Quiet or loud?

[Guidus]

I'm curious. What do you like best, and why? Personally, I'll have both: a loud whistle to play outdoors and a quiet one to play at home or on the mike.

[twistedfingers]

Not so much a loud or quiet issue for me, but as I've whoad my way to some 'louder' whistles, such as a Burke DASBT and Cheiftan Mezzo D (now there's a loud whistle ) I've come to appreciate the range of expression I can get from these whistles.

For example I find that with say one of my Dixon D's I either hit the second octave or overblow, with very little inbetween, whereas the whistles mentioned above allow me to really lean into tunes (particularly airs) and provide more colour and contrast so to speak.

So in answer to the question. Loud all the way, much to the distress of my family and pets

[Mitch]

Horses for courses.

If the neighbours are philistine music-haters then Quiet is the whistle for you! Or if you are learning a tune and want to play along discreetly - then quiet is good.

If you are confident and want to sound-out then medium-to-loud is good depending on where you feel the whistle should sit in the sound-schema. Mind-you, you shouldn't be the only one at the session thinking about that! Believe it or not - Fiddles, boxes and flutes have enough dynamic range to be sensitive!

If you are playing on a stage with amplified sound sources (or drums!) then very-loud will help the sound-guy keep stage-spill out of your mike and feed-back to a minimum!

If you don't know - then a Meg is a good place to start. I reach for my Meg a lot

(edited to add: "or drums" - doh!)
(edited again to add: GHB or Bombarde - the woodwind players revenge on percussionists!)
(pre-empting edit #3 to add: tinitus is a real thing - don't damage your lugs!)

[Adrian]

I NEED as many whistles as I can get both loud and quiet! My favorites are whistles that sound and play well out of doors and interestingly that does not always mean loud. I do like quieter whistles for indoors.

[crookedtune]

As above. I have a few of both to suit different situations. But I spend most of my time on quieter whistles, playing at home. Mello-Dog D and Black Diamond C are what I usually reach for.

[riverman]

Not having a session to play with or the skill to play with them, quiet is for me. Except when I am playing by the river and my wife wants to hear my notes drift upstream.

[Jayhawk]

I think a quiet whistle is an oxymoron. It may sound quiet to you, but few and far between is the the whistle that sounds quiet to those around you...

Eric

[Bretton]

I'm curious. What do you like best, and why? Personally, I'll have both: a loud whistle to play outdoors and a quiet one to play at home or on the mike.

I really don't mind if my whistle is quiet or loud (within reason). What's more important to me is how balanced the lowest and highest notes are in their volume. I can't stand whistles that have weak/quiet lowest notes and piercing/loud highest notes.

All whistles suffer from this problem to some extent because of the need to overblow to reach the 2nd octave, but there are a few that manage to get a pretty good balance. Humphreys are the best I've found in this regard, Hudson Winds are a close 2nd, but the Humphrey manages a stronger low end.

-Brett

[shadeclan]

. . .I really don't mind if my whistle is quiet or loud (within reason). What's more important to me is how balanced the lowest and highest notes are in their volume. . .

I would agree with this.

I believe that a beginner should start off with a quiet whistle (to prevent murder - his own! )

Sessions need a louder whistle.

[The Weekenders]

I want to be completely comfortable with a type of whistle and not have to consciously switch around for different air requirements. Real sweet quiet whistles are a curiosity to me, but I get annoyed at having to re-adjust.

So loudish for me.. Rhymes with loutish.

[straycat82]

I like a nice medium. In most session settings the whistle carries much better than the player perceives. Many times I can't hear the whistle as well when I'm sitting next to a few fiddles or a flute but when I get up to go to the bathroom and there's a whistler still playing, that's one of the few instruments that I can still hear when I'm across the room or even in the bathroom. I like a nice mix in the room without one particular instrument dominating.

[Jayhawk]

I like a nice medium. In most session settings the whistle carries much better than the player perceives. Many times I can't hear the whistle as well when I'm sitting next to a few fiddles or a flute but when I get up to go to the bathroom and there's a whistler still playing, that's one of the few instruments that I can still hear when I'm across the room or even in the bathroom. I like a nice mix in the room without one particular instrument dominating.

That was my point exactly - you just explained it better. In our old session haunt, the session was in a front room, you had to cross the entire bar, and then go up a flight of stairs in an old, solid brick building to get to the bathroom. Up there, you could hear general music sounds, but the whistle was the only truly discernable instrument!

Eric

[A-Musing]

Indoors..."quiet," or "loud" with earplugs.
Outdoors...All volumes.
On the occasions I play outside, in forest or by water and the like, I get away from where I'll bother anybody...and let the whistle GO. A great experience, every time. Thank God for natural areas! Trees are great whistle-music reflectors. Cliffs, too. etc...
Being in the various natural settings makes "volume" problems go away.

[straycat82]

...the session was in a front room, you had to cross the entire bar, and then go up a flight of stairs in an old, solid brick building to get to the bathroom. Up there, you could hear general music sounds, but the whistle was the only truly discernable instrument!

Wow, you pretty much just described the pub session that I frequent! For the bathroom you have to go all the way to the back of the pub and up a flight of stairs (one story) and while standing in front of the trough a low murmur of flutes and fiddles can be heard with the whistle leading the way

[Congratulations]

I play Generations. And a Feadog, sometimes. Are those loud?