Topic: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

10 Pianos are used for this recording:

A Petrof 275,
NY Steinway D,
K2 Basic,
Steinway B,
C Bechstein 282,
Petrof 284 Mistral,
Bluethner Model One,
Grotrain Royal,
Steingraeber 272,
HD Steinway D.

I use 10 different pianos, so that I can have 10 different sets of tone colors and 10 different sets of characters to work on.
I played the piece in real-time, recorded it into one single track, then break up the notes into different tracks accordingly.

https://youtu.be/LCvNBmN7tXA

Last edited by k c Paul Li (15-04-2022 19:39)

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

Beautiful playing. Beautiful sounds. I’m impressed. Played with feeling, I like every moment of this performance. And the tempo is perfect. In my opinion many people play this piece in some sections too fast. Now it was enjoyable. Thank you.

The way you work is really worth the effort. Love the sound, not unsetting at all. This is the future sound

And I think this piece and Clair de lune are among the best of Debussy.

Best wishes,

Stig

Pianoteqenthusiast, Organteqenthusiast, Harpteqenthusiast, Harpsichordteqenthusiast

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

Stig, thanks for the comment.
My next record will be the Clair de lune.

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

very interesting experiment.  could you elaborate more on how you break up the track?  do you randomly assign notes to the different pianos, or is there something else involved?

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

budo wrote:

very interesting experiment.  could you elaborate more on how you break up the track?  do you randomly assign notes to the different pianos, or is there something else involved?

They can't be randomly assigned, it will sound ugly.
Notes break up according to musical theory.... the sequence, the counterpoints, the phrasings, so and so....
I use reaper, cut and paste notes to different tracks.

As an example, for within a phrase, there is "Question and Answer".
The first half of the Question and the rest of the Question should have a slightly different tone color.
The first half of the answer should have the same ton color with the Question, whereas the rest of the Answer should have different tone color with the Question.
For other repeating patterns, the pattern on strong beats should have brighter/stronger tone color than the pattern on weak beats.
The melody should have a brighter tone color, the bass should have a thicker tone color.
The last note of the phrase should sound darker. .... so and so.

It is a very technical job, you should know the real thing (real performing experience) and some composing skills.

Last edited by k c Paul Li (16-04-2022 20:52)

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

I like the concept.  I'm very much in favour of using virtual instruments to go beyond what's possible on a physical piano.  But in this recording, for my taste, the reverb gets in the way too much.  I think I'm also hearing some distortion of upper harmonics, as if the audio has been converted to mp3 at a low bitrate (or is this modulation in the reverb effect?)

I'll be interested to hear what else you do with this technique.

Re: Debussy - Arabesque No.1 (Using 10 piano presets)

hanysz wrote:

I like the concept.  I'm very much in favour of using virtual instruments to go beyond what's possible on a physical piano.  But in this recording, for my taste, the reverb gets in the way too much.  I think I'm also hearing some distortion of upper harmonics, as if the audio has been converted to mp3 at a low bitrate (or is this modulation in the reverb effect?)

I'll be interested to hear what else you do with this technique.

Yes, the concept is ok, but there remain some technical problems to be solved.
I will try to fix them one by one.