Keyan Farlander Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 A few years ago I bought a Yamaha digital piano and said I'd put up some recordings. I'm pretty sure I never actually did, so...better late than never. Anyway, I got the idea to record some rare Beethoven pieces that are rarely or never recorded by professionals because they are considered too insignificant. There are MIDIs around, but MIDIs suck in general, so I wanted to make some actual recordings. So I did a few of those. I also started recording the Op. 119 Bagatelles, because those are some of my favorite little piano pieces. I've got four of the eleven in the set recorded. Those aren't unknown by any means, but unless you're a Beethoven enthusiast, you probably don't know them. I also threw in some Billy Joel for a little something different. These are completely unedited - there was no fixing of notes, merging of takes, etc. You're getting pure Keyan in these pieces. And these are short, too; none of them is longer than a couple of minutes (except the Billy Joel ones), and several of them are less than thirty seconds, so even if you don't care for Beethoven, please check them out anyway. Let me know what think - you like them, they're a big bag of sux, whatever. Link: http://www.gyrix.com/recordings/recordings.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Shhweeet! I wish I was familiar with these pieces, but they sound good to me. My biggest problem with them is the sound of the piano... there's a certain harmonic resonance missing from even the best sampled digital pianos that makes them sound flat and stiff to me. I think it's because the attack of the notes is always so uniform,.. no matter how much dynamics you try to put into them, the attack is always exactly the same. Adding lots of reverb can help cover some of that, but never hides it completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikhnaton Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Keyan, you truly have a gift. Bravo! Bravo! Your playing is magnificent and the pieces are beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to listen to Billy Joel after the wonderful Beethoven. It would have spoiled the magic for me. If I still lived in Northern VA, I would have hired you in a heartbeat to play at my wedding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 Originally posted by edlib My biggest problem with them is the sound of the piano... there's a certain harmonic resonance missing from even the best sampled digital pianos that makes them sound flat and stiff to me. I think it's because the attack of the notes is always so uniform,.. no matter how much dynamics you try to put into them, the attack is always exactly the same. Adding lots of reverb can help cover some of that, but never hides it completely. That's true. I would much rather have a Steinway concert grand piano to play, but those cost tens of thousands of dollars and take up a lot of room. Someday, though. Someday... Anyway, I thought about opening up CoolEdit and adding some reverb, or making the sound a little brighter, but I figured it was better to just leave it alone. Let it sound like it did when I was hearing it as I was recording it. And the digital pianos do actually have one advantage in recording. You can move around on the bench, cough, sing along with yourself, and never have to worry about any noise getting picked up by a mic Keyan, you truly have a gift. Bravo! Bravo! Your playing is magnificent and the pieces are beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to listen to Billy Joel after the wonderful Beethoven. It would have spoiled the magic for me. Thanks, Ike, that's very kind of you! You might want to give the Nocturne a listen - it's a very beautiful piano piece, one of my best in this batch, I think. It's a shame Billy Joel stopped putting pieces like this on his albums. And a shame he stopped making albums... If I still lived in Northern VA, I would have hired you in a heartbeat to play at my wedding. Hellooooooooooo, what's all this then? I might remember you saying that you moved, but I don't think I remember you saying you were getting married. Did you already get married, or are you planning to? So, for the record, where did you move, are you married, and if not, when will you be? But congrats in any case. Anyway, I play to finish up the Op. 119 and then get on to recording some longer pieces. I was thinking of doing a couple of Joplin piano rags and some Chopin. Maybe a Mozart piano sonata or one of the easier Beethoven ones - it would truly be a pain to record an entire piano sonata without making an obvious mistake or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 Originally posted by Keyan Farlander And the digital pianos do actually have one advantage in recording. You can move around on the bench, cough, sing along with yourself, and never have to worry about any noise getting picked up by a mic Trust me, I understand. We use Helpinstill ( http://www.helpinstill.com/ ) piano pickups in the Yamaha grands we have at work for those very reasons,.. plus the fact that we can get it cranked in the monitors without feedback. I have a Kawai upright at home that I inherited from my uncle. It's hopelessly out of tune at the moment (another BIG advantage the digital ones have over a real one.) I wish I had some chops at it... I took a couple of very basic piano technique courses at college, but I haven't practiced since before I graduated. I spent all of my time hunched over the guitar (I also wish I had more chops at that too...) and later at a mixing desk to ever be able to play anything more than a handful of basic chords and a blues lick or two on the keys. You can also probably move your own piano around by yourself without hiring several hefty guys and a moving van... something I dread having to face again if I ever move. No fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 3, 2004 Author Share Posted July 3, 2004 Originally posted by edlib You can also probably move your own piano around by yourself without hiring several hefty guys and a moving van... something I dread having to face again if I ever move. No fun... Well, that would be impossible. It's not as large as an upright, but pretty close. But it comes apart into two pieces easily so that two people can move it with no problem. It will fit in the back of a Ford Explorer if you lay the back seat down. It's a Yamaha CLP-880. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikhnaton Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 I moved from NoVA to CA about 4 years ago and I got married about 3 weeks ago. Remember Trinity? She's my wife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 3, 2004 Author Share Posted July 3, 2004 Originally posted by Ikhnaton I moved from NoVA to CA about 4 years ago... Well, I guess that explains it. I don't remember stuff that happened to ME four years ago. ...and I got married about 3 weeks ago. Remember Trinity? She's my wife I remember her, but I thought you guys broke up. Well, like I said, congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zargon Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 Originally posted by Keyan Farlander Well, I guess that explains it. I don't remember stuff that happened to ME four years ago. I remember her, but I thought you guys broke up. Well, like I said, congratulations! yeah what gives I thought you two crazy kids split up? I do remember you moving and stuff tho.... anyways, CONGRATS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philocleon Posted July 4, 2004 Share Posted July 4, 2004 Keylan, if you're interested there's this tool out called the synclavier. Check it out. http://www.synclavier.com Right now it's mostly computer based, but before it used to be a big keyboard and computer setup. Frank Zappa used the synclavier a couple of times in his career. If you want a sampling of what it can do, get Francesco Zappa (a possible ancestor of Frank's who was a musician) and Jazz From Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 4, 2004 Author Share Posted July 4, 2004 Thanks for the link, but my goal is to use LESS stuff like this, not more, which I will do when it becomes financially possible for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikhnaton Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Keyan, I know you're a beethoven fan, but could you record Rondo alla Turca for me please? I would love to hear how you play it (that is, if you play it well ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 I am a big Mozart lover too. Actually, I used to play that all the time from when I took lessons, but that was years ago, and I haven't played it in at least 4 or 5 years. That entire Mozart sonata is actually on my list of things to record, but I'll have to hunt down the Urtext edition of the music and relearn it. So if you can wait a couple of months, I'll do it. That one's actually pretty easy so I may be able to get it done a sooner than that. It's the first request I've ever had, so I guess I should give it priority Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 What other instruments do you play, Keyan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 8, 2004 Author Share Posted July 8, 2004 I also play the violin and the the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Cool! Violin always looked really tough to me... no frets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 15, 2004 Author Share Posted July 15, 2004 Hey guys, my cable Internet was FUBAR for about a week, so I've been gone. Anyway, edlib, it does take years to get to know just where you need to put your fingers. That is why you always see beginning string students with pieces of tape on their instruments so they know where to put their fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 Huh! That makes sense. I used to work in the woodshop at a company that made a lot of fretless electric basses ( http://www.pedulla.com/ ) and on most of them we could cut the fingerboard out just like if we were going to put frets in, but instead fret wire, we glued in little strips of whitle plastic. Very few people ordered them with no markings on the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 15, 2004 Author Share Posted July 15, 2004 Even more interesting is the fact that once you get used to it, you can finger the notes on other stringed instruments pretty easily. I remember a girl I used to date once bought a viola. That's a slightly bigger instrument than the violin, and so the fingers have to be placed further apart than on the violin. But for some reason, having never played a viola before, I was able to pick it up and play it almost immediately. It was quite a surprise - it was as if my fingers just automatically adjusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 I imagine it's less your fingers than your ears. The longer you play, the more ability you have to hear correct pitches. Since the technique on both instruments is almost exactly the same, getting used to a slightly different scale length shouldn't be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted July 19, 2004 Author Share Posted July 19, 2004 I've added Op. 119 Nos. 5, 8, and 11 now. Link: http://www.gyrix.com/recordings/recordings.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyan Farlander Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 I haven't had time to add any new ones lately, but I did clean up the sound on all the files there, so check them out again if you care. If you listened to them very loudly and/or through headphones before, you should notice improvement now, as that annoying hiss is gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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