Thanks for all the replies, public and private. The following links contain a description of the audio recorder I used to record the 5 pianos: http://tinyurl.com/2hzedd http://tinyurl.com/25242u A very interesting thing is that each of the 5 pianos was named as someone's favorite. I take this as evidence that variation in pianos is essential. Different manufacturers should take different approaches to piano sound -- and there is merit to Steinway's traditional approach of letting different pianos coming out of their factories having different characters. (I still hate it when a good pianist has different requirements of a piano than the one in front of him can give.) Here are the 5 pianos: 1. Yamaha C7 voiced to within an inch of its life some years ago for chamber music. This is a fine piano, with a great bass. It now lives in a school lunch room, almost completely unappreciated. 2. Bosendorfer Imperial, just back from being rebuilt in Vienna. So far, pianists love this piano, although I believe the treble is in desperate need of proper voicing. There is little incentive to do the voicing because pianists like it as is, so far. 3. Steinway B recently completely rebuilt by Greg Hulme. The Renner hammers are too bright for me, but the piano sounds good. 4. 2000 Steinway D. 700-seat hall. I absolutely love this piano. 5. Steinway B with belly by Ron Nossaman; I did the action. The piano is both clean- and full-sounding. (The same thing that Ric called "thin" in the sound I would characterize positively as "transparent".) The recordings of the 5 pianos reflect the real volume levels of the pianos; I think that a close listen will reveal that Ron's piano has the most sound; I also think Ron's piano still sounds good when the playback is turned way up; listen close; this piano can bear some scrutiny. 8^) Here is a recording on Ron's B of Dave Brubeck's Greensleeves: http://tinyurl.com/2obhxn Thanks for listening. Kent On Dec 18, 2007, at 7:55 PM, Michael Wathen wrote: > That was fun. Your are a better player than you let on in your > post. All the pianos sound good. I like #2 the best. #1 sounds > completly understated for its size. I am guessing the #1 is an Asian > piano. > Is the lid on full stick? Is the microphone suspended from the > lid? What kind of mike? What kind of recording device? > > Michael Wathen > RET > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kent Swafford" <kswafford at gmail.com > > > To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> > Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 6:09 PM > Subject: [CAUT] 5 Pianos > > >> >> I've been playing with a field audio recorder. I've taken it around >> to 5 tunings, played the same music on each freshly tuned piano, >> with the mics always placed at the bridge and strut just below the >> top 2 sections. I edited all the recordings together, processing >> all the recordings identically. Close miking tends to minimize the >> effects of recording in wildly different rooms. All of the pianos >> are "concert" grands. Anyone care to play "Name that piano" and/or >> express preferences for the piano sounds? I think it's an >> interesting group of pianos. (I wish the playing was better, but >> hey, we're trying to deal with reality, here!) >> >> www.kentswafford.com/mp3/5pianos.mp3 >> >> >> Kent Swafford >> >
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