12/19/2023 0 Comments Piano tuning little rockIf I had to guess, I'd say your issues are much more likely to be tied to unison tuning of strings and/or mic positioning. It always seems like what worked yesterday isn't working today. Even a stereo pair can give me fits, and I've tried a bazillion different positions and techniques. the more mics I use, the more phase issues I seem to be fighting. Regardless, I don't feel like the stretch is fighting with my synths or anything.Īnother thought. if I played a lot of triads up top I might have chosen to stretch things a tad less. When I do it's more likely to be in octaves or for effect so I think the effect of the stretch is somewhat mitigated by the way I play. I like the energy of a good stretch and I don't play a lot at the very edges of the keyboard anyway. If I recall, the one I arrived at is stretched just a tad more on the higher strings than on the lower. As you probably know, more stretch = more 'life', and less stretch = duller. Bottom line - I have tuned my piano to test a number of different stretches using trial and error to arrive at the one that speaks to me. This is a quite sophisticated subject, which I admittedly don't have a deep understanding of, but the program I use, Tunelab lets me dial in the stretch using a number of different parameters based on harmonics OR by just dragging the deviation curve on the GUI. If a string is more than a half a cent out of tune (relative to it's sister strings), it drives me NUTS. I am CONSTANTLY retuning strings on my piano, and not uncommonly a few during a session. I've been tuning my piano myself for at least 15 years now.īefore I talk about the stretch, I want to point out that I'm tempted to agree with previous posters that it's very likely not the stretch that's the problem - It's much more likely the fact that the piano is falling out of tune. I'm not a piano tuner, but my piano is pretty stable and easy to tune - AND I have a fantastic program (Tunelab) that I run on an iPad. I pretty much agree with everything everyone has said so far. Regardless I find myself constantly tuning my piano. Most humidification systems I've tried either don't work well or they leave a residue on the everything. I keep the temperature in the room pretty stable all year, but the humidity is something I have little control over. I've had it for ~20 years and it's been in its current location for about 5 years. Could always try a different tuner next time too. If the piano sound like its chorusing then the internal strings(there are 3 per note for most the piano) are starting to wander most likely.Īlso, not all tech/tuners are the same. The strech tuning should not make for a chorusing. But is at least some things to look at, particularly the climate control and whats happening in the room over the session temperature/humidity wise. Im very lucky to get to work where I do now where we have the tech on hand at all times, it really makes a big difference.Īnyways, I know thats not THAT helpful for you. I've never done a session where the piano gets tuned at the beginning and the piano sounds just a good as when we started. Is it softer and lyrical? Or loud rocking and hammer time?! If its the latter, that can contribute to stuff slipping out as well pretty quickly. Then there is the music you are playing and how the player is playing it. CD18 is by far the most picky one and depending on how the weather is outside and how our humidity and temp control can keep up in the hall it can be a nightmare to keep in tune. The Hamburg one is the most stable one we have. Horowitz's CD18 from the 1940s(yes THAT Horowitz's and yes his real piano), and a new Hamburg D from Germany. Soon as either he or I or the artist hear something we don't like or a key isn't responding how the artist wants. We always leave the tech on hand in the control room. On that note, where did the piano come from? Local? Been there its whole life? If it came from somewhere hotter/dryer or more humid it'll take a few years before it settles. If the humidity starts changing a lot the piano usually freaks out and sections start going flat or sharp at the same time. 1º change in temp can cause the piano to start to go flat or sharp increasing as the temp changes. How's your climate control? Not just the temp but also the humidity? Some piano's can be VERY touchy about that. So some things to consider while you're using a real piano. He's very VERY good and VERY sensitive to it. He usually tunes the piano for 2-3 hours before we start. And anytime we have a recording our tech is there.
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