Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Calling Sydney, Oz - need recording studio [free]

Quotes range from $70-100 an hour (2hrs for one of music) for professional recording sessions.

All very nice but my only ambition right now is to demonstrate I haven't just "got a big mouth" to this forum. It is time, as they say, to put my technique first and my tongue on the chopping board.

Any kind or good samaritans in Sydney metro (Australia!!!!) ready and able to offer shelter to a wayward improvisario? You will need a recording studio and 2 dozen extremely rotten eggs (to pelt me with if I fail!)

I will also happily accept requests for works to perform (though I cannot guarantee I will meet the expectations of listener with my performances).

Please PM me (with serious offers) or reply in this thread as you see fit.

PartyPianist
Pay the money! $70 for an hour of quality recording studio time seems very reasonable to me, and you'll (hopefully!) get much better quality than d.i.y. If you get 2 really good pieces recorded well it is worth the money. A good quality disc of your own work is a treasure and a valuable record of your playing. The other best way is to buy a few gadgets and do it yourself but I assume that you are not technically savvy, in which case it's quicker and less stressful to let someone else do it.

If you haven't recorded in a studio before it can be stressful and unfamiliar with boring bits where you are just waiting but have no idea what for. The best advice I can think of is to not expect to get too much material recorded and to prepare a few pieces very very well that you can give a great performance of in the dullest venue imaginable. It's hard to get your muse to visit the studio sometimes.

You may get lucky with a sydney PW person who records in their home with their laptop or whatever, but I'd doubt that a PWer who works in a recording studio that has a decent piano would want to do a session for free - it's not *that* much fun but you never know your luck.

Look forward to hearing a piece sometime soon.

I agree with Canonie that you might get lucky and find someone who does amateur recordings at home, who might reply to your request for a reasonable fee. However, to ask any professional to perform any professional service - one from which they earn a living - for someone who can't afford to pay for the service just isn't the way it works in the real world.

Good luck!

Regards,

Are you kidding? in Sydney? This is cheap!

Otherwise, get yourself a digital recorder and DIY.

(and by the way, if you go the professional route, check that they actually have a piano - at that price, I'd be wondering)

PartyPianist,

I may be able to help you. I record my students from time to time. I am not a professional audio expert but I can produce a good final product. My set-up for recording, though not studio level is quite good for what I do.
Downsides -I will charge -we can negotiate . I don't have grand piano, but a good quality upright - recently tuned, and a dog who will bark until you start playing ;-).

PM me if this sounds suitable for you.

I think this is my first post - so hello everyone.

BBBB

Hello BBBB! Nice offer Welcome to delurking on the forum.
Go for it PP, sounds like a good offer. Look forward to hearing some nice recordings if this works out for you. Good luck with it.

And yeah, like currawong I was thinking "but it can't be a good piano for that price...". Perhaps not even an acoustic.

Thankyou for your replies. I shall add some

I have Kawai upright (cost me $6,500 and was better than an upright Steinway priced at $8,000 when I bought it) which is wildly out of tune. I live in a large 1st floor appartment with lousy accoustics. Dick Smiths sold me a $15 condenser mic that I can plug into my laptop computer and make some "makeshift" recording. Even for this forum, I think I need to go one better.

My other option is I have located a recording studio in some godforbidden part of Sydney, 4 trains and 6 buses to get there! They have a nice modern [electric, if required] baby grand. It is a propper piano, so it will suffice even though I hate the muffled tone of the modern pianos. There is a $70 hour recording charge, plus $10 for the piano an hour. The clock starts when you arrive and finishes when they finish.

I know precisely how I play and I am not vain. This is not an "ego boost", but I rather like "leading" the education process. Though I am getting to "love you guys", not enough to burn a "monkey" or a "grand" on the experience. Call me silly, but one of the objectives of this post was to inspire the imagination of a few of you. What if PartyPianist is a good as Richter, or Gould, or Liberace, or uhmmmmm? Though no sarcasm has crept into any of the replies extant, I've offered the rope to hang myself and [so far] no one's prepared to take up the challenge as "hangman".

P.S. I am looking only to provide a sound quality to barely express the need to demonstrate to this forum.

I needed to do business in Victoria a year or 2 back, so I took some sheet music in case I could find a piano. I did find a piano shop near where I was staying in South Melbourne. Upon entering I asked the propriator if he minded if I play a piano (of course not - he thought I was a buyer). I then quickly explained I was only there to practice as I lived in Sydney. My recital began with Wiedersehen (return) from Les Adieux and concluded with the fugue from the Hammerklaviar. I asked him what he thought...he replied "very good", but shortly after ushered me up to upstairs practice rooms. I heard him saying to the oncoming customers "he's a concert pianist" (presumably to "who was that?"). The important thing was I played at that place for 4 hours and he did not charge me a cent. So, it is possible Bruce!!!!!

I don't think you necessarily need to go all out to prove to people on this forum that you can play. People who took the time to listen and comment on my recordings have all been very encouraging and kind. I play on an upright and use a Zoom Q3 to record, which isn't hugely sophisticated. Heck, I could probably have recorded using my digicam and I can't imagine anyone sneering.

There are a lot of talented people on this forum who are professional musicians or are at a professional level, but just as many or perhaps more amateurs who come here simply out of love for the instrument (myself included). I don't think one has to possess superb playing ability in order to contribute. A lot of beginners bring fresh ideas that those of us who have played for years may overlook - head over to the adult beginners forum and take a look sometime. Being able to play well does not make anyone "king of the forum" and people may still disagree with your opinions.

This comes back to the purpose of performing, which in my opinion is to share with the audience what you enjoy. I look forward to hearing your recordings, especially if you make them with this purpose in mind. Don't ask the audience to listen in order to judge and criticize...what good does that do for anyone?

Well said, Frozenicicles

Absolutely agreed Frozenicicles, but if you do "cut the mustard" you speil packs a much bigger punch - believe me!!!

I have had some important things to say about performances offered to this forum. Some sideliners have taken umbrage. In that regard, I feel it is important to put my "money where my mouth is" demonstrating I am not some "puffed chicken" who enjoys discrediting the worthy efforts of forum performers.

Incidentally I am supremely impressed with all the forum offerings, but would rather provide constructive feedback than false praise to a performer. There is nothing that I have listened to here that has fallen short of the "very good" complement:) Yet even very good performances can need an awful lot of work to meet the requirement of genious composers and their compositions!!!