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On the recitals and piano bars, we have excellent examples of good recordings! I think I could do better . . . .so I need to pick yer collective brains . . .

I'm using the Zoom H2n.

Do you have an acoustic piano, a digital, or both? Also, what do you use for recording currently?

Hi Bob; I`m using a DP with only a headphone output to Audacity; I seem to get different results to others, even those on Y`Tube with the same piano . . . I like the sound of mine, but it does sound different from most others I`ve heard. Not always a bad thing, but . . . (shrug)

I have Blue Snowball USB mic. Records to Audacity on laptop only in mono. I am thinking of upgrading to Blue Jeti, which could record in stereo. I place the mic on the music desk facing the strings.

Some of the samples of the Jeti I heard over the Internet seem quite acceptable. They sound far better than Zoom mics but not nearly as convenient, especially when some Zoom products also capture video as well but with very pedestrian quality. For convenience they can't be beat.

My gear and example are in this old thread

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1718523/1.html

While you may have the same digital piano as others on the forums or that you hear on youtube, many alter the sound in post-production applications like Logic (among others). Alternatively, many people (myself included for most of the time) abandon the sound of their digital piano and, using midi cables connected to a computer, use/listen to the sounds produced by such vst's (virtual studio technology) as Synthogy Ivory (this is what I use; they offer several grand and upright piano sounds), Galaxy Vintage D, etc. The reason for going this route is you can produce through the touch of your piano, the sampled sounds of such high-end concert grand pianos as Steinways, Faziolis, etc. through either computer speakers, headphones, or other connected speakers. These take up a lot of space on your computer hard drive but the piano sounds produced are better than most every digital piano and cost significantly less.

Bob, I have pianoteq which I find good. It`s just the DP sound I`d like to suss out. Want everything, don`t I?

That was impressive W. . . . I`d like a software version of your piano, please. . . . .it had an intimate atmosphere yet had all the resonances to make an excellent listen! It lacked nothing.

I've pretty much given up on trying to find a microphone position that records a lovely piano sound rather than the ugly sound of my reflective and reverberant square room with a big, booming "node" around 200Hz. The better the microphone, the more of the room effect I seem to record. The only solution is close-micing the piano, either directly under the soundboard or sticking inside the lid. But then it sounds all plunky and the attack of the notes overwhelms the sustain.

So I just went back to pointing a decent webcam (with stereo mics) at the piano from approximately ear level and right behind me. Sounds about as good as anything because it's less sensitive and seems not to record all those bounces and booms from the walls of the room. Plus I get video!

Perhaps other people you are listening too are using their midi outputs from their DP's. Once you have a midi file you can do quite a lot to improve/change the sound.

I have been experimenting with the demo of Pianoteq, you can also upload your midi files to TruePianos and they will return it to you within a half hour played on their virtual piano

http://www.truepianos.com/demos.php

Sounds good, earlo . . sounds like fun. Here I go!

Peter,

In the Pianoteq file menu, I export to WAV and save the file, then use Audacity to convert the file to MP3. That way I get the sound of the Pianoteq model I selected (I usually use K1 solo recording), and the DP sound does not enter into the equation at all. I don't use any processing in Audacity except for Normalize.

Ed

I have Logic Express installed to my MacBook Pro. I also have a microphone named "Snowball" purchased from a local Apple store. The sound quality is decent and CDs sound pretty good.

I also have Finale, a notation program, installed to my MacBook Pro. This is good for arranging and composing, which doesn't have much to do with this thread,

Best.

I record direct to a USB stick on my DP. It creates a WAV file.

"I don't use any processing in Audacity except for Normalize"

What does normalising do? I do the same as you with Pianoteq, except I use D4 Classical recording and amplify it through Audacity. Results are fine for this; it`s really easy.

peterws,

The normalize function just scans through the track to find the loudest point and then turns up the gain on the entire track so that the loudest point will be 0dB.

I use Reaper and it works the same. I record with the levels turned down pretty far to make sure there's no chance of clipping. Then use "normalize" to bump the gain back up where the rendered track will not be too quiet.

Thanks! I put a lot of effort in my setup (both a good piano, good recording gear and careful recording setup).

Yet, you should hear the real sound of the piano