Instrument Stuff Flashcards
(25 cards)
Types of piano
Grand pianos
upright pianos
Rhodes
wurlitzer
dx7
Clivinet
Dyno
Grand pianos sound deeper, softer and more full than upright pianos
Rhodes and wurlitzer keyboards sound similar. Basically just amplified pianos.
dx7 sounds like a v sythy piano.
Clivinet is a funky keyboard
Dyno is a keyboard with a punchy bell like sound
Types of gtar
Steel string gtar,
nylon gtar
Sitar
mandolin
Ukelele
Compared to steel string, nylon gtar is softer, warmer and less transient.
Sitar sounds like middle eastern gtar.
For mandolin think jesse stewart.
Ukeleles have nylon strings, and are brighter/ less resonant. Usually they sound higher than guitars.
Bass gtars
Upright/ acoustic/ double/ contra bass l
Fretless basses
Rickenbacker bass
Yamaha bass
Cellos
Upright/ acoustic/ double/ contra bass are all different words for jazzy bass.
Fretless basses have no frets. these can sound smoother and warmer and can almost have a vocal like quality about them. They make a MWAH sound.
Rickenbacker bass is bright sounding with nice long sustain.
Yamaha is a good neutral bass.
Synth Basses
M1 bass
Reese bass
M1 bass is a type of pluck bass. It is that iconic house music bass sound. It has an added layer 7 semitones up from the root
Reese bass is a synth bass. u can make it with saw waves with detuned unison and a high pass filter. U can make it wobbly using frequency modulation.
kalimba
marimba
xylophone
vibraphone
Glockenspiel
The kalimba marimba and xylophone all sound quite similar -tropical plucky sound
A vibraphone is similar to a xylophone but it is more metallic and is amplified so has more sustain.
Glock isnt very similar to these. It’s very soft metallic and wishy washy
Brass
Trombone
Tuba
A french horn
Sax
Trombone is like a trumpet except pitched an octave lower and slidey
Tuba is the lowest pitch brass instrument.
A french horn is brass that sounds a bit woodwindy. It has the widest tonal range of all brass so sounds a bit dissonant and rich.
Sax’s are reed brass instruments but most brasses are valve instruments
Woodwind reed Instruments
An oboe
An english horn
A bassoon
Clarinet
A bassoon is similar to an oboe. But a bassoon typically sounds lower and deeper.
English horn is similar to oboe but lower pitch, with a broader spectrum.
Clarinet has a mad range in terms of pitch and also what is can sound like. For Clarinet think richard dawson.
Woodwinds (without reed)
Flutes
recorders
A piccolo
Flutes are softer and have a wider range than recorders, recorders have narrower timbres. Flutes have more breathyness. Recorders are usually more clear.
A piccolo is a smaller higher pitched flute (one octave)
Harps
Harpsichords
Harps sound dreamy
A harpsichord is different to a harp. It is a harp which is played as a keyboard and so the strings are plucked. This means it has less dynamic control than a harp, and a harp sounds much softer.
Bowed instruments
What does Arco mean
Violas
Violins
What does Pizz (pizzicato) mean
Cellos
Arco means ‘with the bow’
Violas are lower and warmer cos theyre bigger with thicker strings than violins, they are also tuned a fifth lower.
Violins are brighter n more penetrating.
Pizz means that it is a bowed instrument that is being plucked.
Pizz viola and violin sounds kinda percussive. Violin sounds like snowman.
Cellos: Slightly higher than double bass.
Drum hits
Side stick
rim hit
Rim shot
Side stick comes from hitting the rim of a drum while the top on the stick lays resting on the drum kit
rim hit is also just hitting the rim of a drum
Rim shot is when u hit the snare and rim at the same time
Toms
Rack toms
Floor toms
Arrangements
Also kick drums are sometimes called bassdrums
Rack toms are usually mounted above the kick and are higher pitch.
Floor toms are usually mounted on the floor and are lower pitched.
Toms will be arranged from highest to lowest. E.g. if there are 4 toms then 1 (or sometimes A) will be the highest and 4 (or sometimes D) will be the lowest.
Cymbals & hi hats
Hi hats
Crash cymbals
China cymbals
Rides will often have the option to play on the ‘bell’ or ‘bow’ or ‘edge’.
Hi hats are two cymbals sandwiched together. Can be closed or open.
Chinas are crash cymbals that are a bit inverted, they sound a bit gongy.
Bell means hitting it on the centre, it makes it sound tinny & high pitched.
Edge sounds more crashy.
Bow is the area between the edge and bell, and is the normal way to play it.
Types of drums
Djimbe
Taiko
Timbales
Timpani
Cajons
Djimbe is a boomy, deep, african drum.
Taiko are big japanese war drums that u hit with a mallet. Very cinematic.
Timbales are like mini toms that sound tropical n resonant. Used for tropical drumroll fills, or for tom n jerry running.
Timpani: resonant tuned orchestral drums. sound like tom n jerry SFX.
Cajons: wooden boxes. Playing with fist is kicky. Playing with slap sounds snarey
Congas/ bongos
Congas are deeper than bongos and they do sound pretty different.
Congas are mounted to the floor wheras bongos arent
Tabla & Udu
Tabla is indian percussion and is has a slightly wobbly and dissonant bass sound (almost vocal like) along with a bongoey sound.
Udu sounds very water droplety. Its basically a bong that u slap, and is sounds like if a tablas bass element and bongo element was more merged.
Steel drums & Hand pans
Steel drums are played with a mallet and there little divots give them lots of different really cool tropical sounding resonances.
Hand pan is similar but played by hand which gives them a softer more bongoey texture. Handpans sound floatier and are deeper.
Random Percussion
A woodblock
Claves
Guiro
Castanets
A woodblock is a wooden cowbell, so sounds like a cowbell but not metallic.
Claves: wooden sticks that make percussive clicking sound when struck together. They often sound different sampled to how they do in real life.
Guiro: wood ridged thing, u run a stick down, creating a percussive zip sound.
Castanets: wooden clams u shut together, making transient wood sound
Cabasa
Cabasa produce a metallic rattling sound. They are those shakery type things that have metal beads round the outside, u can shake it or rub hand round beads for a slidey texture.
Belltree and tubular bell
Tubular bell is basically a massive chime that is struck percussively. Sounds like Undertaker theme/ church bell.
A belltree sounds like a chime but it resonates way less and therefore has a much shorter decay.
What is a mute for brass instruments?
A cup that is placed in/ over sound hole.
Tambourines usually need to be live played to sound good
What does contra mean
Contra before an instrument means its pitched an octave down
Drum machines/ samplers:
The linn drum machine
808
909
The mellatron
The linn drum machine sounds like the weekends blinding lights song. It has those wierd resonant tomms and sounds very 80s.
808 drum machine is iconic hiphop drum machine. Quite electric sounding.
909 is more housey/ garagey/ electronicy sounding.
The mellatron is a type of tape based sampler/ emulator popular in 70s
