Today, let’s shed light on the job that is the cornerstone of Syos: the Sound Shaper.
How does it work?
At Syos, we make each mouthpiece based on each musician’s requirements. The Sound Shaper's role is to translate the sound a musician is looking for into the internal geometry of a mouthpiece. The Sound Shaper is able, when listening to you describing your desired sound, to choose between thousands of parameter combinations (baffle, chamber, tip opening) to create THE mouthpiece for you.
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Have a perfect knowledge of the different aspects of sound and vocabulary used by the musicians
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Know everything about the saxophonist’s equipment and its different parameters (existing mouthpieces, type and strength of reeds, ligatures…)
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Master the different elements of the geometry of a saxophone mouthpiece and their influence on the sound
How can we know all of this?
Understanding saxophone mouthpiece acoustics is essential to comprehending the effects of the each parameter of the mouthpiece on the sound of the saxophone. That’s why Syos was founded by acoustics researchers!
(Read the article: Warm, bright, focused, dark..? Psychoacoustics brings some light! )
However, understanding the theory isn’t enough. As with most skills practice makes perfect and allows the Sound Shaper to improve their knowledge of mouthpieces. Nothing better than a test session with a musician to talk with them about their sound, their different current mouthpieces, their experience, their expectations… and to measure in practice the effects of different mouthpieces on the feel of the musician.
It is also the work of the Sound Shaper to understand, thanks to the musician’s feedback on the tests, how to modify the mouthpiece to make it even more adapted to the saxophonist. A real full-time job, and here is its description:
| 25% | Mouthpiece testing sessions and development |
| 25% | Determining links between sound and geometry based on experimental studies and results of simulations |
| 50% | Customer follow-up of daily orders (determining mouthpiece geometry, interactions with musicians, adjustments…) |
Who are the Sound Shapers at Syos?
We have 3 acoustic experts who make up our Sound Shaping team at Syos. If you have ordered a custom mouthpiece, you definitely know one of them!
If not, your moment has arrived: discover the unique experience of custom sound and be guided through the process by professional Sound Shapers in order to create, step by step, the mouthpiece that will allow you to express your own sound!
If you're not fan of the concept of sound shaping and custom mouthpieces, don't panic! Syos also makes standard series models, based on mouthpieces that were customized for Syos artists and are signed by them. Take a look:
- soprano saxophone mouthpiece
- alto saxophone mouthpiece
- tenor saxophone mouthpiece
- baritone saxophone mouthpiece
See the other jobs at Syos:
Syos jobs: the 3D designer Syos jobs: the simulation engineer Syos jobs: production manager (coming soon)
