Recording pianos

[John Musselwhite]

At 04:25 PM 9/17/01 -0700, Joe wrote:

>Mark & Dale,
>IMHO we're dealing with an ever-increasing number of people that have a
>hearing loss, due to our VERY NOISY society. It's a pity, but alas I believe
>this to be one of the major reasons for the sale of loud, brassy sounding
>instruments. The other reason is a little less blatant in appearance, but

If I recall in the Fostle book "The Steinway Saga" he puts forward the 
conjecture that the reason Steinway's pianos were getting louder and louder 
towards the end of the 19th century was that the Steinways were getting 
more and more deaf from working in the factory. Of course, he also accused 
them of being alcoholics because they preferred beer and wine to whatever 
else it was they had to drink in New York City at the end of the 19th 
Century so I don't know how much weight that carries. Perhaps your comment 
was as true 100 years ago as it is now.

>is, in my opinion, part of the problem. That being, recording studios have a
>distorted idea of what a piano is really supposed to sound like. So, we are
>subjected to improperly EQ'd recordings. This is rampant throughout the
>recording industry. Methinks to many reformed Rock musicians have gotten
>tired of playing and are now in the studios, with their poor hearing! Just
>this guy's opinion. Flame suit properly adjusted. <grin>

Hehehe... well, recording the piano for popular music is a whole 'nother 
subject that I've been discussing with recording engineers since I was one 
25 years ago. In most popular music the piano has to sit in the mix while 
under compression introduced both in the mastering process and by the radio 
stations. It would be nice if they could allow them to be the beautiful 
instruments they can be, but it's just not possible given other 
constraints. Many studios keep their pianos uncomfortably bright to make it 
easier for the engineer to place it in the mix. Pianos that sound like 
pianos can interfere with the sound of the other instruments without very 
careful EQ which ends up making the piano sound terrible anyway. We may not 
like it much, but they aren't making records just for us.

Classical and some jazz recordings are a different matter and require 
different preparation. Recordings such as Diana Krall's "Love Scenes" show 
that some engineers do indeed know what a piano is supposed to sound like.

                 John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
mailto:john@musselwhite.com    http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom