Topic: Proposed Community Project -- Create FXP that fits in Mix
Hello Philippe and All Other PianoTechies,
For the longest time, I have been reading users’ complaints about the way that Pianoteq does not seem to work in a live gig scenario, and that most (if not all) people seem to have trouble making it fit in a mix.
An idea came to me, a few nights ago, when I was ripping the audio from a pop dvd (Skillet: Awake and Alive) in order to transcribe the piano part, by ear, for one of my students. I noticed that the audio’s dynamic range was essentially unity, i.e., little to no discernible difference in loudness. It then occurred to me that Elton John’s acoustic Yamaha piano is played with the lid closed, and is miked from within the piano’s case – again, the dynamic range of his recorded instrument was essentially one loudness.
Could it be??? Could it be, that even 30dB of dynamic is too extreme to fit into a mix, either live or recorded?
To that end, I propose that this forum works together in a community experiment to derive an .fxp that DOES fit into a pop mix and/or works satisfactorily in a live gig! I have created an .fxp that serves as a “starting point” for forum members to try, critique, and modify … with the intent that we collectively create a preset that works well in a pop mix or a live playing environment.
My starting .fxp is entitled D4-2012-06-01-jcfelice88keys-01. This translates to a D4 submitted on today’s date, namely, year 2012, month of June, first day, member’s name, first attempt. I would encourage you to download this fxp, and make any changes that you personally feel makes it a better fxp for a pop mix environment. Simply rename it as D4-2012-06-XX (where xx = day of the month)- your name-your sequence number.
My first submittal begins with D4 Jazz BA, and involves setting the dynamic range to its minimum value, and resetting the velocity. When you listen to it, you will notice that only the brightness changes, and the volume remains quite constant!
Please feel free to modify hammer hardnesses, or perhaps nudge the dynamic range up to, say a whole 6dB(!), and do whatever you think will make the sound the way you would like to hear in a live or pop recording mix.
This is essentially the way a beta group works!, except that the D4 model is already set up; we are collectively working to create a preset (or set of presets) that may eventually be called Pop Mix.
Let’s see where this work takes us!
Cheers,
Joe
