A Unique
Recording Process for Pianists
Zenph
Studios makes recordings of pianists in a unique process suited for the 21st
century. The heart of the process is a nine-foot concert grand piano, a Yamaha
Disklavier Pro. It's a richly-voiced piano, with a superbly-regulated action. It
is also full of lasers, solenoids, and computers. It can record and play back a
pianist's keystrokes and pedal movements with exceptional precision.
Recordings are
captured as MIDI computer files. You may be familiar with regular MIDI recording,
where each note strike and release is recorded in a MIDI "event." In
this high-precision format, each note that's played results in seven MIDI events,
capturing many more bits, as well as the hammer velocity and angle. The playback
timing is on the order of 1 millisecond. Electro-optical devices sense hammer
strikes and pedal movement; they measure 1,000 degrees of dynamic intensity and
pedal accuracy to 1/1,000th of an inch. The Pro's quality improvement can be
compared by analogy with digital photography - it's essentially the difference
between a one mega-pixel photo and a ten mega-pixel photo. Professional
musicians consider the playback as indistinguishable from live performance.
Recordings are made
without the presence of a recording engineer. Musicians and engineers can do
their jobs separately, at times convenient for each. There’s great
flexibility and joy in this process. While recording at the piano, a pianist can
sing or make other noises, use sheet music and turn pages, tap their feet, take
breaks to do something else – and the piano can be badly out of tune. A
pianist can record as long as he or she feels an improved take is being obtained.
They get to concentrate on interpretation, rather than accuracy.
Later, a recording
engineer appears to make the acoustic recording with microphones. Then we can
retune the piano after every movement, can record with the lights and air
conditioning off so there’s no noise, move the microphones inches and
restart a performance, and so on. We also record live recitals, from which we
can make audio recordings without audience sounds. A good take is never lost
because of external noise, such as traffic or aircraft.
Our software lets us
edit individual notes for accuracy, sound intensity, and timing, as well as
editing the use of the three pedals. We can correct occasional wrong notes or
any other facet of the performance, without a trace. The tempo of individual
takes can be matched precisely. When a chosen performance is ready, it is played
back by the piano, (which must then be accurately tuned) and recorded with high-quality
microphones and the best modern audio equipment. Because the chosen take can be
repeated as often as necessary to optimize settings, the levels and microphone
positions can be adjusted to achieve ideal audiophile quality.
Few pianists ever
get to hear themselves play "live," another unexpected benefit of the
process. They get to hear what they sound like "out in the hall."
While the piano plays back their performance, they can sit in different chairs
in the room and hear what the audience hears when they perform. It's a huge
revelation; they often sit with their scores and mark up phrases, having heard
what they actually sound like for the first time.
