• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Listening to piano music

fiddlefye said:
What too many recording engineers don't seem to get is that most acoustic instruments are designed to be heard in an environment, not close mic'ed. I hate when I'm being recorded and someone comes and shoves a mic right on top of the violin. Makes it sound half like a kazoo. Same with a piano. All of those harmonics don't come together to create the true sound of the instrument until you're quite a distance away. A violin doesn't sound right until you're at least ten feet away. The environment is part of the instrument's sound. Grrrr....
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it is very difficult to record 16/44.1khz digital from a distance. As you move away from the instrument you are recording, it begins to lose definition, and its transients. When you record at higher resolutions(24/96khz+), this is not a problem - as the recording system itself has all the air it needs, and it does not lose definition and transient punch from a distance.
 
Sir Terrence said:
Unfortunately it is very difficult to record 16/44.1khz digital from a distance. As you move away from the instrument you are recording, it begins to lose definition, and its transients. When you record at higher resolutions(24/96khz+), this is not a problem - as the recording system itself has all the air it needs, and it does not lose definition and transient punch from a distance.
Click to expand...


So record at 24/190gazzilon and sell it on hdtracks. The time is here. :)
 
Just saw this thread and it's mostly about what people don't like so I'll chime in. I have several Yanni CD's, I like his music but don't like the attack the Yamaha piano has. I guess I'm a Baldwin / Steinway kind of guy.
 
Thanks for the info Jaguar, I didn't know the harp was supposed to be inert, and translated any vibration into heat. Cool.


oh, and if you ever have a piano in vegas you want to donate, I'm your man.:banana:


as to the pianist, I rather enjoy listening to my glen gould recordings, his voice adds something to my ears, I know, that's heresy. I also enjoy hearing the pedals, or the rise/lower of the damper in a recording.
 
As long as you're listening to piano music, try the UTube videos of Gulda playing Mozart's K466. It's a real treat and a good show, too.
 
MORTIS said:
That is of course the most common interpretation of the word 'stereo'. I don't agree with such a restricted definition but I'd have to take this thread too far off topic to explain; however I now have a better understanding of what you were originally trying to say.
Thank you for clarifying.
Click to expand...

You don't agree with the rest of the world!:D

Perhaps you should start a thread to enlighten the rest of us as to what "stereo" is.
 
jaguar06 said:
I'm glad you wandered. It's nice to know there's someone similarly afflicted here. When my folks died, I inherited another house, with yet more pianos. So far, I just let them live over there, as there's only so many places to put the things in one house and I've at least one too many here already. When I'm not giving away stereo systemsto the needy, I give away pianos.
Click to expand...
I too am glad not to be alone in this. I get the beasties in destitute state and try to make them look great and sing again.

I keep trying to think of some way some way to set up a piano rescue listing on AK to keep the really good oldies from heading to the dump by the droves as is happening these days at a terrifying rate. Grands in particular, but also the best old uprights deserve to be restored, not trashed. Any thoughts anyone?

I too have gifted the odd piano that needed relatively minor work and quite a bit of audio gear, but I'm afraid a piano I've sunk several months of my life and a healthy chunk of money into have to get sold.

Sorry, firmly OT again!
 
Sir Terrence said:
Unfortunately it is very difficult to record 16/44.1khz digital from a distance. As you move away from the instrument you are recording, it begins to lose definition, and its transients. When you record at higher resolutions(24/96khz+), this is not a problem - as the recording system itself has all the air it needs, and it does not lose definition and transient punch from a distance.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of that, but then the recordings I've made myself were strictly analogue.
 
I have to say it has been a long time since I listened to a piano sonata with my head inside the instrument and even longer since I have listened to a concerto that way. ;) If one must add close mic'ing to deal with defects in the environment or equipment it should at least be an adjunct to mic'ing from the proper perspective and kept to a level that doesn't harm the ambiance and stage image.

Some of the recordings I have heard are analogous to recording an organ with the mics in the pipe chambers. Ick.

mike
 
Wasn't there a recording company that used a dummy's head fitted with mics in the ears to simulate a person listening in the theater? I remember seeing an ad with the mic setup shown. (Many years ago, maybe 20+) That would be just about as realistic as you could get, at least when using headphones.
 
qemaster said:
Wasn't there a recording company that used a dummy's head fitted with mics in the ears to simulate a person listening in the theater? I remember seeing an ad with the mic setup shown. (Many years ago, maybe 20+) That would be just about as realistic as you could get, at least when using headphones.
Click to expand...

I recall seeing something like that also.

But consider that what they're attempting to duplicate is the 'way' a human audience member hears the music. They can control for the location, as mentioned above, but the microphones themselves do not record sound waves the same way the human brain/ear interface does. It may be 'better' than the human ear from a technical perspective, in that it may record the highest highs and the lowest lows that the human ear isn't hearing (and which varies by individuals of course), but it cannot know what's happening inside the noggin of the listener.

For example, we know that smell and sight as well as taste buds inform us and shape what we taste when we eat. And it's not just "Oh, that looks good," and "Wow, love that smell," but rather, the taste itself is modified in our brains by what we're perceiving with all our senses as we taste. No microphone or tape can record what we experience when we listen to music as an audience member.

We can come close; but it's an approximation. Which is fine, and it's good to try to come as close as well can; but in the end, it's never 'the same' as the original. Can't be.

I have read comments by people who say that they were at a particular concert and later heard the recording of that concert, and they tell me it's the same to them. That may be; but they also have the advantage of their memory of the event; there is nothing saying that the two experiences are not rationalizing themselves in that person's mind. Not saying they are lying; rather saying that the human mind does a pretty good job of making puzzle pieces fit together, even when it has to modify things to do it. Is the recording actually the same as being there? No way to know.
 
Binaural recording is exactly what the technique is called.

I have this demo recording: Stereo Review 2D-BIN-1A

It's a binaural recording.
 
an engineer friend of mine and mentor, records classical piano with a pair of tube stereo telefunken centered over the top of the open grand piano and 3 pzm's mounted on the bridge underneath the piano.
This is very effective.
 
cornwallguy said:
an engineer friend of mine and mentor, records classical piano with a pair of tube stereo telefunken centered over the top of the open grand piano and 3 pzm's mounted on the bridge underneath the piano.
This is very effective.
Click to expand...
That would certainly address some issues. I presume ending up with bass left/treble right as the stereo structure?

Arnprior you say? My goodness, it has been a few years since I passed through there! Lovely spot.
 
I have been pounding on a 6.5 foot Baldwin grand for 50 years. I am no good, but I have noticed that even threw my Altec A7's, no recorded piano has ever been able to reproduce the true sound of a live piano. Sorry, but that's just the truth. :)
 
qemaster said:
Wasn't there a recording company that used a dummy's head fitted with mics in the ears to simulate a person listening in the theater? I remember seeing an ad with the mic setup shown. (Many years ago, maybe 20+) That would be just about as realistic as you could get, at least when using headphones.
Click to expand...

chesky records has recently released a very nice binaural recording. check it out on hdtracks.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom