Piano Mixing

Alyssadomo

New member
Hi, I’m somewhat new to mixing and am trying to get a specific type of sound from my piano tracks. Does anyone know what kind of tools/methods I should use to emulate the piano sound in the song “idontwannabeyouanymore” by Billie Eilish?
(I would post the YouTube link but since this is my first question it won’t let me)

I like how the song has a lot of lower end but isn’t too muddy or overwhelming.
I’ve been using mostly Isotope Ozone tools with City Piano plugin for the bass sound and Keyzone Yamaha for the main piano.
 
Was not familiar with the song but I likes it! For those reading this thread below is the video...

YouTube

So the piano sound...man it is hard to say what they are using. To me it sounds like a real acoustic piano being recorded from several mics at different distances...but that is just what it "sounds" like to me....

I can get a similar sound from my yamaha MOX8 ...Man I really like her style of singing and playing and really fits the place and space I have been falling into the last year or so.....even though I still play in a 70's classic rock band..

Pretty sure I am going to cover this...

She grew up in highland park @ 15 miles from Covina and is playing in Long Beach June 30th...think I'm going to make an effort to see her then...sorry I can't be more help on the piano but maybe somebody else here with a better ear can advise....
 
Haha, yeah she’s an awesome musician! She was discovered on SoundCloud a few years back when one of the songs she made with her brother (Ocean Eyes) blew up and got really popular. My favorite songs of hers at the moment are My Boy and Lovely.

I might try experimenting with different reverb sounds... Hopefully someone else sees this who knows something :)
 
Well - the main thing is the vst is kind of er, not quite in the right league. Sampler wise, from what I've heard on youtube, the best ones don't match the sound on the genuine song clip. Hardky surprising, as it's free, and presumably not GBs of samples. That said - it is capable of more realism if your master keyboard has decent sensitivity at the quiet end. - what are you driving it with? You need decent playing technique, decent reverb and a good ear - and you'll get close.
 
I kind of figured I needed a better piano vst. Do you have any suggestions for the type of sound I’m looking for?
 
You missed a really important part of Robs comment...every bit as important as the VST you are using is the controller and touch / velocity sensitivity therein of it....

With regard to VST's I heard one recently on a youtube video that I really liked and contacted the Youtubist who advised he was using Alicia Keys...some people Hate it some love it...Me I was impressed with it enough to hunt the U-tuber down and talk to him first hand on the telephone..

Here's the video and what the piano sounded like that made me go ...no way is that the Casio keyboards internal sounds he is playing that I am hearing...BTW casio does make some nice keyboard controllers...as does Roland, Yamaha and fatar...

YouTube


BTW just discovered this damn Billie chick is 15 freekin years old and basically got signed @ 13 She suffered and struggled her whole life to get herself to this point :laughings:

Some peeps were just meant to be what they be....She is a real Unicorn in the musicality department....I enjoy her stuff at least at first glance and listen I do...


I personally don't use VST's preferring internal sounds that don't require or rely on a computer to perform with as in studio it's fine but live I've been burned so I walked away from them as such I quit using them when I record too..at least up to this juncture...I may revisit modeled pianos in the future but for now I'm happy with the ones on my MOX8 ...

Another VST that I liked the sound of was Ivory from Synthogy

Some guy who seemed like he might be a pretty talented /knowledgeable pianist recently posted that he liked using both Arturia's Piano V and the Sonivox Eighty-Eight

You can always go to KVR: VST Plugins, Audio Units (AU Plugins) & AAX Audio Plugin News, Reviews and Community - plus iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android Audio App News Too (Virtual Instruments & Virtual Effects) where they review the latest greatest VST's and software all the time and have a great community reviewing them both free and pay to use types..

Good luck and thanks for bringing attention to Billie here...
 
Hmm. For a keyboard controller I use this basic Casio electronic keyboard that I’ve had for a while. It doesn’t have any knobs on it though.
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll look around for a new vst and mess around some more with effects to make a realistic piano sound. :D
 
For a controller at minimum it MUST HAVE touch sensitivity and a sustain pedal ...you will never get the natural sounding piano in that recording with a midi keyboard with no touch sensitivity or sustain...impossible. The more sensitive the more natural it will sound....
 
Does anyone know what kind of tools/methods I should use to emulate the piano sound in the song “idontwannabeyouanymore” by Billie Eilish?

Interesting thread.

So the piano sound...man it is hard to say what they are using. To me it sounds like a real acoustic piano being recorded from several mics at different distances...but that is just what it "sounds" like to me....

I don't think I agree...but I could be wrong. My gut instinct was that it was that this thing came from a Nord. The first thing I noticed is that it doesn't have the synthetic resonance and irregularities in the wavelengths from even tempered tuning divisions that I feel you notice more in an acoustic instrument. Also, I can't hear the rod, rail, or lever raising and dropping the dampers, something that is almost always a dead giveaway of a real piano. The other reason I think its a Nord is because the onboard compressor has a distinct and fixed sound. If this isn't a Nord, the compressor is set very fucking close to the one knob comp that Nord has built into theirs.
I kind of figured I needed a better piano vst. Do you have any suggestions for the type of sound I’m looking for?
There's a shit load of them out there...and a lot of good ones. My go-to's are XLN and Ivory. I have all the NI libraries and tend not to reach for them first. I don't like the East-West ones either. I have Vienna, but I rarely use it. The Galaxy sound really good to me, but I learned from the piece of shit Arturia one that you can't judge them by the demos. You REALLY have to demo them yourself. Overall I still favor Synthogy, but XLN is a really good starting point because of the price. It loads faster and is immaculately less cumbersome on your CPU than Ivory.

Hmm. For a keyboard controller I use this basic Casio electronic keyboard that I’ve had for a while. It doesn’t have any knobs on it though.
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll look around for a new vst and mess around some more with effects to make a realistic piano sound.

I'm using a NI S88 in the studio. I had to slightly invert the velocity curve on the both Addictive and Ivory to get the touch response to act more like the Motif (which I played for years). But once I got it set where I was happy with it, I never looked back. Hope this helps.
 
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