Practice mutes to actually practice daily on

[Landok]

So I’ve played on Dennis Wick, Best brass, humes and berg, and Wallace practice mutes. They all seem to have lots of back pressure/Resistance, with the exception of the wallace practice mutes which I think is too big for my King 2b, Because after a while I can’t even produce the sound on that one. I think it’s because the bell is pretty small in comparison to the Wallace mute. Are there any out on the market that’s actually safe to do majority of practice time on, that doesn’t have lots of resistance?

[Matt K]

The new silent brass worked really well for me when I couldn't make noise in my last apt. Works fine without the electronics but with them in you can largely play like you normally would and the feed back makes it feel a lot more natural

[baileyman]

If you're ever near Boston, drop by with your horn and I'll make you one.

[marccromme]

Bremmner Shhhh mute is the one I think is best in respect of lesser back-pressure, good pedals/low range and good intonation over the entire range. Both the tenor and the bass work really fine. But they are heavy!

[BGuttman]

I used my Yamaha Silent Brass when I was in a Rehab recovering from surgery. It didn't even disturb my roommate, who said while he could hear me it wasn't as loud as his TV. Again, I was able to make it sound to me like I was unmuted. Problem is the wires and the earbuds (which I discarded in favor of cheap head phones from an old Sony Walkman.

[harrisonreed]

No

[afugate]

I used my Yamaha Silent Brass when I was in a Rehab recovering from surgery. It didn't even disturb my roommate, who said while he could hear me it wasn't as loud as his TV. Again, I was able to make it sound to me like I was unmuted. Problem is the wires and the earbuds (which I discarded in favor of cheap head phones from an old Sony Walkman.

This is my gripe as well. I don't understand why Yamaha takes such a capable product and saddles it with the equivalent of $3 ear buds one would purchase at a convenience store. Surely they could include something better.

--Andy in OKC

[SwissTbone]

If you're ever near Boston, drop by with your horn and I'll make you one.

Tell me more...

[norbie2018]

A trumpet-playing colleague in the army had made one from an air freshener (the twist-up kind). I don't know if it would fit a trombone.

[BGuttman]

A trumpet-playing colleague in the army had made one from an air freshener (the twist-up kind). I don't know if it would fit a trombone.

There was a post on TTF where DJ Kennedy made one from a Renuzit core (after the smelly stuff had evaporated).

[ghmerrill]

I put a lot of time into that kind of DIY attempt at one point, and the result was totally unrewarding and unsatisfactory. I think that making your own mute in that way for a trumpet or small trombone MAY work okay, but for a bass, not so much. But in any case, based on my own experience, I recommend spending the bucks to get something commercial that's actually good, or ...

If I need a practice mute now, I use a Sotftone mute

https://www.amazon.com/Softone-Bass-Tro ... ftone+mute

with some rags or paper towels stuffed in it until it works just right. Note that this solution also provides you with a highly portable and almost industructable mute that can be used to pretty nicely mimic a bucket mute. I know of one person using a Softone large bass trombone mute in this way as a practice mute on his euphonium. These come in various sizes (depending on your bell size) for large or small tenor, and for large or small bass trombones.

Addendum ... Here's a good YouTube video of how the Softone is used and sounds -- including how to use it as both a practice and bucket mute and how to increase the degree of muting:

[BGuttman]

I have to take issue with one thing about the SofTone. I find it gets into funny intonation above F above the bass staff. I own two of them: a small bass and a tenor. I use them as buckets. I use them for warmup as long as I don't push the upper register.

I would like to know what Ira did to play high into the thing.

[Burgerbob]

I find the old Silent Brass to be better than all the other mutes I have tried, including Bremner.

However, nothing is a substitute for playing without one.