Hi

I have a Yamaha P155 digital stage piano hooked up to a Mac using Galaxy's vintage D as a plugin inside Kontakt 4, running through GarageBand. I'm recording a solo piano album but finding it very difficult to record with expressive playing. I know everything can be edited in GB using it's features like velocity, pitch, tempo and automation points etc, but the trouble is actually trying to record the piece with the best possible take.

I find I'm having to record the same part several times before getting even close to the best recording. Is there an easier way around this ? maybe using another app which could help in solving this, example, how do the pros do it.

I think you should post this on the Digital Pianos forum.

What do you mean by "expressive playing?"

I don't think it's an equipment problem. As long as your hardware is strong enough to keep the latency down, the recording process should be pretty effortless.

The keyboard could be an issue. P155s are pretty good as stage pianos go, but for solo work, they don't quite have the feel a real piano action would have. For that, assuming you want to stick with an electronic sound source, a Disklavier or Avant-Grand would be the way to go.

Thanks for the feedback. I've realized it's a case of two things, key weight on the P 155 is heavy making it difficult to perform expressive playing therefor not getting the desired take after many recordings. Also being a perfectionist doesn't help.

Out of interest why is it recommended when recording piano to play the piece right through from beginning to end, then choosing the best take from those recordings, as opposed to recording a section at a time for the best take.

If you're talking classical music, what you do in the beginning and middle influences what you do at the end: it's all of a piece and there's rarely anywhere you can make a full stop: often even the exposition leads on to the development and the recapitulation (plus coda) without a break. Unlike pop and other kinds of music, where things are often added post-recording anyway - I believe the term is 'layering' (frequently mentioned in the DP forum). Recording sections at a time, then joining them up makes for a disjointed performance in a classical piece, unless other practicalities come into play, like if the piece is non-stop for 25 minutes.

I believe many classical pianists like to play complete movements several times through, then choose the best take, and splice into it any corrections required from other takes if there are wrong notes etc, to go into the finished recording.

Much noted, thanks for all the help.

I'm intrigued and perhaps a bit baffled by this last little bit...sorry but, wouldn't it be *more* important to have a single take in a longer piece? I don't mean to be controversial Just...I've never thought about it and I'd love to know if you could explain even a myopic amount about...well..it
Xx

I was thinking in terms of Schubert's D960 (1) with exposition repeat. I'd guess that most pianists recording it would play it complete just once, then some short sections if it needed patching in one or two places, because it's very difficult to maintain the mental and physical concentration to repeat such a long movement several times just to get material for a few edits. On the other hand, the same pianist could probably play the complete Scherzo of the same Sonata (lasting about four minutes) a few times without any trouble just to get a few seconds' worth of material for editing purposes, rather than just a few bars here and there.

Ah! Very, very much clearer now, thank you I was thinking all wrong; to me each performance is so unique that it strikes me as impossible that one would be able to convincingly slide in a new take (which is silly of me in the first place) of a short section fresh off the block; that a smaller piece would be easier to do this with because...um...don't judge me, I was being very cotton-headed, but because they're shorter they'll require less relative continuity... Um...thank you for clearing away the fog!
<3

I don't think it's an equipment problem. As long as your hardware is strong enough to keep the latency down, the recording process should be pretty effortless.