hangforum.com - The Archive

Hi,

after having crushed my audio output of my PC but also being close to order
the next Bell that will be produced, I ask you (hang, halo, bell owners):
should I as an IH owner buy myself a bell?
does anyone here have one at home and could describe its sound in comparison to an IH?

Well, I also was on the list for one of the first halos but didn´t order one,
cause the sound seemed to me to metallic, not worth the money.
But the bell? hm...

I use the hang only in a very calm and sensitive way and do think,
that I somehow respect its "nature" and where it comes from.
Does anybody know anything about luis and his perspective on this subject?
(or about the material he is using? the process building Bells?)

so many questions,
any answer is very welcome,

sazas

whats a belll ??? belsiart or blackbells ????
and bieng a halo owner halo is well worth the wait /// lemme know

sazas writes about the instrument from bellart. Blackbells doesn't exist any longer. The website http://www.blackbells.com was canceled a while ago. My assumption is that Mark Campion didn't find anybody who was able to tune his instruments.

Ix

so really nobody out there ?
any assumptions ?

I think the problem is, that only 60 "Bells" exist, and the owners of Integral Hanghang were not those who stood in the first line to look for a "Bell" and if there really one or a half person exists who owns a "Bell" and an Integral Hang, he or she don't read this forum.

My experience with the Bell comes only from listening to the recordings and videos. And I noticed that the quality of the sound of the instruments seems to vary.

I personally would be very satisfied, if you decide to buy a "Bell", because I had the chance to get a first hand experience of this instrument But I think this argument shouldn't be very important for your decision

Ix

Maybe I will be able to compare Bell and IH this year. I know a person who received his Bell a few days ago, and maybe we'll meet in summer.

I will share my experience with the Bell if anyone is interested.

My turn on Luis' list for a BEll is approaching soon, only a half dozen to go, so I am hoping I will be able to report first-hand.

When I get my BEll I will have a second-generation Hang, a Halo, and a Bell; and I hope to offer some perspective on the similarities and differences between them. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time with an Integral Hang as well as there are many in the Bay Area where I live.

However, I am going to ask Luis to make an "Alto" tuning for me, and this will be a special order; Luis decided to not offer them "officially" because the lower range of the Bajo tunings have a range of advantages, so I am not sure if my experience will be representative (unless you also want an Alto model). (I am getting an Alto model so I can have two instruments that can be played together by two people freely.)

I agree that there has been a range of qualities of instruments shown in the available online documentation, but I do think that Luis is capable of producing a quite wonderful instrument. I am sure he will get more consistent as he has more experience, and as he learns better what works in the steel.

best,
aaron

Thanks for your efforts.
@aron: i´m really looking forward to your comparison, liked it much the way you did it with the hang/halo subject

@Ix: also think, that the qualitiy in sound varies a lot, but some sounded nice in my ears (according to the capable sound quality)

but does anyone have any information about the philosophy or Luis´ background, the material he is using, his process of building bells?

I cant find anything on the web dealing with these subjects.

hmmm, wonder who that could be ...

You don't know him...

I own a Dominant 7 N44 instrument from Bellart. a couple of days ago i have met up with the owner of an Integral Hang, so i had a chance to compare these two beauties and play them side by side.
Would you like me to write a general overview or there are certain thing your would like to know?

Hello Tanzmeister,
I am very interested in your testimony.
You are satisfied by your Bells ?
Because I have few chances to have a real Hang, I am register on the waiting list for Bells ( it is specified that it's without any commitment ). But I still hesitate, I don't know if I would be satisfied by Bells while my first wish is a Hang ... On videos, only thing that I know Bells, the sound is not the same of Hang.
Friendly
Titouan

i believe anyone would apriciate the "Bells" that i own. at least i have still not met a person who was not captivated by its sound. anyone who touched immediatly fell in love with it.
actually it was many times been played after the hang was been played and people apriciate them both. though it is different from Hang.
the difference is what i would like to write about:

the Bells is not as refined as the Hang, both in tunings and materials.
this is not so noticable when the bells is struck in the right way - the hang seems to have more freedom in aproach by the player.

tuning issues:

the Dominant 7th instrument i own has a harsh partial in the central note area wich are excited when the player hit it at rim, but one can easily damp these by placing a piece of rubber on a double sided tape from underside of the central tone area on a special place wich is 45 degrees to octave and fifth closer to the edge. Or one can avoid oscilation of that frequency by exciting the shell only by strokes closer to the center or at the dome.
all other tones sound just fine.

as for the material:

hang material feels and sound more ceramic to my fingers and my ears wich is very pleasing to touch, rub, scratch and etc.
bells material feel a little more metallic but still there is a ceramic feel to it also. Luis has put some layer of wax or something similar, so for a better comparison i would have to remove it first.

sound difference:

hang has a 100% deeper, matured and very strong sound, that reminds me the fireplace after the fire has stopped and incandenced coals are keeping the warmth inside.

on the contrary the bells is bright, loud and expands the warmth outside like an active fireplace.

a liitle bit of a story:

when i came to Luis there where around 40 bajo bells on the shellf i have played all of them, but there were only 10 or so of the quality that suites me. mainly it was because of the problem of Bb note, some had crossresonance with half step intervals.

most of the bells i have chosen were from the new batch of production, so i believe newer bells will be even greater. especialy when he will make them deepdrawn instead of spining.
he have told me he is going to do so in the near future.


as to the question "am i satisfied?" - yes i am

feel free to ask more question

Victor

P.S. a few videos of me playing this exact bells

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiPndlEf1UI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0bBst2gVkA

I noticed that you use the finger tips in an almost 90° angle to touch the tone fields. Is this a necessary technique for an satisfying sound?

On the Hang you can use bigger areas of the fingers to touch the surface. This provides a broader range of sounds. Using the finger tips in a 90° angle is like simulating mallets.

Ix

no, it is not nessesary at all, it is just my way of playing.
i play the hang the same way: i feel that both instrument sound softer when played like that, but that kind of stroke requires some practice. sometime i use many different techniques, like dancing fingers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpjAF1piDpQ


the bells instrument can be easily overloaded with some styles of playing though.

one more thing about my bell: the highest's notes 2nd harmonic was tuned to a fourth instead of fifth,

all newer models that were present at Luises workshop had fifth in it, but there was no Dominant 7th, so i chose an earlier model.

anyway, i believe that anyone who want to be shure he gets the best instrument should come to Luis personaly

Victor, thank you for this precisions !
I already knew your videos, I had listened to a lot them.
Friendly
Titouan