A question of balance

[keithclarke]

No matter how much I try, to my ear I always need more volume from the right hand and less from the left. I'm on a 120-bass Hohner Musette with three bass registers and the expected range of treble couplers. If, for instance, I'm doing a klezmer piece with a drone bass and single-note melody, even choosing the weakest bass and the loudest treble, I can't get anywhere near what I would like to hear. Is it me or is it the box. (It's usually me.) :|

 

[debra]

It's not really you. It's that while you play you cannot hear what it sounds like to the "audience" sitting in front of you. Considering that music is typically intended to be heard by others it doesn't really matter whether the balance is right for you. It only matters whether it is right for the others.
The bass side has holes to let the sound (and air) through, typically on the front and on the side where your left arm is. That sound travels away from you. On the keyboard side it varies a lot between instruments how much of the sound you hear. The goal of the builder is to make the instrument such that most of the sound travels away from you. If more of the sound would go towards you not only would less of it go towards the audience but you would hear it too loudly and risk damaging your hearing.

 

[keithclarke]

Thanks, Paul, that's reassuring. Perhaps I'll try recording something from across the room.

 

[JerryPH]

That sounds like a good idea. Also if your accordion has pickups and you are amplified, you might want to raise the right hand if you feel it is a touch weaker than the left.

Just thinking here, but if you are holding the accordion in the traditional manner, both left and right ears will be closer to the treble side than the bass, so it should "normally" be a bit louder than the bass but a lot depends on the accordion used and of course the hearing range of the person playing. I do know that as we age, it is the higher range notes that begin to drop off in sensitivity, and a musette is quite fairly high pitched compared to the bass notes of most accordions. That could also be a factor.

 

[Soulsaver]

Just my penny - but usually when people complain that they are too loud on the bass, they are told to get off the bass buttons quicker... so maybe you could try that?

 

[donn]

usually people complain that Hohners are too loud on the bass.

... as is the case here, if Im not mistaken. Though my guess is, the real issue might be weak treble. If you cant get satisfactory volume on the right, then imagine how easily the left could be a problem, given that theyre singing from the same air.

 

[bocsa]

If you can, get a friend to play your box so that you can move around and assess the sound from different distances/angles it's always worth doing in any event, you might be surprised how different it sounds from when you're sitting on top of it....so to speak

another option would be to muffle the bass side a little but only if it's possible to do without compromising tone.

 

[debra]

I have never heard that complaint that Hohners are too loud on the bass side. It varies somewhat between models but what differs most is how much of the treble side you hear while playing. For instance a Morino has a cover that lets part of the sound out at the top so you can hear the keyboard size better. Then, it also depends on how you hold the accordion. The closer you hold the instrument to your body and the more forward you hold your head and the more you shift the accordion to your left the more you will hear the keyboard side. All the more reason to ask someone else to play or to listen.
Personally I never found anything wrong with the balance of a Hohner (any model, at least from before around 2000). I have more often observed the bass side being rather soft on Pigini accordions and the bass side being rather loud on Bugari accordions. But it's also a matter of taste.

 

[Soulsaver]

usually people complain that Hohners are too loud on the bass.

... as is the case here, if Im not mistaken. Though my guess is, the real issue might be weak treble. If you cant get satisfactory volume on the right, then imagine how easily the left could be a problem, given that theyre singing from the same air.[/quote]
Yep thanks, Donn. Edited to make the reply sensible..

 

[JerryPH]

Just my penny - but usually people complain that Hohners are too loud on the bass. They are told to get off the bass buttons quicker... so maybe you could try that?

As the owner of a Hohner Morino VI N, I would have to respectfully disagree. I feel it is wonderfully well balanced. Also, getting off the bass buttons quicker wont make the volume drop, it just makes the notes shorter.

 

[Soulsaver]

Yep reading it again my answer gave an impression it is a problem with Hohners in general; that wasn't what I intended. I've edited it to reflect my intention.

 

[Panya37]

Keith, I noticed that in your original question you comment on the apparent imbalance when you are playing e.g. a Klezmer piece, with L.H. drone note.

I have a Hohner Concerto II and have the same impression; when I try to do e.g. a slow Scottish Air with a drone note the volume on the R.H. drops away dramatically, and to my ear sounds overwhelmed by the L.H. The R.H. volume falls away even more if I am playing a drone chord. At the moment I only have a hazy notion of how the air passes through my accordion but I always assumed that sounding the drone somehow 'uses up' a lot of the available airflow and weakens the sounding of the R.H. notes. I am sure someone will put me right on that though!? By the way, I would say my bellows are pretty airtight.

 

[Morne]

Just to add my understanding regarding balance when doing longer/drone bass notes: If the treble reeds are handmade or finished as opposed to machine made only, then they are more likely to retain volume as they will respond better to the available air.

 

[donn]

That's interesting - I mean, it isn't news that hand made reeds are generally considered to be better, but I can't recall ever seeing any explanation. What is the machine doing wrong? Is it like, they use machines to make cheaper reeds, out of cheaper material etc.? and in principle machines could also make better reeds, though maybe they'd have to be made a little more robust to handle the heavier (?) steel. Or do reed makers exercise subtle human type judgement when making up a reed?

 

[Morne]

Somebody else might be able to give a more technical answer, but here is how I understand it. The different metals certainly have an influence, but I believe the final human adjustment plays the larger role.

The machine made reeds are usually just riveted onto the plates with very little further processing. As long as it makes the correct sound then its done. With the various degrees of human processing the reeds are adjusted to perform better. You could say that each individual reed is special as a result of whatever manufacturing reasons and minute physical differences. When these are merely stuck onto the plates they are not optimised to their own strengths. When they are adjusted by hand each reed is made to perform optimal based on whatever is optimal for that specific reed.

There is a discussion, with lots of photos, on a German music forum about reeds (specific example where basically the same Hohner Artiste reeds are used in a Hohner Atlantic IV De Luxe and a Hohner Morino VIM, but the difference is in how the reeds are finished. In the latter case the hand finishing was done with much more care. From this you could say that any reed has a certain potential (although limited by the quality of the materials used) and to unlock the full potential you need to put in human effort. That is how some some people can turn a bulk, factory made box into something a little better by adding that human touch.

I think a possible analogy would be the kind of teaching a student receives in a group class context versus one-on-one tutoring catering for his exact needs.

It should also be noted that the difference between handmade and machine made isnt that the former has the reed carved by hand from a lump of metal. The initial cut is still done by a machine. Its what comes after that where the hand part comes in.

As for why machines cannot be made to do this automatically, I suppose it comes down to our own subjective feelings. When all the reeds are done to highest hand standards everything needs to fit together as a whole. The closest a machine would come is getting perfect pitch and the most optimal performance but in an isolated environment, i.e. the reed by itself. But the overall character might end up being machine perfect.

 

[debra]

The differences between reeds mainly consist of 1) material used and 2) tolerances. A stronger steel allows for a reed of the same frequency to be larger and thus displace more air producing more volume. Machine reeds are typically a bit smaller than tipo a mano or a mano reeds (which use the same steel and therefore look mostly the same).
Tolerance means how much narrower the reed is than the hole in the reed plate. Machine reeds have more "room" inside the hole so their exact positioning is less critical but the reeds waste air. The advantage is that they are less prone to not producing sound due to a dust particle getting in the way. For "gigs" (not classical concerts) instruments like the Hohner Verdi series are popular because they are so reliable. A hand-made reed has its width adjusted (filed) to just fit in the hole, wasting as little air as possible. That is one of the reasons why contrary to what I sometimes read these reeds do not have a blue finish on the sides: that finish is filed off while adjusting the width.
When the same good quality reeds are used, hastily (Atlantic) or carefully (Morino) the haste to make them fit may cause the reed to use more air by having been made too narrow for the hole in the reed plate. However, my personal experience with Hohner Morino instruments is that they are not nearly as carefully finished as their reputation and price tag might lead you to believe. Many Hohner Morino accordions use too much air and have reeds that are not very finely adjusted and therefore make it harder to play very softly, especially in the MIII melody bass part. I personally found that the finishing and as a result the playability especially of the left-hand side is way better on the Hohner Gola than on the Morino.
But with that german forum post we should be careful: the author talks about early Atlantic and Morino accordions that still had real Hohner reeds. Later (even Morino M already) models all used Italian reeds, first Bugari (Morino N series) and later Cagnoni (Morino S series).

 

[Soulsaver]

That is one of the reasons why contrary to what I sometimes read these reeds do not have a blue finish on the sides: that finish is filed off while adjusting the width.

The vibrating part of the tongue has been stamped out of strip initially. That action will leave the tongue devoid of blue on the tongue edges anyway. Now, if the hand made reed is stamped from a single strip width (as was usual with hand made) it WILL leave the blue on the edges of the wider base area where it is eventually riveted, as that is not filed. If the reed is stamped by a multiple impression tool from wide strip (usual with machine made) it will not have blue on any edges (but will still have blue on the face of the base). Normally the specification of the steel is superior for hand made, too.

Anomally: I have seen hand riveted reeds with no blue on any edge.