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Sid,

How are you progessing with In un altra vita?

Well, I'm still slogging away on Giorni Dispari. It takes me MUCH longer than a week to learn an Einaudi piece!

I do have one piece, though, that I recorded for my CD that I don't think I've posted anywhere yet:

Un Mondo A Parte

I was inspired to learn this one by Euan's beautiful recording of it, and I found it one of Einaudi's easiest pieces yet. This is where I find it hard to believe that the "Best Of" book is ordered in difficulty, because it has Mondo in the last 1/4 of the book, allegedly harder than Le Onde or Giorni Dispari, and I can GUARANTEE it is much easier than either of those pieces!

It is also one of the most "classical" sounding of Einaudi's pieces. I don't know enough music theory to be able to identify the chord progressions he uses in it, but it possesses a tense melancholy that I find very beautiful, and I just love the deep booming loud bass part toward the end.

Txs for sharing Monica, this is one of my favorite Einaudi pieces. Your rendition was marvelous Was this recorded on your zoom?

To me, IMO, I don't think the "Best of.." book is in any order of dificulty.

You bet!

Monica,

You're no slouch yourself, well played and what a lovely tune!


kawaigirl,

A couple of days ago, I went back and put back all the second and third notes for the RH triads in that middle section...it's like a new piece now. Still working to smooth out the new fingering/transitions, emphasizing the melody line from the clutter and dealing with the truncated Em chords (which before I just played through like all the others)...basically fixing up all my shortcuts.

I think I would have saved myself a lot of effort had I just tried and played it correctly the first time...but then again, I didn't believe it was doable way back then (a month and a half ago), it is now. The progress is coming much faster this time and the new sound is unbelievable.

I've really been meaning to get back to my lead sheets, but just when I think I'm free...you pull me back in!

Un mondo sounds very classical, reminds me of Fernando Sor or Tarrega from my guitar days...

These last two are just so pretty (and sounds quite doable). If only I didn't have to sleep

Okay Folks: I need some advice here.

First Monica's and Kawaigirls fantastic recordings of Einaudi pieces, (and I think that they both have more up their sleeves!) along with Euan having tickets to an Einaudi performance..... I'm gonna blow I tell you!

How do I contain myself and not turn my extreme jealosy into a fit of rage?!! I mean some of these recordings that these two "chicks" are submitting are virtually pro quality; both in their performance and recording quality.

Come clean you two, -please tell me that there is more to these pieces that we all don't know about...(something like you have been secretly practicing them for months each!).

Kawaigirl, if you are telling me that you are submitting recordings of Einaudi pieces that took you only a week to get to that level, I'm going to go smash my head through the drywall in my room (hopefully between the studs) with jealosy!.

Monica, a zoom recorder does nothing other than too digitally record your music on a portable recorder; i.e, it does not do anything for room acoustics etc yet your recordings are also starting to sound very proffesional.

My Nefeli piece for the upcoming recital has been recorded on my digital. I also recorded it on the big "BB", but the end result sounds very muffled and boomy. It's too bad because I can really bring that piece to life on the acoustic with lots of emotion but on the digital, it is just so much "crisper" and cleaner sounding however the emotion and feeling is lacking as I honestly just can't get that out of the digital, only the acoustic!

Anyway, I've got 3-mos until the next recital (after the Feb 15th one) and I am going to play Le Onde every single day until I get it right.

You guys are killing me!

I've been practicing them for months each, not at all secretly. But kawaigirl apparently really can learn them in a week.

Hunky, just go out and buy the frigging Zoom already. You're right; it doesn't do anything about room acoustics (I just stick mine right up on the music desk), but it will let you display your BB in *most* of its glory.

Just for jerks, after the recital, why don't you post your BB Nefeli recording here or in a new thread and let some of the audiophiles here offer suggestions?

Ohhh no S-H, please don't bash you head against the wall. Mrs S-H will hate me for it!!

I've just set a goal for myself to learn one Einaudi piece a week (kinda like giving myself a deadline). Now having said that, that's just learning to play the piece but I don't have it memorized. When it comes to memorizing, that's another ball game for me.

Hmmm, S-H, why dont' you post your acoustic version here for us to listen to? It may not be as bad as you think.

Sid, I'm happy to hear you're piece is coming along.

Monica:

I actually have looked into the zooms specifications very closely. It is basically comprised of two components; a digital recorder along with two built in microphones in the "x-y" position.

While it is very convienient and handy, its performance specifications (frequency range) is not as accurate as the two Rode NT5 condensor mics that I have been using.

As far as the digital recorder part of it, that is obviously a huge convienient factor and is extremely useful. "Performance" wise... digital is digital.

Your Zoom is WELL worth the money you paid (plus some), however, it will not do anything to improve my recordings as my problem is not with the digital or microphone part of the process.

Over christmas, my parents came over and my dad (electronics guru) tested and checked all of my recording equip (patch cords, mixer, mics etc).

His conclusion was very poor placement of my piano in the room along with significant "over-pedaling" on just about everything.

My acoustic grand is mimicking a sub-woofer in that the sound (especially the bass) is being reflected not only from the corner of the room, but all the built in wall niches as well.

He said the only true way to fix this is too move the piano more in the middle of the room.

Unfortunately, I cannot do this as that would put it right in the middle of a traffic pattern.

Playing much softer and with a lot less pedal would help out tremendously so I think I will re-record the piece and see how that sounds.

Take a look at this picture of my piano and where it is placed in the room and you can see how the piano is stuffed into the corner. Also, notice the niches in the wall that add to the boomy response.......Keep in mind this is a very powerful 7-footer as well!



Kawaigirl:

I like your suggestion about posting up an acoustic recording just on this thread. Since only a few Einaudi fans are invloved in this thread, it should'nt spoil the recital for anyone..(I hope) so I will record an acoustic version in the next few days and post it. (Remember, I literally have to drag my hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse etc into the other room and re-set everything up!)....What a pain in the rump!.......Hence the incredible value of the Zoom!!

Should I get in trouble for posting up a recital song before the recital, I'm taking you all down with me as accomplices!!

S-H, If your B.day is coming up ask for a LAPTOP


After looking at your pic of your piano placement, I thought the piano would look very nice in the middle of the room. The only sacrifice is to walk around the piano.

Super-hunky, I had forgotten about your dad's recording background and expertise... yes, if anybody could diagnose your recording woes, it would be him. Have you thought about investing in some acoustic panels you could drag out just on recording days? I know I've read some threads where people swear by them.

nefeli sight for digital download. 3.95 make sure you hit the change currency button and a printer available


http://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/31975/Product.aspx

Hey Kawaigirl (or anybody)... I was listening to the Eden Roc CD the other day and thought about tackling "Exit" as my next Einaudi piece. Have you learned it yet? Is it manageable?

S-H,

If your Dad diagnosed your piano as mimicking a subwoofer in your room, why don't you take a shot at using the same room treatments audiophiles use for taming the bass in stereo systems? Bass traps and various other acoustic absorbing materials appropriately placed in the room (most likely in corners of both floor & ceiling) might solve your problem and be a better solution that putting the piano in the middle of the room. A search for "bass traps" or "acoustic panel" should get you started.

If you want to get scientific about it, a relatively inexpensive SPL meter (about $29) from Radio Shack plus a low frequency test CD (I have one by Autosound 2000 but there are several available) would give you an idea of what the frequency response in your room looks like and what effect different acoustic treatments have.

It is also possible to "treat" the room with furnishings and/or furniture placement. As an example, I have a stereo system in a room that was almost painfully bright. A couple of strategically placed bookcases and relocating two soft chairs completely solved the problem.

You've made an investment in a beautiful piano, no reason it shouldn't sound its best!

Greg:

Thanks for the tips but we have already done many many tests with very sophisticated equipment.

First we brought in an oscilliscope to not only identify the frequencies being produced by the piano but also to differenciate a true sign wave from that of distortion.

It turns out that I am not creating any distorted sounds but some of the very low frequencies (Deep Bass) are over-resonating due to the passive sub-woofer effect of the numerous niches in the wall next to the piano.

In addition to this, the piano is stuffed into a corner to further accentuate this problem.

Step two was to add varying thicknesses of foam underneath the piano to tone down the bass and while it greatly helped, my mids and highs were also diminished greatly.

The solution is real simple, just move the piano into the middle of the room!. Actually, I will do that next time I record.

The pain in the arse factor is just not worth moving the piano around or playing with foam padding underneath it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the piano other than it sounds terrible when I record on it due to the worst acoustic conditions possible.

Like I said, A simple shove into the middle of the room for recording can solve this. For now, it's just too easy to hop on the digital and record a very crisp and clear recording the first time through without having to monkey with everything.

FYI, I have submitted an acoustic recording before using the M&H. My holiday recital "Christmas time is here" submission was done on it but like I said, it sounds terrible as it is way to boomy.

My heavy overpedaling also does not help this situation either!

Thanks again for the tips.

Just noticed this thread and if I had known it existed I would of made a huge contribution earlier. My situation is this, I have played Einaudi for years and feel free to ask me anything on his pieces, I love to play them and never tire of listening or playing his music. Its very minimilistic but so beautiful and effective its quite astonishing how he mangages it. My favourite pieces are most of the I Giorni album and from le onde, I have his new album-Divineire, its excellent and much better than the last album I bought-una mattina, which unfortunately was not to my liking so much, which was a shame. Nothing seems to of got near I Giorni IMO since, but his new album is close. I can learn his pieces by ear in a few hours and get them up to a good standard. What I like about his music is I dont have to go out and buy the scores, because they are so easy to learn the notes from the cd's, he uses very similar patterns in the left hand and beautifully simple but deep and meaningful melodies and chord structures, achingly gorgeous. However I feel his music is only best heard on grand pianos, because the simple chord patterns etc.. need to stand out well, I dont think it works very well on standard uprights. I play his music on my digital piano which is sampled on a grand so its very effective. I would love to post some recordings myself, since I know plenty off by heart having played them so much over the years, not really sure how to though... I would also like to hear other peoples recordings if you could show me the links to them, is there one by kawaigirl and a few others?

Cheers

S-H,

That's exactly why I suggested the bass traps. Bass frequencies tend to "pool" in corners both at floor and ceiling level. The bass traps can make a huge difference by absorbing those reflections without affecting midrange & treble which other solutions (foam, carpeting, etc) would do. It sounds as though you only want to affect the low frequencies and that's exactly what bass traps are designed to do.

I'll stop beating the drum on this, I just saw your comments about the piano and your environment and I have spent a good deal of time over the years modifying acoustic environments for audio systems with moderate success so I thought I'd suggest it for whatever it's worth.

Greg, that is great advice on the bass traps. I am not familiar with them so I will certainly look into it for my situation..

mwf,

Which is your favorite piece? I'd certainly like to hear your play by ear recordings!