A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Voicing
VOICING. A term used in organ-building to express the method of obtaining a particular quality of tone, in an organ pipe, and of regulating a series of pipes so that their tone shall be uniform throughout. The quality of the tone of Flue-pipes is mainly dependent on (1) their general shape, (2) their scale; but, after the pipe-maker has turned out a set of pipes of true proportion, the 'voicer' can produce a great variety of qualities by regulating (1) the quantity of wind admitted to the pipe, (2) the thickness of the 'sheet of wind,' (3) the angle at which it impinges on the upper lip, (4) by imparting a special surface to the edge of the lip itself or by cutting it higher; and in other ways. The voicing of Reed pipes is dependent chiefly on (1) the quantity of air admitted, (2) the shape and thickness of the tongue, (3) its position, (4) the relation between the length of tube and the pitch of the note produced.
Voicing thus requires both a delicate ear and skilful hand; it is, in fact, the most artistic part of an organ-builder's work. But few are equally good voicers both of reed and flue-pipes, and better voicing is obtained from a specialist than from a 'general' hand. In testing the voicing of an organ-stop, an opinion should first be formed as to the merit of the particular quality selected by the voicer; next, the pipes should be consecutively sounded in order to trace whether the quality of tone is uniform. This applies both to flue and reedpipes.[ J. S. ]