Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

The other tunes on Soundcloud are me on guitar. I did those about 20 years ago on a a Fostex 8-track. I only had a Shure 58 to do everything. I miss my standup bass sometimes . I tapped all the drum parts out on a drum machine. I didn't know too much about recording back then and I still don't. Right now, trying to get this grand piano to sound right in a small living room is driving me nuts.
I'll get around to doing a guitar CD eventually but I'm not going to multi-track. Just solo electric archtop (If I can ever find one I like) and maybe some on my classical. Probably standards mostly with some goofy originals.

That is about as perfect a recording and performance as one could get I would imagine. Classical music is far from my favorite, but I thoroughly enjoyed all 6:28 of this.....honest. This piece is not called 4Hands though...what is the proper title? Can you mic my next acoustic guitar project please? Oh yea.....I listened to your guitar REC's on Cloud too....I'm gonna also want some lessons!

It's called Sonata in C, K.521

I decided what to try in the future as far as recording in this room. This piece and some others we'll be doing is very heavy in the mid-range, meaning the middle third of the keyboard. Because of the small room/low ceiling I can't get the mics too close so this adds to the mid-sound. On top of that so does a M/S mic setup. Not good. I'll try a X/Y configuration or whatever these other things are.
Besides that, this kind of piece would be more geared towards listening in a chamber or smaller room, probably more than a concert hall so a shorter reverb, even a plate would be more authentic.
As far as recording acoustic guitar I haven't done it much. Just before I did this piano thing I tried a quick test of a Gitane D-hole using M/S. I though it sounded nice, or at least I thought it sounded like I imagined it should. I would definitely use M/S for acoustic guitar in the future. It's really easy to set up and edit. The only thing is it's probably not a good idea to move around too much using M/S.

Fascinating Steve. It is difficult to disguise the sound of a room. I suppose you'd have to ask some other classical home recording types or turn to those specialist mics. I record mostly acoustic guitar and I've noticed that all my best results come from setting up my mic close to my wooden Ikea shelf system. It's as though the wooden shelves (and also my diverse bits of junk) somehow control the worst of the reflections. Very low-fi and unscientific, but I'd swear the wood adds a warmth to the sound.

Cheers

Pete

Excellent execution and reproduction. Man..I envy you guys that play the black and whites that way. What discipline and feeling you achieve. Bravo!

This is great - it's not often we get classical music here. Very welcome.
One thing I don't understand - when you say 4 hands, I take it that means a duet, not two tracks mixed?
Regards,
Ferret

Sounds great, excellent playing and recording

4 hands just means 2 people. They also say how many pianos-1 or 2. This piece is 1 piano- 2 people. I knew I would edit this a zillion times so I haven't even named it properly yet.

I came across this while searching how to edit mis/side recording. It really works.

"Mid-side recordings are sometimes said to lack spaciousness. But according to David Griesinger, this
can be improved with spatial equalization, in which a circuit boosts the bass 4 dB (+2 dB at 600 Hz) in
the L - R, or side, signal, with a corresponding cut in the L + R, or mid, signal. Another way to improve
the spaciousness is to mix in a distant MS microphone -- one set about 30 ft from the main MS
microphone."

He doesn't say what to set the Q of the equalizer to. I used the default setting on my EQ and that's 2.75 Oct. (octave). I'm still messing around with this but I'm using (in Voxengo HarmonEQ) 600HZ, 2.5 to 3 db cut or boost, 2.75 octave.

In Fl Studio I copied the side mono file and reversed the phase on the second one. Pan Hard left and right. I also copied the mid mono file. Pan both to center.
channel 1-mid mono file (EQ cut) pan to center
channel 2-side mono file (EQ boost) pan hard left
channel 3-side mono file phase reversed (EQ boost) pan hard right
channel 4-mid mono file (EQ cut) pan to center

Here's a link to the file. It's pretty informative. This was on page 6;


https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/www/42 ... adings.pdf

I haven't posted this tune using this technique yet cause I want to fine tune it but it sounds much better now.

I am glad I broke my own rule (for now) of not reading other comments, but with classical music I really don't know what to do but read or something else.

In any event, my hat is off to your parents. They are playing wonderfully. I love the sound of piano perhaps better than any other instrument. To play like this is a real gift. Congrats to them.

(p.s. Your recording isn't half bad either. )