recording experiment

[David Andersen]

On Feb 6, 2007, at 2:39 PM, Rob Goodale wrote:

> The [Kawai] PR-1 is a fantastic invention.

Hey, Rob.  I hope I get a chance to hear it---maybe this week in San  
Francisco. Ya never know 'til ya hear sumthin'.

For all you lucky California State PTG Conference attendees I have a  
CD which is a fascinating in-progress example of attempting to  
satisfy recording, live-performance/audience and artist requirements  
and ideals.

Using the Steinway "C" that I brought to Rochester last year, we  
recorded Mario Feninger (classical) and Tamir Hendelman (jazz) at  
Atelier concerts in October and November of last year. I'm on the  
trail of a recorded piano sound that's super near-field, intimate,  
clear, deep---basically what the player hears: being inside the sonic  
bubble.

My major challenge is getting octave 7 and 8 to sound "right" to me  
and still get all the echo and overtones of the near-field---they're  
definitely too "plinky" in recording, but deemed "perfect" and  
"completely balanced" by the artists, both intimately familiar with  
recording pianos, and I can state unequivocally the piano sounded  
amazing, clear, and non-"plinky" all over the audience (I moved  
around.)  Another pass with the needle? More under-the-soundboard  
mike level? A pair of mikes pointed at the treble 6-8-10 feet away?  
More expensive mikes?  We'll find out; it's close, as you'll hear,  
and I'm having the time of my life.

I'll have some of these tracks, along with exhaustive recording  
notes, on my website within a week or two. Stay tuned; I'm really  
excited about the California conference; I'm bringing a truly sweet  
and powerful rebuilt Hamburg B as an exhibitor, and teaching an  
expanded, hands-on version of the class I did in Rochester.....fun  
fun fun.

David Andersen

P.S. regarding anything you hear via YouTube or anywhere in  
cyberspace: unless the mp3 has been specifically tweaked by an audio  
expert, and compressed in a custom way, the treble will ALWAYS sound  
glassy and piercing, and the tenor and bass will sound boxy....it's  
the nature of the compression algorithms that are used in making each  
track compact enough to load quickly. Isn't voicing and tonal memory/ 
perception fun?


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