This occurred to me because hearing was developed for survival;
and religion and royalty maintained a monopoly on extreme bass
instruments.  Besides the organ there are also the largest bass
drums and gongs, used in ceremonies from India to Japan and
American Native societies, Tibetan long horns and contrabass
singers, Russian Orthodox basso profundos, etc.

The most recent indication of the link between bass and the heavens
is the discovery that Chi Qong masters while healing radiate infra-sonic
energy at frequencies corresponding to the 64' rank.

Larry de Martin

---------------------------------------------------------

From: Slvrkys76
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 14:45:21 EDT
Subject: Re: [CB] Non-Boehm Contra
 

Sorry, I'm very behind on my email. I didn't see a reply to this, so I
thought I would.
The metal contra on ebay was definitely a BBb instrument, made by Orsi,
imported by Linton.  It is a modified Boehm system, without the alternate
pinky keys (like an Albert).  It feels a LOT like a saxophone, as it has
mother of pearl keys, three instead of four RH palm (trill) keys like a sax,
no LH F/C, no RH E/B or F#/C# .  I have an EEb instrument like this and while
these are quite different, perhaps even awkward, the tone quality and
intonation is actually pretty good.  Overall, a very big,  powerful sound.
The bore is just over that of the Leblancs, the same on both the EEb and BBb,
like Leblanc.  The mouthpieces are decent, with large tenons.  I recorked one
of my Leblanc mouthpieces to fit and it plays well, with better response than
the ones by Orsi.

These instruments decend to low E, and their construction makes it possible
to actually march with them.  The BBb is much more comfortable to play, as
the hand position of the EEb is a bit more awkward and the instrument doesn't
balance well.

Matthew Hanson
***End of Contrabass Digest***

 
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