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Hi guys,

I have not been posting a lot as of late, but I'll try to make up for it as I recently acquired a Zoom H2 and will now be able to participate in the recitals and such I gave it a try yesterday by recording Comptine d'un autre été : L'après-midi by Yann Tiersen. Yes I know, this piece has been played way too much, but it was really just a recording experiment...

I used a Nikon camera to record the video and the H2 for the sound. I then normalized the soundtracks with Audacity, converted the .mov video file into a .avi using Any Video Converter (after trying to do it with countless other programs which turned out not to work). Finally, I mixed the sound and video together with Windows Movie Maker. It took me a lot of time to figure out which programs to use and how to use them, but now it should me much easier for my upcoming videos

For the Zoom H2 positioning, as you can see in the video I simply placed it at the center of the top of my piano. I set the gain to minimum and used the 2 channel surround setting. I know many of you have had the H2 or H4 for a while now, so if you think my setting is not optimal I would be happy to hear your recommendations!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and, if not, feel free to tell me why

Edit : here's the link : http://youtube.com/watch?v=KTwCZ_Zjpdg

I think that this should be posted in member recordings.

Anyway, you played very well. It is obvious that you are enjoying, and you are also playing with emotions (Which means that interpretation is good). I suggest you to try playing left hand as soft as you can, so you can really bring out the melody. Do you have a teacher?

where's member recordings?

I liked it!

Thank you for leaving a comment on YouTube and for your nice compliments here

You're right, I had forgotten about the member recordings' forum. However, I must say that I like the congeniality on the AB forum which is sometimes lacking "outside". Is it really inappropriate to post a recording here? If so maybe a mod could move my thread.

And your suggestion about the left hand is really on the spot, I didn't realize I was playing it that loud until I heard the recording. It seems like this Zoom thingy is going to be a great learning tool!

Oh and I do have a teacher which I see 1 hour every 2 weeks.

Bonjour du Québec !

It can be found here : http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/forum/29.html

And thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it

I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing!

Hi Damz, very impressive! The audio and video quality was excellent.

The only suggestion I would make about your interpretation is that when I listen to Tiersen play the piece, he puts a WHOLE LOT of rubato into it, which is something you may want to play around with.

By all means continue to post your videos and recordings here. The "member recordings" forum doesn't get much action. I'd encourage you to post all your videos in the monthly piano bar threads.

Thank you

Hi Monica, first of all thank you, and I'm glad you liked the technical aspects of the video! I think I recall you having a Zoom too, do you set it up the same as I did?

Also, I just listened to Mr. Tiersen's interpretation and I agree with your suggestion, the way I played it was probably too straightforward. What I noticed too is that my piano sounds like a can compared to the one he used to record himself There's really no way I can sound as expressive as he does with my 40" Mason & Risch... but a little rubato might help

And that's what I figured about the Member recordings' forum, I'll look into this piano bar thread! Or could I simply update this thread when I'll post new videos, so that they're all gathered in one place?

I put my Zoom on a tripod in the curve of my piano, with the Zoom about 8 inches above the rim. This is after reading a gazillion threads and articles about optimal mic placement for recording a grand piano. I hafta say, though, that I don't notice much difference in the recordings no matter where I put the Zoom... which is one big reason I love the Zoom.

As for where to post your videos, I'm not sure it matters. Over in the Einaudi forum, Anthony has a thread called "AnthonyB's recordings" where he does exactly what you're proposing. The advantage of the piano bar is that people look for that thread. You can always do both.

Sounds good to me... though I'm not sure my performance is worthy of two threads Maybe when I record Rach's 3rd, playing the orchestra part with my feet!

Okay I'll get back to the piano now, next in line might be the first movement of Bach's Italian Concerto... Lot's of work ahead!

Beautiful posture. Are you a sportsman? Check the ulnar deviation on the left wrist though - you need more up and down with the wrist to bring out the texture.

Thank you, no I'm not but I used to lift weights and it's very important to keep a neutral spine when doing certain lifts where your back has to support a heavy weight, like deadlifts, squats, bent over rows, so I guess my good habits from the gym transferred to the piano

As for the ulnar deviation, you're referring to my left wrist being a bit twisted towards the ulnar bone? I'll look into that.

Yes. It means having your little finger more in and thumb more on the edge.

I had to lift half a piano last summer. Being totally unfit and a weakling I thought I'd damage myself but using my piano posture I lifted from the knees and, even though I felt my vertebrae crush into each other, I was OK next day!

quote: I had to lift half a piano last summer
______________________________________________


I was wondering where my half piano went.

Post stuff in member recordings only if you're interested in nobody watching them or commenting on them.

beautiful play. I love it
I'd love to play like that

kbk -> Ouch! Glad it turned out well. So thanks to your piano posture you saved your back... ironically it was also a piano which tried to break it

Theowne -> sound advice

X5-494 -> very nice of you to say! I don't know what your current level is, but I'm sure if you work hard you will be able to do this too in a not too distant future