Improve Piano Sound?

[eringal]

Can anyone give me thoughts on this? This song was rejected because

"...the piano needs a much higher degree of realism to match up well here. Layering multiple samples to get a more complex and full piano sound will help that part of the track by quite a bit."

I want to follow this advice, but hopefully without re-recording it, though that would be doable if needed. I'm using Reaper and it's not a midi recording. The sample is straight from my Clavinova digital piano. Is there an easy way to improve the quality of the piano sample?

https://soundcloud.com/erin-galloway-42 ... no/s-6RZH3

Thanks!!

[karlhourigan]

Hi Erin,
I gave your track a listen. I've also been working on getting better piano sounds.

My humble opinion is that there's no easy fix for you n terms of EQ or reverb effects to give the piano more "realism".

I always record MIDI rather than audio for piano (partly because I'm not a great piano player), and then I can try different piano sounds out, and of course then it's easy to edit the timing, change octaves, control dynamics, layer other piano sounds and so on. Once I'm really happy with that I create an audio track from my MIDI track, but if I ever need to go back and take another swing at the track i can go back to the original MIDI track and work from there without having to play the whole thing again. I am using Logic X Pro and it has some okay piano sounds.

I have just been trying out a plug-in from Pianoteq that seems promising: https://www.pianoteq.com/pianoteq6. You may want to check that out, too.

[eringal]

Thanks very much for your thoughts! I'll check out that link!

[karlhourigan]

Thanks very much for your thoughts! I'll check out that link!

Hey Erin,
I just got an email notifying me of a forward that I've posted in the Success Stories section. It's a piano drive instrumental you can listen to here: https://soundcloud.com/karl-hourigan/happy-suburb
The piano sound is from Logic X. It could still be better but good enough for now...

[eringal]

Congrats on the forward, though I assume you've had many!

I'm hoping maybe my piano sound is really okay but that one screener didn't like it...but maybe that's unlikely. I am working on fixing it the best I know how, I'm still a beginner. Would be nice if we could re-submit a song (without the fee) once we've fixed a minor issue like that!

[annayarbrough]

Hey Erin! Nice to (sort of) meet you.
I record piano for a living (both live and MIDI), and often prefer MIDI for film/TV pitches as it gives me much more flexibility later on with developing/arranging/editing the music.
My number one piece of advice—unless you're really proficient at acoustic recording (pianos are tricky!) AND pretty sure you're going to nail the listing—start with MIDI, and above all.... a really high-quality sampled piano. Anything that sounds fake/"too MIDI"/like a keyboard isn't likely to get very far.
There are a few other factors (EQ, reverb, compression etc) that go into the equation, but if you're starting with an excellent VI and a great performance, the treatment needed should be very minimal.
You can listen to a bunch of my music at the links in my signature if that's something that's helpful... feel free to PM me if you have any questions, as well!

[mojobone]

My two cents, as soon as you buy a hardware piano that doesn't sport actual strings and hammers, it'll be obsolete in a year or two. Maybe there's an exception for real pianists, IF you find a sampled piano that responds to YOUR touch, or one you can learn to live with.

[Tunesmith]

Hi Erin,

It is great to have MIDI for a recording option. You don't have to quantize or sound stiff, just play naturally. And you don't have to re-record!

Midi allows you to manipulate/color the sound. It can be used very creatively. I used to teach MIDI..ran MIDI workshops and worked for a music software company that developed sequencers in the 80's. It's been around a long time.

Here is a link I found useful to finding a good piano VST and it explains a lot as well.

https://cymatics.fm/blog/25-best-piano-vst-plugins/

I listened to your piece and a real sounding piano would really enhance it! It is lovely..keep writing and submitting!

Best,
Linda C

[eringal]

Thank you so much, everyone! Great advice!!

[JNav]

Just my 2 cents:

1- the performance; in terms of dynamics. Unless it's what you are going for, "each" note sounds like it's being struck very hard; in midi terms it's at full velocity. This alone will give the "fake" sound. No amount of eq will fix this. This way of playing would be useful when it needs to cut through a mix of heavy guitars.

2- in your mix, put some depth in order to let the piano breathe and sound natural (provided you are using a good same library or VI, which there definitely are). This will allow for a more subtle approach in how the keys are struck in your performance. It just sounds too bright for the piece as a whole. I would have made the busy bells in the background have a little more attack and give the piano a warmer (which means dull or dark) sound while playing the octaves would keep the "happy" vibe going. The reverb you use could also help.

Again just my 2 cents. The piece is good, I liked it.