Question:
How can I make my tone be smoother?

On Day 1, “Kind of horrible, because I started out on bari and those low notes wouldn’t come out at first.”

Playing five years, “I try to practice at least twice a week”

One challenge:
Making my sound come out smooth and crisp %100 of the time.
-Taliyah

My response:

The first detail I noticed about how you describe your playing was how much you practice.

Increasing twice a week to every day or every day except one will probably be the biggest thing you can do to make your tone better. And you can do that by decreasing the amount you practice on a given day. Fifteen minutes seven days a week is much better than an hour twice a week.

You can also focus on your tone more during practice with long tones and ballads.