Yamaha Silent Brass - A Review

Yamaha Silent Brass – A Review

Ed Dumas

In a previous article, I suggested that the best instrument to play in quiet rooms was the trumpet. If you have not yet read it you can find it here. Unlike woodwind instruments, brass instruments can be muted which helps. Using just a straight mute for quiet practice only does half the job at best, because there are still open gaps between the mute and the bell of the trumpet to allow sound to escape. Therefore, a dedicated practice mute is the best choice as it contains a cork which encircles the top of the mute to better reduce sound levels in a common living area.

Recently I purchased a Yamaha Silent Brass System SB7X to begin a routine of practicing once again now that I am retired. The idea of the Yamaha Silent Brass is that it has a pickup on the practice mute that sends the electronic sound signals to a processor that then directs the sound to earbuds which will improve the home practice experience. In this article, I will offer a review of the Yamaha Silent Brass System which contains a few findings that are a surprise even to me, a lifelong trumpet player.

The Yamaha Silent Brass System comes in a box that measures only 11 cm X 9.5 cm x 15 centimetres. My first reaction upon seeing it was that it was a very small package for a mute that sticks out of the bell of the trumpet about 12 cm or so. I wondered how they got that mute in that box! I figured that the electronic processor was likely smaller these days, but had no idea that the mute was also substantially smaller as well.

The physical mute part of the system (PM7X) has been redesigned at some point in the past so that the mute does not stick out past the bell of the trumpet at all. It is now less than the length of the box at 15 centimetres and is completely contained within the trumpet bell when in use. I am sure it is built so that the mute could be left inside the trumpet when the instrument is in the case. I appreciate the thought, but my trumpet already contains my K&M trumpet stand which is also built to be housed inside the trumpet bell. Note that the K&M stand is also the best trumpet stand and is a must for serious trumpet players!

Also, inside the box of the Yamaha Silent Brass is the small STX-2 sound processor, a set of earbuds and a cable to connect the mute to the sound processor. The size of the sound processor is very small being about the size of a small smartphone, but a little shorter. The sound processor runs on two AA batteries instead of a transformer, and this is a good choice as it makes the unit more portable and the sound in the ears much clearer. On the top of the STX-2 is a “Mute In” input, an “Aux In” input, and a “Phones” output. Next to those is a sound level dial for adjusting the overall level in the earbuds which are plugged into the “Phones” output.

On the side of the STX-2 are two small switches. The first switch is to turn the power on and off, but take note that the power will automatically shut off if the processor has not experienced any sound input for some time. This will help save battery life. The other switch toggles between reverb 1 and reverb 2. Finally on the back of the STX-2 unit is a clip which allows the user to clip the unit onto a belt or shirt pocket. I use it to clip the unit onto the underside lip of my music stand where it will not interfere with the music.

When I began using the Yamaha Silent Brass System, I initially tried using my higher-quality headphones in the Phones output. The small unit certainly has enough power to drive those headphones, but I discovered an interesting problem. The higher quality headphones were more of a disadvantage because they were sensitive enough that they were able to play back all of the unwanted sounds that the pickup was hearing, such as valves being slammed up and down and trigger slides being moved. It turned out that the lesser-quality of earbuds was better for this task than the expensive headphones!

The earbuds that are included are a loose fit inside the ear and do not use a rubber seal to get a complete fit. They look similar to Apple Airpods in the way that a small arm hangs down from the earbuds. These earbuds, though, are not wireless as there is a small wire connected to each small arm and then to the processor.

In playing trumpet with the earbuds in place, I then tried both reverb settings on the side switch. Reverb 1 has less reverb and reverb 2 has more. I found I preferred the Reverb 2 setting as this helped me to hear my playing better. In fact, hearing my own playing turns out to be the biggest surprise in using the STX-2.

Over the years, when necessary, I have often used a Harmon or JoRal Bubble mute to help quieten the sound during practice times. Without realizing it, I had been blowing harder to overcome the added backpressure of the mute to hear myself better. It is not that my hearing is damaged in any way, but that I was used to my trumpet sound being at a certain level when I played. I just seemed to naturally gravitate towards creating that sound level when I played with a mute in the bell. Practicing with a mute, then, was something that I resisted because I did not like the added pressure of the mute. I then seemed to “blow out” faster, and I could not get done what I wanted to get done in my regular practice session.

Now, using the STX-2 with the earbuds attached, I found an interesting effect. At first, I started practicing with the sound level turned down a fair bit, and then slowly increased the volume to find the most comfortable place. As soon as I did this, I discovered that I naturally blew less hard to create that “normal” sound level. Quickly I learned to keep the sound level from the processor turned up a fair bit to push less air and last longer.

In effect, the STX-2 has broken my association between the volume of air and the volume of sound, and this has improved my soft-level playing. Now when playing without the Silent Brass unit, I find that I am more capable of playing at an ultra-quiet level, as in effect I have been practicing this through this unit without realizing it. As an aside, as soon as I turned the volume on the STX-2 up and learned to practice without pushing, my wife in another part of the house noticed that the muted trumpet sound disappeared from the house, so the unit was doing its job.

The next surprise came when I tried the Auxiliary input in conjunction with the mute input. For this, I used my laptop with audio output. While practicing some jazz band parts, I used some online publisher recordings of the jazz charts so that I could play along with the recordings. This first required adjusting the volume settings of both the laptop and the STX-2. The laptop volume will adjust the volume of the jazz band recording vs my trumpet sound, while the STX-2 unit will adjust both volumes combined in my ears.

Once these volumes were set, I was very pleased with the effect of practicing the jazz band charts with a recording. I have often told my students to listen to the studio examples, but this takes that strategy one step further by allowing the musician to practice with the demo recording. The pleasant surprise here is that using the Silent Brass System for this function is better than practicing with a stereo through open speakers. The simple reason for this is that it is easier to balance the sound levels in your ears between your own trumpet sounds and the recording in the stereo. If your trumpet sound is unmuted, few stereos can keep up with the sheer volume of sound created by a trumpet, even at a trumpet player’s modest level.

Muting the trumpet next to an open stereo has now become less effective than using the STX-2 system because muting also changes the tone quality. The changed tone then makes practicing with an amplified recording harder. The answer was a pleasant surprise from the Silent Brass System which could balance the sound levels well in your ears and provide some similar reverb and tone to the recording.

Now using the Silent Brass System, practicing trumpet parts with a recording was a very enjoyable experience as compared to practicing third trumpet parts alone! For this fact alone, I highly recommend the Yamaha Silent Brass system as it can dramatically improve the practice session of lower harmony parts. This use could have a substantial impact on the development of brass sections in all sorts of groups. Unfortunately, though, the Yamaha Silent Brass System is limited to just brass because of the nature of woodwind instruments which have open holes between the mouthpiece and bell.

Another very positive benefit that I have noticed with practicing using the Yamaha Silent Brass System is that my practice routines have now become disconnected from other events happening in the house. For example, in the past, if my wife was watching television or doing some activity that required quiet, I would naturally delay my practice session to another time to not be intrusive. Now with the Silent Brass System, I can move ahead with practicing without impact on others in the house. I can decide when I want to practice without worrying about impacting other events also happening in the house. This has completely opened up my schedule to suit me better.

As well as some very positive benefits to the Yamaha Silent Brass System, there are a few drawbacks that users should be aware of. The first one that most folks will discover is the cost of the system. The SB7X system that I purchased for trumpet cost me $249.99 plus tax. At that, I did have a slight hesitation about spending that amount of money to practice my trumpet more.

Looking back, it was one of the best purchases I have ever made, as I am now impacting my house nearly not at all, and feel that I can practice almost any time I choose. I find myself looking forward to practicing far more than I used to, and I especially look forward to practicing with recordings of all kinds and finding new recordings to play along with. I haven’t yet tried practicing late at night or early in the morning when I am unable to sleep, but I am certainly tempted to try!

The Yamaha Silent Brass System is available for most brass instruments. The substantial upside of this system is that once you own the sound processor unit, you can just change the mute to adapt to the different instruments without having to purchase an additional processor. For example, as a trumpet player, I can easily practice my flugelhorn in the same manner by purchasing just the flugelhorn mute and continuing to use the same sound processor. Not having to purchase a second sound processor helps save on the cost of using this equipment on multiple instruments.

The downside of the above statement, though, is that the larger mutes do become notably more expensive as the size increases. Mutes about the size of a euphonium or larger can be quite burdensome for students and parents, though I can see that music programs might want to consider purchasing some of these to encourage their players on the instrument. If I could go back in time to my last secondary school before retirement, I would invest in some tuba and euphonium systems to loan to students to help encourage their home practice time. Since the school was already investing in the larger instruments, it seems reasonable to invest in the Silent Brass System to help them practice those instruments. This would increase the “bang for the buck” of the initial instrument purchase. I might even consider investing in some of the smaller Silent Brass Systems for trumpets, French horns and trombones as loaners to encourage students to purchase a system for themselves.

Finally, I would like to discuss tuning a mute once again, as this problem is very noticeable with this system. Anytime you place anything inside the bell of a brass instrument, you will affect its tuning. Effectively you have changed the length of the instrument by using a mute, and this will change the pitch. This tuning issue needs to be accounted for every time you use a mute, whether it be the Silent Brass System or your favourite straight mute! Here is a very old story that illustrates the problem very clearly.

Years ago when I was still a youngish teacher, I had just revived the Maple Ridge Concert Band and was working away at developing their skill once again. During one rehearsal one of our trumpet players, John, was finding that his trumpet was playing VERY weirdly. It was an Old’s Recording trumpet, which was considered a fine trumpet of its day, and the same model that I started on as a student. Even I found that some pitches on John’s trumpet were WILDLY out of tune, while others seemed normal-ish.

I took the horn apart, looked at everything, and could find nothing wrong. Knowing that I had basically worn out my own Olds Recording horn, I thought maybe John’s trumpet had finally bought the farm, too. John was prepared to write a cheque right there to get him something better. “Now just hold on,” I said. “Let’s just take this into Bob MacDonald and let him have a go at it first.” Bob MacDonald was the great repairman at that time, and he was the man to see if you had a problem.

Well, I took the trumpet away with me and drove it in to see Bob who took a flashlight and briefly looked up the bell. Then without saying a thing, Bob took a long flexible claw and reached into the bell to pull out a clothes peg that had been jammed up at the top crook!! The clothes peg was floating in John’s case since the last outdoor gig we had played and managed to find its way up into the bell to become lodged in that crook. The funniest part of this story is that Bob’s sense of humour led him to write up the invoice as “Remove Non-Standard Tuning Device” which is just another confirmation that “Anything that is put into the bell of a brass instrument will affect its tuning.”

I have written before about the need to re-tune for every mute that you use on your instrument. In the article “Digital Tuners In Concert Band,” I have written a detailed explanation of how to correctly use a digital tuner to check your tuning on each mute ahead of time. I encourage you to read that article once again, as tuners are taking a lot of blame for tuning problems created by people that are not using them well. The important aspect of a digital tuner is to NOT LOOK AT THE TUNER until after your note has been stabilized. If you stare at the tuner while setting the pitch, you will simply “embouchure correct” for out-of-tune-ness, and this does not solve the problem of a mute that is affecting the pitch.

Now back to the Yamaha Silent Brass System and tuning. Just like every mute that I have ever found, the Yamaha Silent Brass System affects the tuning of various pitches across the range of my trumpet. Some pitch ranges are substantially sharp, while others are still sharp, but less so. I compensate for this sharpness by pulling out approximately double what I would pull out if I was using my trusty straight mute which is also fairly sharp.

Now I am not criticizing Yamaha for this, as I believe that building an in-tune mute is an exercise in frustration. But I can well imagine that the problem is more severe when you consider that the Silent Mute is more extreme with problems because the objective is to remove all external sound, instead of just changing the tone. The seal against the bell is 100% instead of three pieces of cork around the neck of the mute, and the neck of the Silent Mute slides farther up the bell than most performance mutes. With also more resistance than a standard mute, it is bound to have substantially more effect on the pitches.

The answer for anyone choosing to use a Silent Brass System is to get to know your tuner well. Find out how much you need to pull out to play in tune with the most common range of whatever piece you are practicing. Know that pitches which then are placed outside that range, either higher or lower, may be affected differently and expect to embouchure adjust for those.

Finally, I mentioned earlier that the Yamaha Silent Brass System is fantastic for practicing with a recording. Know now that this creates another tuning issue that also needs to be considered. That is, few commercial recordings are 100% faithful to the original pitch placement of the work being recorded. Just the physical act of recording on tape and transferring to digital can affect the pitch, and this becomes substantially worse if the publisher decides to adjust the recording speed to fix a tempo which then changes the pitch as well.

The demo recordings from publishers attempt to stay close to the original pitch shown on the page of the chart, but even for those, the trumpet pitch will need to be adjusted. Again, when playing with Yamaha Silent Brass, keep your tuner close by to put your instrument somewhere back into range of A=440, but then use the two tuners on the side of your head when it comes to playing along with any publisher recordings and adjust again! The good news is that with volume levels adjustable between the recording and the player, this tuning function becomes easier to find than playing along with a recording through a set of speakers.

All in all, I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised at how effective the Yamaha Silent Brass System is to work with. While there are some problems, it is unrealistic to think that this kind of adaptation to a brass instrument can be done completely issue-free. Being aware of those challenges will help you and your students find solutions to get the most benefit from the system. It might be useful for music teachers to keep one or two of these systems on hand to loan to students as a trial to encourage them to work at getting their own. There is nothing like students trying a good product to help them discover what it can do if they had their own!

Ed Dumas is a retired band director who taught his entire career in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District. Ed is now retired and living with his lifelong partner Laurie, and their little dog Sprocket in Parksville, BC. Ed & Laurie also work as Mid-Island reps for Tapestry Music while enjoying music in retirement.

You can find Ed’s other writings for the MusicED Blog at: https://www.tapestrymusic.com/news.aspx