Topic by pkward88

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Topic: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

Would love your feedback!

https://soundcloud.com/paul-k-ward/give-master

Includes six songs. It's all one master file at this point. I'll be separating out the individual mastered tracks later.

Technical stuff:

1. MIDI files captured in the studio on unknown version of PianoTeq and OS, but then transferred to my studio. I played on Steinway D Prelude in PianoTeq 6.6.0 in MacOS 10.14.6.

2. I mixed on the same Steinway D Prelude pre-set, but with action adjusted to quiet the hammer and pedal noise. When mastering, the compression pumps up the mechanical noises to the point where I felt they were distracting. I think they're subtle now. I added a little stereo spread, Abbey Road plates, and a limiter.

3. Mastered with iZotope Ozone 9 Elements, which I cannot recommend enough. Ozone 9 adds a bit of compression and a lot of magical doobly-do. You must tweak it ... but it gets you pretty close. Read the docs, you'll get there fast.

4. Mixed in Logic Pro X. I used the Waves Abbey Road Studio 3 plug-in, which I also cannot recommend highly enough. I also referenced on a nice pair of well-maintained Alesis Monitor Twos, which are three-ways with a vented port out the back, 35Hz to 18KHz. They're pretty nice.

I improvised every song straight through, playing them once. The motivation was to come up with music that might be authentic to the experience of a cancer patient. It is not meant to be "meditation" music, which I find edgeless. This is meditative, though.

Normally I created two contrasting themes and then worked with both to "integrate" them. You'll find I organized the material around intervals and textures. Rhythm is sometimes strict, but usually not.

Yes, I was heavy on the damper pedal. Intentional.

Last edited by pkward88 (17-01-2020 03:16)

Reply by gasparka

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

Thank you for sharing. I have listened to it multiple times, obviously it is good.
I am thinking about the mastering process..well actually more about compression, because I found that my music is not listenable on "--hole sound systems" (what most people have).
How much gain do you add? I am currently using the integrated Pianoteq compressor "Grand Piano medium" preset - it has 13dB gain.

Reply by Stephen_Doonan

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

Beautiful!
Looking back after five years of remission, this is the kind of music I would have found soothing and gently uplifting or hopeful during the difficult cancer treatment and recovery.

Thanks--

Last edited by Stephen_Doonan (14-01-2020 22:23)
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Linux, Pianoteq Pro, Organteq

Reply by pkward88

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

gasparka wrote:

Thank you for sharing. I have listened to it multiple times, obviously it is good.
I am thinking about the mastering process..well actually more about compression, because I found that my music is not listenable on "--hole sound systems" (what most people have).
How much gain do you add? I am currently using the integrated Pianoteq compressor "Grand Piano medium" preset - it has 13dB gain.


It sounds like you may be “mastering” outside of an actual DAW! I would highly recommend getting a true DAW and finding some mastering plug-ins. Many are available and are excellent. The one I used was iZotope’s Elements 9. Importantly, I also edited the Action parameters because most good piano mixing and mastering processes does add compression, which elevates quieter moments, including pedal noise and hammer action, which then may become distracting.

I hope this helps!

Reply by Gaston

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

Thank you Paul for sharing these beautiful pieces !
I'm not going to comment on the technical stuff...
All I can say is that your music touches me deeply.
Over twenty years ago I was in hospital for a long period of time for heart surgery, and this is the kind of music I could have heard from the depths of the artificial coma I was put into...

Gérard Delassus
Chansons
SoundCloud
Hearthis.at

Reply by pkward88

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

Gaston wrote:

Thank you Paul for sharing these beautiful pieces !
I'm not going to comment on the technical stuff...
All I can say is that your music touches me deeply.
Over twenty years ago I was in hospital for a long period of time for heart surgery, and this is the kind of music I could have heard from the depths of the artificial coma I was put into...

Gaston,

I so deeply appreciate your comment! I’m happy that you’ve recovered and especially happy to be sharing our love of great piano music here on PianoTeq.com.

What kind of music do you enjoy playing?

Reply by Gaston

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Re: Meditative music, freshly mastered, played on Steinway D Prelude

pkward88 wrote:

What kind of music do you enjoy playing?

It's all there :
https://hearthis.at/xnwdv7yv/

Last edited by Gaston (15-01-2020 10:40)
Gérard Delassus
Chansons
SoundCloud
Hearthis.at