OK, lately I've been experimenting with recording myself playing the piano. I'm using a very nice Yamaha digital piano and a very nice Yamaha digital recorder/mixer. Then I am making a transfer to my PC, which has a very nice sound card. And I am using the highest quality cables all through the process.
If you would, take a listen to these and let me know what you think. I am not so much looking for comments about my musicianship (though feel free to offer those too). What I am looking for are some technical comments. I want these recordings to be very honest. These are all one take (no merging of multiple takes, I mean). There was no editing or fixing mistakes (I just kept replaying them until I got perfect playthroughs so there are no wrong notes, etc.). Also, I haven't messed with the sound at all. No effects, no EQ. So, how do you think the sound is? Could it use some EQ? If so, what? What do you think of the quality in general? I would be very grateful for any comments.
Just to avoid confusion - yes, the Beethoven pieces really are that short. They are from a set of piano bagatelles, which are short pieces - usually no more than a couple of minutes. No. 10 is especially short - my version only lasts about 10 seconds. Beethoven sure was innovative, wasn't he?
And as for the Billy Joel, if you are familiar with these, they are not just like they were on the albums - I played them as regular piano pieces. Nocturne sounds pretty much the same as it does on the album (though on the album I think there were some low strings or something), but the Mexican Connection does not have any drums, synth, etc. as it does on the album - it is piano only.
Beethoven - Bagatelle for piano in A major, Op. 119, No. 9 - link
Beethoven - Bagatelle for piano in A minor, Op. 119, No. 10 - link
Billy Joel - Nocturne - link
Billy Joel - The Mexican Connection - link
deleted user 13.04.2004 21:41
I think it sounds absolutly wonderful!!!!!!!!!!
You are superb!!! Excellent job :)
Thanks, all. That's really nice of you. I was thinking of doing a Queen song for frontpage of this site, since I play the guitar too, and I've been able to get very good MIDI drums and bass from my sound card with custom soundfonts. But I'm not sure which one I'd do. I was thinking maybe Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. But how do you live up to Freddie's vocals on that?
Deacon Fan (semi-retired) wrote:
Farlander wrote: very nice Yamaha digital piano very nice Yamaha digital recorder/mixer. very nice sound card.
very nice
Yeah, that sounds a little funny, but I was just trying to let everyone know that any crappiness present was not the fault of the equipment since it is all top-notch.