next project--record my piano

[applegrcoug]

Everyone needs projects....

I've decided to get some real mics to record my piano playing some old school piano rolls. It has a reproducer that can take and reproduce midis.

Here are some old ones i made with just the phone camera...

Chopin Etude 10-1
La Campanella-Paganini/Liszt

If anyone has an advice, let me know. Likewise, any requests of old rolls.....

 

[Sycraft]

I mean... If you want to take piano MIDIs and get a really good sounding piano reproduction out of them, a virtual instrument is probably going to do a much better job than a player piano in part because a good VI was recorded by pros in a good studio, with good gear, after a tuning, etc, etc, etc. So if your goal is converting piano MIDIs, as neat as a player is, I wouldn't bother micing it I'd purchase something like Native Instruments Noire or VSL Vienna Imperial or the like.

If this is just because it is fun and you want to mic your piano because it's cool, then good deal but we'd need a budget. Mics just really run the gauntlet price wise. Like Earthworks has some really nice mics for piano, their QTC30 omni mics work great for a lot of things, piano included (close or far), and their PM40 mic system is specifically designed for close piano micing. However, the QTC30s are like $750 a piece and a PM40 system is $3000. You also need a soundcard with preamps on top of that which can be a fair bit on its own depending on what you want. I'm going to guess that's probably way out of your budget so let's start with what you are willing/able to afford for this.

 

[drutman]

Some personal notes on the difficulty of recording a live piano, a complex percussion instrument.

1. I have a relative who produced the Platinum and Gold records for Adrian Belew of King Crimson and for Madonna. He says recording a piano is the most challenging instrument to do. It must be compressed or you will pull a speaker voice coil from the wall behind you. If you listen to the Bluthner factory tour video at the end the tour guide demonstrates the power of the soundboard. https://youtu.be/4oE9Aq_ORiA?si=mBF-B-MRrwNByANc

2. The following discussion involves a Russian pianist who goes by the stage name Gamazda who dominates a Bluthner, a very rare instrument. They only make about 8 grand pianos a year for sale in the USA. Piano is known to be hard to play on fast moving pieces, but yet this is her piano of choice. If you google live Bluthner concerts very few professionals play it live except for a few short piano store demos. https://youtu.be/RQeQna2Ci2s?si=RB2eiX0vubTL-yus

3. This instrument is known for its bell like tone and no breaks or muddiness in the bass octaves. It is a modified Renner action(tapered Abel custom hammers) with a fourth string in the upper octaves. When she plays live she can totally invert the sound making it rage and growl. Here is Gamazda from the front row unprocessed.

.https://youtu.be/VtvSGVQKWQg?si=as4Z74qxWNvKWL70

https://youtu.be/OiJvmQW7kpk?si=y5tOhLV9Q5HHO7Bc

Here is her produced video with processed audio


View: https://youtu.be/cglR697-Jh8?si=1d_2uwVQVK992YDd

4. This forum has great insight on the Bluthner line. https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2781426/1.html

5. She is a sponsored player for Petrof and they use the Pianoteq library to mod the recorded sound to emulate the Ant. Petrof grand piano.


View: https://youtu.be/ScMGJBIsQ4A?si=uNZ7bJhX8UFivVJ6