Topic by feeble

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  • feeble
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  • From: Yankton, South Dakota USA
  • Registered: 21-12-2009
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Topic: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

Kinda OT and please forgive my misuse of the terminology, I'm not sure if it's right.

Pianoteq sounds better through my headphones than it does my monitors and subwoofer.  I'm thinking that I need to flatten out the response of the system, it seems overly bright in some areas and depressed in others.  I was initially thinking about adding an EQ, which then led me to think of an audio spectrum analyzer (??, not sure if this is right, been a while since I've thought about this stuff, ), which then got me wondering if it would be possible to do it all in software.

Is this possible?  I'd like to plug a mic (located where my head would be when I play) into my M-Audio 2496, play a test tone(s), and as much as possible, have Windows based software fix the response, correcting for the speakers, their placement, room acoustics, etc?.  If so, any recommendations for software and a mic?  Cheap is nice, free is better.

I use Pianoteq standalone.

Thanks!

Last edited by feeble (13-04-2010 14:05)

Reply by Luc Henrion

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  • Luc Henrion
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Re: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

you'll find both, EQ and RTA for free here, as VST:

http://www.voxengo.com/group/freevst/

other free EQ's:

http://habib.webhost.pl/vst_eq31.php

http://tda.tention.org/index.php?cat=td...est=eq2032

Last edited by Luc Henrion (13-04-2010 14:24)

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Reply by Jake Johnson

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  • Jake Johnson
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Re: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

I would try moving the mics around and adjusting the velocity curve and hammer hardness before adding external eq.

Reply by feeble

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Re: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

Jake Johnson wrote:

I would try moving the mics around and adjusting the velocity curve and hammer hardness before adding external eq.


My assumption was that if I was happy with the sound through headphones, that I should focus on getting the speakers to sound like the headphones, rather than adjusting the piano.

Was this in error?

Reply by Jake Johnson

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  • Jake Johnson
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Re: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

Actually, your thinking is probably more logical. But..if you're using a Binaural perspective over headphones, that won't sound the same over monitors. If you're using a Stereophonic mic setting, that won't sound the same either. They're just completely different settings and completely different ways of projecting the sound towards your ears.

More generally, the piano can usually be adjusted, though, and the mics, to compensate for the different methods of listening.

But talking in the abstract may cause problems. What is it that changes?

Last edited by Jake Johnson (13-04-2010 16:36)

Reply by sound-board

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Re: Making Pianoteq sound better though my speakers.

I know exactly what you're talking about here. I spend a lot of time creating tracks with headphones on (for practical and consideration reasons) and often decide that the binaural field is the best way for Pianoteq to work in this context, but as soon as i switch to the monitors for a mix-down or just for a listen in the comfy chair i feel that the piano sounds too close and a little out of the mix, so I end up switching to stero field and have to place the mics where I'm sitting (if that makes sense) and it all sounds better again... I doubt even the guys ot Modartt will have a clever software setting that detects when you're wearing headphones or not, but it's fairly easy to just change the settings from binaural to stereo as and when required for listening pleasure.

Do you use the binaural setting for mixes?

James