Hi David, I'm always happy to learn more about this subject, since I have to deal with it (or at least miking) on a fairly regular basis. It was my understanding that the recordings can be manipulated--as long as the recording tech/engineer/editor or whatever you want to call him/her has enough tone to work with. For example, a bright piano can get toned down somewhat, but it's not possible to work as easily with a mellow piano. Am I totally out in left field here? It's always a possibility. My question is not about Ms. Renner's abilities (the piano sounds great and I've heard of her before), but how the sound techs can manipulate what we hear on recordings. I'm sitting here listening to a recording of a piano with orchestra piece from a concert I was able to attend. I could have sworn this piano had more carrying power with an orchestra (though I was sitting in a different spot than I usually do) in this sound-sucking 3500 seat barn of an auditorium. It could've been the pianist--a delicate thing, who didn't seem to be expending a lot of energy--or maybe she just looked incredibly relaxed. At the rehearsal I wanted to go up to her and tell her that any dynamic level she played had to be bumped up by at least one notch for this hall--but she was just a college girl (for one of those university concerto winner concerts) and I didn't want put any more pressure on her. The recording was made with 2 mikes hanging high above the orchestra, and there is no separate mike for the piano, so the sound is pretty much like going to a live concert--in a sound-sucking 3500 seat barn of an auditorium, that is. :-) One observation I have is I think the recording industry has sort of skewed our expectations of what we should hear at a live concert. I mean, how many concerts have you gone to that you can hear the piano (with orchestra) the way you can hear it in a recording? Not many, I would think (unless it's in a rather small hall and they're playing Mozart). Barbara Richmond, RPT David Anderson wrote: That¹s the one.....thanks, Jason, for the correction. It¹s been on my iPod so long I didn¹t remember the name of the CD. I highly recommend the purchase of this CD for serious study of piano recording and concert prep...keep in mind this was a LIVE recording, so that Barbara Renner, the concert tech, had to balance the near-field sound and the sound in the back of the hall. Usually, if the piano sounds good in the hall, it¹s a bit too rangy, ³attack-ey² for recording, but she balanced the voicing of the hammers in a masterful way. And the tuning----amazing. Musical. Solid. Some of the best unisons I¹ve ever heard, and the artist takes full advantage of the singing, long-sustain tuning in his performance---you can tell he¹s listening to EVERYTHING. Best, David Andersen
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