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walkad
Oud Junkie
Posts: 102
Registered: 6-27-2004
Location: Sweden
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Elie Riachi wrote:
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I wouldn't think that the resonance of the bowl contributes that much to the sound of the oud, ouds are played with the bowl in close contact
with the player's body which dampens most of the resonance anyway. What I think is an important function of the bowl is the refelction of the
sound, which can be achieved by using denser woods for the bowl and smoothing the inside. Also the stronger the bowl, the more stable the action will
be
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Elie, you put out some very intersting points that got me thinking. The problem is what you say sounded very logical, and still souds ok, but I cant
agree with you on all the points...
Whats intersting is, the bowls role, is it only for projection of sound?? I say partly yes, the bowls main role is projecting the sound, but the
material of the bowl consume some frequencies. Thats why for example sycamore bowls are very clear on discant tones but the bass is not quite as
strong. The ebony tends to consume discant tones, thats why it tends to be dull on higher notes.
Another thing is that every wood sort puts its flavour on the sound, and flavour is a personal thing, some of us like ebony sound, others (like me)
likes walnut etc..
From experience, I've noticed that the lighter the oud is, the louder the sound, and I think thats a fact. You can even apply this on guitars,
compare a flamenco guitar to classical guitar and you will see weight differences.
From that you can conclude that the ebony oud wouldnt be a loud oud..
I good friend of mine is a electric guitar builder, he told me that his favourite woods is maple and ebony, and they would be not good in acoustical
instruments but in electrical guitars you have the pick ups (the microphones) with them you can catch the sound flavour of ebony without a suffering
sound volume
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
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Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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| Quote: | Originally posted by walkad
....From experience, I've noticed that the lighter the oud is, the louder the sound, and I think thats a fact. ....
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Hi Walkad,
Your experience is in line with the perception of sound by the human ear; the human ear perceives higher frequency notes as louder than lower
frequency ones. The way to judge loudness is to use a sound intensity meter.
You also bring up a good point; the whole instrument vibrates, no doubt, and the denser the material the more the response will be in the low
frequency range. If the bowl is allowed to vibrate much (not rigid or weak), the energy of the vibration gets absorbed by the bowl and the oud's
sound will be weak. This is not to say that the bowl should not vibrate, because my understanding that is what contributes to lower frequencies, at
least in acoustic gutars.
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revaldo29
Oud Junkie
Posts: 418
Registered: 6-24-2004
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Mood: inspired
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Walkad,
If what you say is true, about woods absorbing certain frequencies, does mixing woods help reduce this problem?
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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Added a line
Please note I added a line to the pervious post to clarify the last part of the post.
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
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Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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Revaldo, good question. If you think of the ribs resonating and reinforcing certain frequency ranges depending on the type of wood (density,
stifness), then that may be a plus. But would there be enough ribs to make a difference or would they work against each other and dampen the the
sound instead of resonating!
Maybe that was the reasoning behind using different types of woods for the ribs in one oud by the old makers and that is to provide a wider frequency
response range from the back.
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walkad
Oud Junkie
Posts: 102
Registered: 6-27-2004
Location: Sweden
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| Quote: |
Revaldo, good question. If you think of the ribs resonating and reinforcing certain frequency ranges depending on the type of wood (density,
stifness), then that may be a plus. But would there be enough ribs to make a difference or would they work against each other and dampen the the sound
instead of resonating!
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Intresting point!! I am of the opinion that you shoold be careful on what woods to mix in a bowl.
Another intresting aspect of mixing woods for some people is the estethical part, many wood combination is very beautiful.
Regards
/Walid
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