Seery vs. M&E (videos)

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:13 am

Hi folks.
I've fooled around a little with my mothers computer when I've been visiting and put up a couple of vids of me playing the Seery "Pratten" and M&E "R&R" flutes. There's also a short take with the Bell Bb flute.
I did this mainly to show how the Seery and M&E flutes sound in my hands, not to get critique on my playing, but if you have something (other than the obvious: beat is sometimes off, tuning is sometimes off, there's a bad crann or roll here and there and breathing spots arn't exactly spot on) then feel free to hit me. Note also that the clips were not recorded the same day, and I didn't care to try and play similar both times.

Here they are anyway. Seery is first, M&E is second in both clips and Bell is third in the Jig clip.
Rolling on the Rye Grass
Garrett Barry's Jig

Cheers

Oh, btw, I need to tune that Cnat key right?

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:10 am

Well done, and useful! It's great to play flutes side-by-side for comparison, but hard for most of us to get that opportunity. Those are two great flutes with slightly different characters, and it was great to be able to compare them from the listener's perspective that way. Thanks for posting!

Easily_Deluded_Fool · Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:42 am

Very useful to hear the differences.

I wonder how many people will want to buy
the 'other' flute now?

Well done.

Thanks.

jemtheflute · Post by **jemtheflute** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:32 pm

Thanks for that! The differences are pretty noticeable! I liked the Bell Bb best, BTW.

I can't say I'm too impressed with the M&E - I play an original R&R and they don't sound very similar to me. I've never laid hands on an M&E myself (yet) that I can think of. I have a Seery Pratten that sounds very like yours - and good that is too! I'm not very keen on keyless flutes, though, hence it's on my For Sale thread.

It is certainly very informative to have a post like this considering how often these comparisons get debated and how often newbies want info, so well done and thanks again.

Bruno Sa · Post by **Bruno Sa** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:07 pm

Hi Henke

Somehow I'm not able to open the videos. I have the Flash Player, no problem, and I even restarted the PC, but no good. Would you mind uploading those to youtube? Thanks!

BillG · Post by **BillG** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:25 pm

Henke - Great post! Is it my imagine or is your embouchure as relaxed as it appears in the clips? You seem so much at ease while playing. I'll have to work on that.

Irish Marine · Post by **Irish Marine** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:13 pm

Hi Henke-nice job and thanks for posting the clips. I love that Garrett Barry's! I'm curious, do you use one of the flutes more often than the other?

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:17 pm

Henke thats nice!

Quite an interesting difference.

I'm in agreement with Jem.

I wonder if all the M&E respond like that. Have you played others?

Bruno Sa · Post by **Bruno Sa** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:33 pm

Well, I installed Firefox and now it worked. Dunno what happpened with IE. Anyway, nice job Henke. I've been always curious about those two.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:33 pm

An M&E can sound like this:

http://www.silbealabanza.com/video/MCro ... Dflute.wmv

or this:

http://www.silbealabanza.com/video/MCro ... dflute.wmv

Henrik - you sound great on the Seery these days, but you've sounded better on the M&E in past clips...has it been a while since you played the M&E?

FWIW - I've been told my flute, a keyed M&E, is more than fine by my teacher (I've also been told I need to practice more). I'll take his word since he seems to know his way around the flute.

Those two links seem to load sporadically...maybe this one will work better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmCL7SkXceU

Eric

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:38 pm

Interesting.

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:19 pm

I thought the Seery sounded better. I played an M&E myself but I didn't like it. It seemed too quiet and took too much air. Never played a Seery but you sure make it sound good.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:35 pm

I like your hair.

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:23 am

Thanks for all the replies. I acctually like the M&E better sound wise. I do believe that the particular mic (cheap computer mic) favours the sound of the Seery more, because it's pretty thin. I think it takes a bit of the "fattness" off the M&E sound, in reality the M&E has more depth and more dimensions than the Seery.

Jayhawk wrote:Henrik - you sound great on the Seery these days, but you've sounded better on the M&E in past clips...has it been a while since you played the M&E?

I have been playing the Seery most of the times lately with my band so there may be some truth to that. But I've played very little flute in general lately and I think that the Seery might have a larger sweet spot. The M&E seems to be a lot more versatile for good and for bad. I recorded a slow air clip as well but never posted it. I think thats where the M&E is really outstanding, capable of a lot more nuances, but the Seery is a little more forgiving when it comes to just punching out jigs and reels. But honestly I don't think that mic would ever do any of those flutes justice, they're both great.

edit: I might just have had a bad embouchure day when I recorded the M&E as well. The flute is such a sensitive thing, it's impossible to make a comparision which will be close to scientific. It doesn't matter how you go about it, there will always be variables which make it unreliable. That's why all these comparisions must be taken for what they are, which is not much.

Anyway, about that Cnat key on the M&E (Garrett Barry's), it is more than a bit off right? Might have to adjust that.

Dana · Post by **Dana** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:44 am

Very interesting comparison, and nice playing, Henke. The M & E is somewhat flatter in pitch than the Seery on these clips. Coming right after a higher-pitched flute, it will have a tendancy to sound a bit dull in comparison. I think the comparison would have been clearer if the 2 flutes had been tuned to the same pitch before making the clip.