I want to participate.

I do not have a piano and recording equipment of suitable quality.

I would imagine that a few other pianists in each geographic area could say the same thing.

Is it possible we could find studios that would let us borrow their facilities for a day to record?

Is it possible that someone has portable gear and we could converge on a member's home or a store (hint, hint, Alex!) for an afternoon and make our recordings?

Of course I know that I would probably need several 'takes' to get a good recording.

Ideas???

I had an idea this morning regarding recording. I remember about 6 months to a year ago Kawai had a contest where a pianist could submit a piece recorded on one of there pianos that had its own recording system. So I'm wondering if we could enlist Kawai to donate a small amount of time to our members to record on one of there pianos? This way we get a recording and Kawai gets a free promotion.
I'll call my local dealer and see if this is possible.
Jon

Where should I send my recordings.

?

Piano juggler,

Good day to you,

Hopefully, I can shed some light on the recording options for you.

Whilst a traditional setting may have required a full recording studio, and hire fees too astronomical to think about, the fact is now, if you have a laptop computer (not even a fancy one), and a USB microphone with a large diaphragm, you are on your way.

The reason is that there are audio editing programs that are very versatile and free, like audacity, that will aloow you to create a recording and then convert it to MP3, and you can then create great CD's.

Let me explain the process.


The best microphone I can recommend is the Audio Technica USB 2020 microphone, as it has a large diaphragm, and will be the most expensive part of this process. One place they can be bought from is http://www.hostingsuccess.com/audiocreation

This mic just plugs straight into yout laptop's USB port, and the computer will recognise the mic within a matter of a minute or two.

The quality of the recordings will 'blow your mind', as the power of the laptop, and the audacity program is considerable.

Please note I do not sell this product, I am just mentioning this for recording your material, at very reasonable value.

You can then transfer the MP3 file to a CD manufacturing program on your computer, or use Kunaki.com where you upload your CD and graphics for the cover and so on, and they will mail you your CD.

Quite nifty.

See for yourself at the above addresses.

I wish you much luck with your recordings and future production.

Remember, this is a once set up, and you can use it time and time again.

All the best

Martin

Was this a disklavier system? If so, I'm not sure that the MIDI recordings that they make really do justice to the original. I posted here a while ago regarding recording techniques for piano and pointed to these two articles.
Recording the Grand Piano
Recording the Upright Piano
Anyhow, I'd be happy to offer any advice on this subject. Recording the piano is sort of a giant topic and there are about as many ways to do it as there are pianos to do it on...